Anyone here with a special interest in stocks/investing?

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I've spent a considerable amount of time reading business news and analyzing stocks lately. I've kept up with this type of info quite well over the years, but lately I've gotten a lot more into it. I've been using a simulator account on investopedia.com for the last year and a half or so and my stock picks there have done well - fluctuating between a low of 20% and a high of 47% annual return. While I've read a number of books on statistical analysis etc I haven't used any sort of math model to pick stocks. Rather, I read the business and technology news and when I see something of Value that a company is doing now that's going to save or make them a lot of money in the future, I see a potential investment winner. So far I've had consistent success doing this. Sure, there are some stocks I'm following based on tips and info I've heard from others, but for the most part it's just based on my own news reading and economic analysis. It might sound a little arrogant to say this, but my picks aren't based on any methods I've ever read in any financial book (which I've read many) or learned specifically in business school, but rather the best comparison would be to Warren Buffett's statements about choosing companies based on value. I have an advantage in determining value out of business/tech news due to my education. It's really that simple as to how I pick stocks I believe are going to go up in price. Your methods may be entirely different, and potentially better than mine - or just different and we can both/all learn from each other.

That said, whether you have a similar "value," approach to selecting stocks, or employ any sort of mathematical model, if you have a special interest in this sort of thing then maybe we should talk. It could be just here on this forum, or via email/other means. Time is finite and I can't read and keep up with all of the business news out there that I'd like to, so it'd be great to have others to chat about this stuff with who happen to have read different news than I have.

For the record, I've just moved beyond the simulator and am beginning to put my money where my mouth is and invest in a few stocks. I'll be doing more of that over the months/years to come as my income allows. I have several stocks I'm watching that I believe are going to do well and don't Need anyone's tips, but simply appreciate discussing more options than I may have taken notice of - especially if you're a bit of an amateur analyst and have sound business reasons as to why you believe company ABC or XYZ is a good investment. I'm not just looking for free info. I have several picks of my own that I'd be happy to discuss. The point would be to learn from each other.

I've seen other forums do "investing challenges," on investopedia where everyone who wants to participate creates an account on there and everyone starts with the same amount of fake money to invest and see who can get the highest returns in a set time frame. That could be a fun thing to do here if there's any interest. The thing I don't like about it in it's traditional sense is that people are secretive in order to be competitive. Whether an investing challenge or not, I'd prefer there were much more transparent communication about picks and reasons vs. secrecy and competition. No one's going to learn anything about who picked what and why if it's a secret. Perhaps we could do an alternate style challenge where we're transparent about which stocks we're considering and why, but don't share whether we "buy," them in the simulator or how many? That way there's still some secrecy and the ability for there to be a competition.. but at least there will be much more discussion and a lot more learning going on by all.

Interested at all? Special Interested? Perhaps this thread can serve as a discussion about the best way to move forward with discussing/sharing/competing etc. There's still plenty to learn about the processes and financial markets, methods of picking stocks/investments, risk mitigation and so on even if you don't have a dime to invest for real. The only thing that isn't real about investopedia's simulator is the money. The learning is very real.

Heck, my own story is proof of the value of doing this if you're at all interested.. for a lot of years I've thought I'd be good at it if only I had some money to begin investing - but I didn't have any money, only the thought that I'd be good at it. So, even though I was flat broke I still opened a free simulator account and began making decisions with what I'd do with my money. I've proven to myself that I can in fact do this. I've sinced worked hard and saved a bit of money and am beginning to invest it for real. My point is that even without cash to take action on what you might learn, you'll still be learning the process of doing it and proving to yourself that you can do it and then when there comes a point in life when you can do it for real you'll be better prepared & more confident in your abilities.

Blah blah blah. Anyone interested in this stuff?

Hi goldfish - I have a special interest in making money, does that count? Haha.

Actually my 401K being in stocks is making me nervous enough. I actually made money during the big crash and am doing well, not obsessed with it, but in the back of my mind it's a bit of a concern.

You sound like you are having fun though, that's the best part - just don't loose your pants, ok?

