invest money in the stock market? if so what are some of your investments?
i currently use options house as my broker. 2.95 per trade unlimited.
i currently hold long positions in :
aapl apple
c citigroup financial
onnn On semiconductor
rfmd rf micro devices
dvn devon energy
cree cree lighting
nly annaly investments
im up 23% so far this year
was up over 30% last year
was up over 120% in 08.
not to shabby. i started out with 600. i now have over $7400. cant wait to hit the 10k mark. then the 100k mark.
Congratulations on your success! Investing isn't always easy, but it beats throwing money away at Wal-Mart.
I'm a big fan of stock ownership. It's the easiest way I know to attempt to stay ahead of the globalization wave that has, and will continue to hammer those of us who haven't learned how to swim. In 2000 I started asking "How do I keep from getting drowned by globalization?" Stock ownership was one of the few potential answers I could come up with, so I started saving and investing pathologically.
Our largest holding at present, by far, is Arcelor Mittal (MT). Over the last year and a half we've earned over $1500 in dividends alone from that investment, and it's appreciated in value about $19k since I bought it. At one point we were up about $57k on that company, but I have no regrets about holding it.
We also hold a couple hundred shares of Apple...some of which was purchased for ~$30/share.
I've always been fascinated by the pawn business. We own a couple hundred shares of Cash America (CSH). We're holding these at a loss at present, but it's a relatively small amount of our overall portfolio so I'm not concerned.
We have 200 shares of Jinpan International (JST), a Chinese transformer manufacturer. This position is also presently underwater a bit. Again it's a long-term holding...a bet on continued growth and infrastructure investment in China over time.
Gold has done well for us (GLD). I bought that back in early 2008, held it for about six weeks, then pocketed a $5000 profit. A few months later I bought into it again once the price dropped and I'm still holding the position. It's up 40% to date, and I've found Glen Beck does serve some useful purpose after all.
Southern Copper Corporation (SCCO) is one I added a few years back. Marathon (MRO) and Google (GOOG) are also present in our portfolio in relatively small quantities.
My worst trade to date...by far:
Ford (F)
In late 2008 when everything was falling apart and news hit that the automakers were in danger of imminent bankruptcy I felt I knew better. There was almost zero chance the government was going to let 67%-100% of the U.S. automakers fail during the fallout from the financial crisis.
I made my move, buying 25,000 shares of F at ~1.89/share. My intent was to hold it for a few weeks until everyone figured out we had learned our lesson from the Great Depression, then sell it for a quick profit.
This was mid-November 2008, if I recall correctly.
Within a week, the stock price had moved lower by twelve cents. My tolerance for risk in those days was not as seasoned as it is now, so I sold my position at a $2700 loss.
Today Ford trades at $12.50/share. Had I stuck with my gut instinct, and held the stock longer, I'd be looking at a little over a quarter million dollar profit today.
How's that for a "one that got away" story?
