I'm late getting into this thread and only have read the first 2 pages. But I certainly agree with you on what you said (above). I had a young investor at a bank to give me investing advice, and I lost my ass on three big purchases. After 2 years of working with him, I saw that my own amateur analysis was better than his! I took all my funds out of that place and invested them individually myself with USAA (retired military here). I have done remarkably well over the years. I've grown a small portfolio of $32,000 into nearly a half million today! During that time I had 3 companies to go bankrupt and I lost a few thousand dollars. HOWEVER, I hit it big time with a couple of stocks that I bought dirt cheap that SOARED in 1 or 2 years time and made me many thousand when they were bought out by bigger companies, which amply negated my losses.

Your 'weatherman' comment is very appropriate for me. Prior to THAT guy, I was using a young woman who was also very unskilled. After she worked as a broker for 2 years, she became our local WEATHER (Woman)!!! She could now use her 'investment brains' to forecast the weather!

If anyone has read this far (because I tend to get long-winded), my wife recently quit her job and had to do something with a $40,000 401k. I rolled it over into an IRA at USAA Bank and it is parked there, as of yesterday, making about 0% interest. I want to find some new investment(s) for this by Monday so it gets to 'working'. I went through her investment portfolio with the bank she had it in, and I don't know how in hell they made THOSE picks! None of them yielded over 1% in dividends and about half of them had not made any money in the last 5 years! These were big name funds: Vanguard, Franklin, Dodge & Cox, etc.

Anyone here can recommend an Aggressive Growth Fund (not concerned about risks) that pays a hefty dividend? She wants it parked in some kind of 'Fund' that she thinks will live forever without any failures, while I'm thinking of putting half of it in ETF's and half in REITS. Any comments highly APPRECIATED!!!

Mike in Kentucky

I'm hoping YOU "rai" can answer this.

I have a 29 year old son who has borrowed money from me over the years and I've finally determined I will never get it back! I have it documented in my computer, the date, the amount, and what he borrowed it for. Do you think I could knock off $14,000 for the next few tax years as 'gifts'? In essence, I'm GIVING it to him! What mechanism do you use to verify you gave the gift? Is it just one of the tax forms from the IRS?

Thanks,
Mike in Kentucky

I religiously follow the stock market, and I semi-religiously follow YOU on Pinside! Seriously, I've read most everything you've posted on Pinside, and it is obvious, you are a pretty smart fellow, even if you ARE a lawyer who can imbibe a bit much! Ha.

I have learned A LOT on this thread (just started reading yesterday), more than I have by reading any book, and it appears you and I think much alike on what we should or not be purchasing in the market.

I have dabbled in stock for years and have had some good luck. But I sure do my research. I've got a few ETF's. It took me a long time to figure out why I didn't need to tie up money in Mutual Funds and put it in ETF's. And today, YOU CONFIRMED my beliefs. Thanks for your reassuring comments!
Mike in Kentucky

I would say you are right. And comments "iceman44" made also boost this primes. I had already pretty much decided to do the ETF route.

All your comments are very candid and on the money (no pun intended!)
Thanks . . . and I'll be reading your "Investment Newsletter" here on Pinside!

Now . . . if ANYONE has a hot tip on an ETF that has share prices under $50 and pays a nice dividend, please respond. I read, weigh, analyze it all before I make any decisions. But there are bound to be some good ones out there that I am not aware of.
Mike in Kentucky

Ha! Good one! He is the largest non-profit organization I know!

Mike

P.S. I accidentally drained you (hit a mystery button somewhere) and then did the "undo". If you saw it, don't think I took offense. Was just clumsy!

If you mean BABA, as in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA), then I think it is a winner. I bought it when it first hit the market for about $89.00 a share (September, 2014). It is now hovering around $175.00.