I suppose that does count, especially if you're interested in the stock market specifically. I, too, am interested in making money. I'm open to various opportunities. I have some others in mind that I'll give a go when I can. I've kept cash on hand in order to be able to diversify into other investment opportunities besides just stocks. The biggest one I'm going to pursue is a method of buying cars cheap in order to sell them for a healthy profit. I'm hoping to give this one a shot this Spring/Summer IF I can find someone in a particular situation with a car for sale. (entirely legal, fair, ethical etc.) So, yeah, I suppose making money in general counts.

Eventually I'll learn more about other investment types vs. just stocks. Ie I read a book a few months back about futures trading on the commodity markets. That was interesting. And then there are options, bonds, etc. A lot to learn - one thing at a time.. baby steps and all that. Fortunately I have time to learn about these things over the months and years ahead and eventually broaden my investment portfolio as it makes sense to do so.

Meh, I wouldn't be so nervous so long as they're in decent stocks with a positive outlook for the future. Entirely depends on what you're invested in, and what the composition of your portfolio is. Ie if I had all my eggs in one basket, even if it was a good basket, I'd be nervous. But properly spread out over several different good choices and I'd be a heck of a lot less nervous. One of the things I'm trying to do in real life is have no more than 10% of investable cash into any one particular stock. I'll likely end up having an average of around 7% or so in each, but maybe down as low as 5% if I see 20 different stocks I should be in. But yeah, with no more than 10% in any one stock, and stocks in various industries, IMO things shouldn't be that nerve wracking. Simple diversification rules like that go a looooong way to mitigate risk - but more importantly, they let you sleep a little easier at night.

Yeah, I'm having fun. Especially since I read the business/tech news anyways and enjoy it. Now I can slowly start turning it into long term investment returns.

As for not losing my pants... no promises - as I tend to have the most fun when my pants come off.

As for not losing my shirt in the stock market - deal. I have no intentions of hastily making stupid investment decisions. While it's still not a large sum of money in the grand scheme of life, business, investments etc, the money I have to work with has been very hard earned over many months of labour. I'm not about to give it away. I'll take risks, but they'll be intelligently calculated ones vs. quick get rich quick moves.

if sonic was Stocks and investing id say yes, but hes not, so no.

When I was younger I dreamed of playing the stock market and getting rich off of it so that I could retire early and not have to "work" the way most people do, but looking back now, I knew nothing about stock trading back then, and if I were to try to learn now my head would explode.

Heh, getting rich quickly is unrealistic.. but a plan to invest wisely and get rich slowly could work.

According to your profile, you're 20 years old. Certainly not too old to learn ANYTHING you want to. You're 20, not 80. wtf?

That's sort of what I was saying. I realized that trading stocks was much more involved and complicated than I thought, and that it would *gasp* take actual WORK.



Considering my trouble with mathematics, I doubt I would be able to learn how to play the stock market effectively. At best, if I were to try investing, it would basically be like gambling. Also, I don't think my brain is as flexible as it could be. There are kids out there younger than me who are finding new cures for diseases and accomplishing other great things, all while I sit in my basement and screw around on my computer.

Heh, yeah.. it can be somewhat complicated. However, I think people over complicate it with a lot of math vs. analyzing the underlying business value in systems and processes a firm uses. Sure, there's math and quantitative analysis involved to an extent, but the math is very very basic as it's much more about what they're doing and why it's valuable in terms of either reducing costs or increasing sales/profits etc. Having studied and learned what I have, I'd recommend investors learn more about business management/systems/processes etc than learn to just crunch numbers and/or guess whether a business is going to be more successful or not.

As for age/accomplishments.. meh. There are some things I accomplished at an earlier age than others (graduating from business school when I was 19, for example.) but there are other things I feel much further behind on in life now (at age 31) than my peers... but so what? It is what it is. Everything is. I can still learn/do/achieve anything I set out to, whether now at 31 or later and 73. Just because I didn't make tons of forward progress in my 20's doesn't mean I wasn't learning or wasn't trying etc nor does it mean that I'm not going to accomplish a lot in my 30's or 40's. What I have or haven't achieved in the past and when has absolutely nothing to do with what I can do in the here and now, or future here and now's. Thinking that just because you didn't reinvent the wheel by x age means you're a failure or won't succeed in the future is just flat out wrong. You, like everyone else, can learn and do whatever the hell you want to. Whether it's learning about investing, or engineering something, learning to paint or dance or do math... a n y t h i n g someone sets their mind to& believes they can do, they can do. It really is that simple.

