New Game For Me!

[joepa66]

Because of the way my 401k and mutual funds tanked in the last year, I lost nearly $23k in retirement dollars. I started watching Jim Cramer on CNBC's Mad Money in May 2009, have read three of his books, tivo his daily tv show, do lots of "homework", opened a Scottrade account and am trying to get some of my lost money back.

Bought 100 shares of Ford when no one wanted it at $2.00 per share: it's now nearly at $9
Bought 25 shares of JP Morgan at $35 per share and it's over $42
Bought 10 shares of Bristol Meyers at $41 per share and it's near $43
Bought 75 shares of Sprint at $4.50 per share, it dove to $2.25 per share and has come back to $3.75

Haven't made a killing but Ford has been great. I keep building my positions and watching for breakout stocks.....haven't looked at penny stocks but a few friends are into them. But I'm having fun managing my own money and have definitely learned a lot along with ways to really watch my pennies and make them work for me! I'm making my kids save money to open a Scottrade account and I'm gonna teach them how to manage their money and not depend on their company or the government for their retirement!

Anybody else new to "the game"?

[joepa66]

Sold my position on Sprint and after researching Weatherford International (WFT), I bought 30 positions @ $17.00 per share.

[gadfly36]

im not new but havent "played" for several years. i do like that wft pick, sold the little bit of home depot i had, which hasnt done anything in years, to give it a try.

[joepa66]

Good day to get in on some WFT bro with the pullback in oil and gas stocks today! Tech and banks lead the way once again. Check out this info on WFT and the target price......would be a great profit!

https://research.scottrade.com/resea...Type=SNPReport

[joepa66]

Here's another play I really like which will probably be my next....it's gone up everyday this week....even today! AMAT

https://research.scottrade.com/resea...Type=SNPReport

[USFMD82]

JoePa, all of your links say current Session expired, good luck with all of this, I don know a lick about stocks.. I do have 100 shares of Citigroup when it was 1.40

[joepa66]

Yeah those stupid links timed out.....but if you want the info I can paste it in here for ya! Citigroup and the rest of the market has taken a dump the last several days! You've got a nice little profit but keep C for at least a year and a day or you'll have to pay a higher tax on capital gains. I see C going to at least $10-12 in a year or so.....

[Kevin]

Jim Kramer is FUN to watch but isn't all that great with his picks. I have many friends in the market who are fairly astute and always mention make sure you're watching him for entertainment only, because his picks aren't that great.

As with anything though, there's always a nugget or two to pickoff as well as getting educated about things.

If you do your homework on your picks, including company financials and all that jazz, it's really fun and can be very profitable.

Also keep in mind that buying/selling quickly means that any profits realized will be at your current income tax rate. Long term profits on stocks held a year or more are taxed at a much lower, rate, 15% I believe.

With that being said, don't let any of that deter you. Part of life is HAVING FUN and you can't put a price on that!

[fitter]

Looking for suggestions to open an online account. Also looking to open online acct thru my bank. Currently have online options on my annuities thru my union, but as of now, do have some left over income that would love to invest. Suggestions welcome, never had an online acct before, always dealt with live broker. Not happy with that outcome in past. Would be appreciative of any thoughts. Thanks

[Underdog88]

Originally Posted by Kevin

Jim Kramer is FUN to watch but isn't all that great with his picks.

I have seen several clips of him contradicting himself- telling people to buy buy buy and then a month later saying you had to be an idiot to buy the very same stock. To me he seems like the tout of the stockmarket, JMO.




I've been wanting to get my feet wet in the market, plan on talking to my brother in law who does pretty well. In the meantime anyone have a book that they have found helpful?

[gadfly36]

hey joepa, i did sell my home depot but instead of buying wtf, i followed your ford pick. it's up a couple of cents whereas wtf is sliding, you might want to relook that one. always wanted to use whereas in print, lol.

[joepa66]

All great suggestions guys! And I'd never pay a broker to handle my money.....can do it just as good myself and I'm in control. If I want to withdraw it I can and without any pressure. Money handlers have a vested interest in keeping you "in the game".

I've read three of Cramer's books, Mad Money, Stay Mad for Life, and Getting Back to Even. His isn't the only show I watch, and I don't take all he says as gospel. He is entertaining and has some great ideas on how to handle your money, how to figure out the balance sheet of companies you are looking at, and I also do "practice runs" with companies...watching them before investing, etc. However, I do choose my own stocks by doing lots of research.....

I love my Scottrade account. The reason I chose them is because a couple of friends have them and they also have a local office if I feel the need to talk to a broker.

Kevin is right, you pay a higher tax on short term gains and to avoid paying them you have to keep a stock for one year and a day to pay lower tax rates as general income. And there are lots of sites on the net to use to check out stocks....you can also go the the government SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) and check out company filing and balance sheets. I also google companies and listen in to their conference calls for share holders to see how business is going.....

Of all places but at a KSU basketball game, I met a guy outside looking for a ticket (I gave him one and we sat together) and he was a financial advisor. We chatted a lot about retirement and he said the best advice is instead of messing with upping your 401K contribution is buying Roth IRAs ( which are only taxed as regular income) and municipal bonds which have a high rate of return and have been great investments over the last couple of years even through inflation and recession.

Fitter, I can give you more info if you ask Kevin for my e-mail if you're interested in Scottrade!

Gads.....just holding for now. Ford and Bristol Meyers are my best two positions and now I'm looking at Hawkin and great chemical company and Applied Materials Technology. Glad you are up. I watch the stocks off and on throughout the day and have had great fun and am up over my initial investment.

[The Mailman]

As for online accounts, I like Scottrade and Etrade.

I believe Scottrade is the cheapest option.

[The Mailman]

For books, Im sure the "dummies" brand has some good easy reading:

Stocks - For Dummies

[fitter]

thanks for the advice and suggestions...may take you up on that joepa when time frees up a little. again thanks to all and hopefully this thread can become a regular stop.