I only put $5,000.00 in it based on a gut feeling it could be one of those 'break-out' stocks. It was a gamble, but after reading a lot about it, I decided it was something worth to gamble ON! And that is how I looked at it. I had enough gainers that I was ready for the roll of the dice. I put the money in there and sort of forgot it. I DID check the market each week, and it went down almost exactly one year later to the day I bought it to $64.00! Yeah, I started having doubts, but I still wasn't convinced it was a loser; just not had enough time to 'mature'. I didn't sell it to cut losses and I'm glad I stuck with it.

I do think it will keep on growing. The same way with Ten Cent Holdings. It has performed well for me. It's a similar company.

Mike in Kentucky

Same here, Iceman. Pays nice dividend too.

I love your analysis of the market. You have done your homework. While I've got Apple, Google, and all the other 'big boys' in my portfolio, I have recently loaded up on Ten Cent Holdings (TCEHY). Man, that stock has skyrocketed since September. I just put another $15,000 in it. I think it will be the next Amazon in the Orient. I'm getting out of the everyday stocks like CPG, PM, JNJ, KO . . . they paid respectible dividends but the growth rate was too slow for me. I'm 70 and I am getting away for the long hold stocks. Have had great success with RXL, another rapid climber, and Skyworks. I bought about $500 worth of it several years ago, and that little bit is now worth over $16.000 now.

I bought BABA when it was first offered, just on a lark. That baby has climbed too. I bought it as a gamble, just like I did TESLA. I'm in those 2 for the long haul hoping for a big payoff someday. And Adobe . . . of all things . . . has made me a shit pot full of money in the last 2 years.

I've got a couple of REITs brewing. MAIN is doing great and paying nice dividends.

I enjoy reading your comments along with all the rest on here just to see how much stock savvy I have . . .

Mike in Kentucky

TECHY is my number one pick. RXL is doing very good. MIXT. SPXL. XLK. They are all kicking ass and look to have plenty of room to grow. I'm heavy in all of 'em.

Mike in Kentucky

I just hope the market starts out tomorrow the way it ended Thursday and Friday last week. I've been doing quite well on money I invested between 2000 and 2010. I just need 6 months or maybe 1 year in order to have enough to cash out, pay off all debts and have enough left over to have a decent rest of life. I'm 70, and to me, this is the critical stage of my entire life of trying to make and save money. If the market will just stay steady for awhile, modest increases and no major 'downs', that's all I'm hoping for. I'm just afraid of tomorrow, for some reason. It could be a big sell-off day. It was tempting for ME to take it while I can and seriously thought of cashing in at least half tomorrow, but decided tonight not to. If there are many others who actually do that, well . . . you know the rest of the story!

Not that I know of. But when you force too much air into a balloon, it's gotta pop sometime.

My negative 'vibes' were sort of accurate as both the DOW and NASDAQ were down today. But thankfully, no big sell off!

Now, to see what tomorrow brings.

Wow! I didn't know this tidbit of history, Andrew. And I never gave it any thought.

I'll certainly be looking out for it NEXT year!

Why . . . you ole SOB!!! You GOT ME! When I read that the first time, I thought, "That boy's brain is filled with broad based knowledge. He stays on top of everything!" I never, EVER suspected you would slip a sly one in on me . . . or 'US' for that matter! You just wait. "I'll get you, my ugly . . . and your little dog too!"

I understand where you are coming from. But my situation is not so 'normal'. Mine is cash in all my chips and pay for the gains/losses and eliminate a lot of worry about getting a large debt paid off before I croak. There won't be much of anything left. My investments are not IRA's or 401k's. Just plain ole stocks. Well, maybe $80,000.00 in an IRA that WILL come back to me and my wife in the 4% increments. Forgot about that one.

I'm simply willing to pay the tax penalties on the gains so as to sleep better at nights. I also look at those penalty fees as having been paid for by the massive gains I've made on the stocks. I'm coming out with a hell of a lot more than I ever put in. At least I hope so!!!

With owning our home, farm, buildings, cars, trucks, tractors, pinball room and movie theater (separate buildings) all paid in full already . . . . we plan on paying off one big massive bank loan with the stock cash-in and then living on two Social Security checks, my military retirement monthly checks, and my wife's pension plan. Plus, I still have a small business I run which does quite well.