I had my ass handed to me in 2001, now I am basically a Boglehead, buy and hold indexed mutual funds with low fees.

I think its pretty common for males around the age of 30 to 40 to want to play the market, even NTs.

My wife obtained a financial consultant to manage an inheritance, sorry forgot the word for it. The fee is a sliding percentage of gross assets - so the more $ she gets, the more they get. They do not get anything for making trades (churning).

They have gone thru our finances and point out all these things, it gets a bit harrowing and annoying to be honest really, stuff like ditch that, you need more insurance here, you forgot to do a non-deductible IRA, you can contribute more to your 401-k because over 50.

Just be careful, guys--never invest what you can't afford to lose. I've seen too many people mess up. Like, even if something's going to make you money 99 times out of a hundred, if you get just the wrong luck, you could lose out even though you've technically made a good decision.

It's not my thing, but I can see the appeal of trying to see the patterns. Speaking of patterns, by the way, you might want to investigate the phenomenon of how the human brain detects patterns--to try to find ways to tell the difference between real patterns and the ones your brain wants to see, but aren't actually statistically significant.

Yeah, I'm into statistics, can you tell? I highly recommend a primer on statistics for anybody who's going to play with stocks.

I have always had an interest in not just stocks/investing, but also economics and financial systems. Many years back, in my graduate work, I studied investing, foreign exchange trading, options, economics, statistics, etc. I liked the math behind it. I never used this knowledge professionally, but maintained an interest in it (mostly by reading periodicals/journals). Any investing I do these days (e.g. 401K) is done by following very simple rules of investing in a diversified portfolio of low-cost mutual funds. As this is the best approach for individuals.

As a note, I am pretty skeptical by nature. Particularly of others. And, our financial system is designed by others, for their own gain. As such, I don’t consider the collapses that we have seen (think: 2007/2008) to be anomalies. Rather, I expect them. Because markets are comprised of people, who are driven by self-interest. And some of those self-interested people, will lie and cheat to the detriment of the greater good. Because of this, I am quite risk averse (being non-trusting of people) and fairly conservative in how much money I am willing to invest in stocks or bond funds.

I had a boss in 2004 who told me, “Rocket – I was a wealthy man 4 years ago [at the top of the NASDAQ bubble]. In about a year, I made more than $2M in the stock market, trading options. Then, I lost it all back”. I was shocked.

What are your opinions of the 1. the coming bail-in confiscations, 2. the coming 'one off wealth tax' or 'capital levy', 3. and the IMF's proposal to perform a one off property tax confiscation of real estate?

Furthermore, have you determined how the US losing it reserve currency status will affect you?

Oh yeah, and who do you think will collapse first, Japan under Abenomics($14+trillion so far)?, China under it tens of trillions of USD liquidity and debt crisis?, the EU with its debt crisis?, or the USA with the $17 500 000 000 000 in official Federal debt and it unfunded liabilities of at least $100 trillion(it's way more actually)?

If I was really wealthy, I would stockpile gold and precious metals (easily, 10% of my assets) and purchase real estate in multiple countries. But, I am not.

Likewise, if I were a gun enthusiast, I would own a large armament. But I am not.

So, when the sh*t does hit the fan (including, but not limited to, US losing it reserve currency status), I will simply hunker down like everyone else.



I would expect a major war before any of these countries (US, China, Japan) collapses. I guess the winner would get to push the “reset” button and start over.

Yo give me some tips on what stocks to buy

My #1 tip is - Do not take advice from anonymous posters on public forums.

I wish it was my special interest! As special interests go, it could be a very profitable one. It certainly has been for Warren Buffet (he may well be an aspie, but in any case he's definitely obsessed with money!)

As it is, it's more of a "regular" interest - something I do for the money and I can't say I was ever good at it, so now I just leave it to the fund managers. I actually find quantitative trading more interesting, but haven't had the time to really get into that.

Yeah, I've definitely done that. Made some investment decisions that I still think were reasonable at the time, but then the GFC happened! Lost a lot of money. Of course, that's not a reason to not invest at all - just don't invest anything you can't afford to lose, as you say.