Embracing capitalism with a capital C.
My wife and I have decided that we hate being poor.
We have very little faith in our retirements being there for us, as managed by our employers, or by our government. We would like to save it ourselves.
But at the rate the dollar is shrinking, simply "saving" it is madness. Might as well use cash for home heating. So now, as is most of the time, it is a good time to invest.
Truthfully? It's a GREAT time to invest. Stocks are low. The dollar hasn't bottomed out. The upswing will eventually come, when the panic sellers realize that it's time to pull their heads out of the sand, dust off their hands, and get back to business. There are bargains to be had out there.
The one that I look at a lot is oil. This country, along with the world, runs on the stuff. And for all our happy nattering about reducing our dependency on it, the world market is thirsty for it. But right this minute, that lovely commodity has fallen from over $120 a barrel to under $48 a barrel. (Gone are the days when a character actor formerly known as Major Nelson could create a huge stir by proclaiming at a convention that this nation would soon see $50 a barrel, as in the early '80s.) I'm trying to decide between futures or shares in oil companies. But I still won't ever own Exxon stock. Screw'm.
Then, too, we look at mutual funds, like Vanguard. Sure, they've taken a kick to the huevos, lately, but in the long run, they perform. The thing is, I don't want to buy a single share of a company that took bailout money from the feds. We cops think a lot about the old "fruit of the poisonous tree," and I don't want any. I also don't want to do business with banks that took bailout money from the government. You know how there are those "ethical funds," that only have stocks in green, fair-trade, no rain forests endangered, free of animal testing companies? I want to buy shares in a "No Socialism" fund. I'd buy as much as I could afford.
We're looking at buying in little steps at a time, say $2000 per purchase. When the bucket fills back up again, we'll buy another $2000.
We're ready to spend some money to make some money, here.
Labels: capitalism, economy, family, musing, rampant capitalism, speculating, world view
posted by Matt G @ 3:14 AM
10 Comments:
It's always amazed me how people seem to skip 'buy low, sell high' and go right to 'it's high, buy it and hope it goes higher.' Or, why isn't everyone on a non-guns-and-ammo spending spree right now?
I was thinking of buying some stock in some firearm manufacturers but then I realized that they will be the next ones attacked.
I thought I heard mention of a gun-oriented investment fund.
I know there's a 'sin' fund out there that invests in tobacco, liquor, and other 'bad' things.
Does pretty well from what I hear.
If your looking for long term investment that will surely take off in the next 20 years, I'd suggest looking into technology.
Information Technology is probably the single highest growing field in today's market and it's only going to get bigger and better.
I admit the IT market fluctuates wildly at times but it always seems to rebound.
If you're a patient investor and do your research instead of trusting one of these brokerage firms that only care about lining their pockets you'll do fine.
Don't fall for stuff like the dotcom boom. It was fast and fleeting. It made a few billionaires and a few million homeless winos.
I did fairly well back when Redhat Linux went IPO. I waited and bought when it was $5 per share. I sold at $25 a share and it went bust about 2 months after that. Redhat is still out there but it never got the market share everyone thought it would. Still with a mountain of patience and research, I made 5 years salary from an investment that was about a year of my salary.
I still invest in several IT firms (hardware and software) but I'm very careful and very diverse.
Good luck. If you have never invested before, it's a little intimidating at first. You'll do fine as long as you don't have the "Day Trader / Gambling Bug".
Joe
When selecting a stock or mutual fund, don't go by input from a friend (unless that friend is also in the market and making money,) or to media hype.
It's hard but find a very good adviser. An adviser who gets paid on how much your account increases! Yes, there are some. Any adviser who get paid by the trade will rip you off by making trade after trade regardless whether the trade makes sense.
In my trading days, I made a nice bundle off Titanium, a company that marketed the metal. I was very lucky.
You can make money now if you are in for the long term---five years or more. Choose your adviser(s) wisely.
South Carolina Electric and Gas (SCG) has a good P/E ratio, is fixing to build two nuke plants and has a monoply on energy. SCG is the stock symbol. I own a bunch and plan to own more. :) Al T.
I just bought an M-1 Carbine.
I've been waiting almost two months for Cabela's to deliver 1000 rounds of ammo for the rifle.
Tried to buy .357 or .45 ACP lately?
Same result.
When the bottom falls out of our economy, only stuff you can touch will have value...
Food. Shelter. Gold. Ammunition.
And a means of protecting all the above.
I truly hope it doesn't get as bad as I fear. But it won't hurt to be prepared for that eventuality.
I'm just sticking with my Mutuals, they will come back eventually... I am dumping extra into a money market account as they are actually out performing NASDAQ!
Get some reading done. Start with "Quality of Earnings". Learn more from www.seekingalpha.com. The comments are often better than the articles. Right now solid dividend paying stocks are the only way to ride out the storm, look at symbols D, SO, APU, SSS, BMY, KMB, EPD, TPP for examples of what some of those companies are. You want to invest in companies that have lower debt than their competition, decent dividend payout ratios and have "wide moats". "wide moats" are significant barriers to entry by competitors. Utilities have wide moats, as do some of the energy companies. Pharma tends to have wide moats, but not always. DOW is a wide moat company that is beat down right now, yet what they make goes into many different essentials. DOW is also loaded with debt-as is most of their competition. You are correct in that everything is on sale right now-however this rally will not last expect some decline maybe dramatic later in the year. Good luck and keep us posted.
I kinda figure that an investment in an independent natural gas company might pay off down the road. The reason? I think that the enviro-nuts will wake up to the fact that we have to have some carbon fuel energy and natural gas is available and plentiful and burns clean when compared to most other fuels.
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