Thanks for caring enough to make that lengthy comment. You are a pretty good ole Joe.

I like you, despite what everyone else on here says about you.

Well, the DOW and NASDAQ are going upwards like crazy today! I just hope it holds. It started off setting records yesterday, and then died a slow death and settled at the end of the day in the RED. Please . . . ole stock market . . . stick to the big UP numbers today!!!

That #&@*%!#*& stock market tanked today!!!!!!! I watched the DOW just keep going negative, like a pinball score counter, but backward! Just kept zinging to negative numbers! Right when I was doing so well, I had thought of cashing in in April or May. Hell, it will probably now take until June to just get back up to near where it was. Or, it could just keep on going downhill all next week long. One little fuckin' political comment, a release of a FBI memo, the Feds just talking about a possible interest rate hike, or the price of tampons going up . . . that's all it takes and then . . . WHAMO! Cocksuckers who sell out like that so quickly should be tied and horse whipped!!!

This isn't exactly my retirement. This stock was my plan to pay off a certain rather large debt. I was getting really close to my goal and then this happened. It's my age . . . . I'm somewhere between 70 and death. Once the debt is paid off, I can rest and be debt free. I just want the market to stay stable.

I have recovered about 60% of all my losses during the meltdown a week ago. Thank God, the market is going back up.

Same here, Andrew. But when my techs started coming back up on NASDAQ, they came up strong. Now, I'm only down about 30%. If it keeps going like this for a few days, I'll be right back where I started. And when I say 'down', I mean on my 'profit' part of the stocks. Not talking for the stock as a whole. Like I told you before, sometime this year when it all looks good, I'm going to cash it all out, pay off my one big debt and hopefully be debt free and can breathe easily until my body expires! I read this morning that the next downturn will probably be in 6 months, so I'm gonna try and time it just before then.

This would mean we'll live on the income from my business until I can't run it anymore, plus have my military retirement check, social security check, and my wife's social security check to live off of. We will be totally debt free!!!! You know what THIS means now, dontcha? When you visit with us again we can give you a LARGE glass of water instead of that small one! It will be a time to SPLURGE!!!

I have been 'playing' my stocks a hell of a lot better than Kentucky and Kansas are playing basketball!!! This has been one of the strangest and disappointing seasons you and I have experienced since we've known each other! Still . . . I wouldn't be surprised if either team gets in the tournament and plows through like champions. You never know with our two bunches!!!

Lastly. Would you charge me gas and mileage to be a pallbearer at my funeral?

I, for one, really appreciate your posts on here. I believe you have the experience to know what you are talking about. I read your every post. In fact, you are one of my favorite posters on Pinside . . . along with 6,000 others. Haaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Regards,

Mike in Kentucky

Then, you can join me and "jayhawkai" in the Dook Hater's Club!!!

Even if the market gets over-saturated with iPhones and such and sales drop, Apple will continue to be successful in the next decade or so due to diversifying. Maybe not having great profit years but still profitable. They have enough cash on hand to build new companies off the back of the big one to take up any void in loss of sales of current products. As long as it stays one company and doesn't sell out, we all should be safe it in it . . . at least as much as in anything else.

I don't know how he's doing it, but I have the same thing. By being a military Veteran I have Tri-care for Life. Unless the government screws me out of it, me and my wife both are supposed to have this health care until we die. One of the best benefits of 'serving'.

My parents had free health care for life because my father worked for a large factory (International Harvester) and retired from there. But the days of working at just one job for 30 or 40 years and getting a full benefits package is just about over.

I'm hoping they do! I've had a Lind of Credit to run my business at my local bank for about 25 years. The interest was always 3.75 to 3.90. Since Biden has been in office I have been paying 10.05% interest. It's killing me!!!! I've been paying more than double now for right at 2 years! I can't take much more of this kind of loss.