Stock Market Thread

[Apoc]

FB has stopped innovating, someone will do it better.

Eh, not really. Facebook comments are on something like 100k websites and I can't tell you how many people have offered up more of their life from BEFORE due to the new timeline feature.

[JPolen01]

Good read on why Facebook's IPO really doesn't matter. <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46206367/ns/business-us_business/t/facebooks-ipo-matters-facebook-not-market/#.Tyl30FwS2Ag">http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46206367/ns/business-us_business/t/facebooks-ipo-matters-facebook-not-market/#.Tyl30FwS2Ag</a><!-- m -->

[Mike]

Re: IPOs

I'd never been involved one so I bought some Zynga a few weeks ago. I had a bad feeling about it since I felt it was pretty overvalued, but bought anyway just for shits and giggles. It began to tank, dropped 10%, I still felt it was overvalued, sold, and now it's up 20% since I got out.

I hate the stock market.

[davej]

been playing around in the market a bit over the last few years, nothing too serious, but i like sprint at ~$2.20 right now.
got in netflix ~$65, thinking it'd get back to at least 100, but chickened out and sold at 85. $124 today. oh well, can't get mad at a 30% return

pretty sure i'm not going anywhere near FB, although there's a chance to make some money, my dislike for privacy invasion trumps that.

[Mike]

aaaaaaan zynga is now up 60% since i sold it last week.

[davej]

aaaaaaan zynga is now up 60% since i sold it last week.

can you do me a favor and let me know what other stock you're going to sell so i can buy it and make millions?

[Mike]

i sold aapl around 120 2-3 years ago (now 456).
i sold srz around $.50 2-3 years ago (now 8).
i sold deo around 65 last year (now 91), but i sold it to get into bp, which has gone 36-45 in that time so similar return.

yeah... i could do better.

[davej]

yeah, i hear ya, but as long as you can make consistent gains you'll be better off than having your money sitting around in a 0.0000003% rate at a bank.
been in and out of apple more times than i care to admit, but if i can make 12-15% at a time i'm happy. it'll drive you nuts to look at all the highs you're missing out on.

[ScottyB]

bought SIMO 3 years ago at 5 and sold at 3.50....now 20-something.


that was my worst loss. thankfully Ford got me back even plus a little, but dammit i never hold onto stock long enough. i blame my ADD-attention span generational upbringing.

you'll be better off than having your money sitting around in a 0.0000003% rate at a bank.

exactly. even with taxes/potential losses, if you do it right you come out ahead.

[Apoc]

V still kickin ass!

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="https://www.google.com/finance?chdnp=1&chdd=1&chds=1&chdv=1&chvs=maximized&chdeh=0&chfdeh=0&chdet=1328302800000&chddm=1955&chls=IntervalBasedLine&q=NYSE:V&ntsp=0">https://www.google.com/finance?chdnp=1&chdd=1&chds=1&chdv=1&chvs=maximized&chdeh=0&chfdeh=0&chdet=1328302800000&chddm=1955&chls=IntervalBasedLine&q=NYSE:V&ntsp=0</a><!-- m -->

[davej]

the apple machine is just a monster....they are one i'm wishing i held on to.....

[WRXtranceformed]

I had my brother write up a personal investment plan for me late last year. I like how ING takes a holistic look at your life, goals, current finances and income etc. and builds a recommendation based on when / how you want to retire.

Took an anticipated cap gains hit on my blue chip stock liquidation late last year, but the mutual fund Ben invested the proceeds in is up 10+% since the move. It has already paid for the brokerage fees and most of the cap gains over the past 4 months. Roth IRA is up 4.8% (old 401k / ESOP rollovers) and my company matched Roth 401k is up 10.8% thanks to his analysis of the funds and reallocation recommendation. I won't know how well my tax shelter universal life investment has done until 5 years from now, but because it is tied to three major indices it will reallocate and prorate the gains based on which one did the best over the 5 year period. If I pay into it until 50, I will be able to take out $86,400 / year in tax free income until I die. If I pay in until 60, it is somewhere around $95k.

If anyone is looking for any kind of financial advice around the DC area, let me know and I will send you over his information. His office is in Tyson's Corner now I think, but he lives in Alexandria.

[ScottyB]

nice work Lee. those are great numbers. we like ING too, its a pretty powerful tool if you take the time to use it.

one thing i have in common with you is that i've used outside advice/assessment in the form of an accountant (who also takes care of my small business stuff). we've been able to take advantage of a couple things i wouldn't have known about otherwise. most importantly in 2010 when i converted my previous employers 401k to a Roth and there was a special situation where you could defer paying the state/fed income taxes on the rollover amount to next year, and then split that amount between 2011 and 2012. that was a huge help on the extra tax burden and i wouldn't have known it without some helpful counseling.

i should have mentioned this earlier in the thread but when i was but a youngin' at JMU they offered a "life skills seminar" through the JMU College o' Business. I think it was something you had to pay for, but it filled up fast and was enormously, hugely helpful for me. it went over career planning, prioritizing personal skills and development and most importantly for me, financial planning and some of the main topics that covered. it was just a ton of information i hadn't heard before and made a really important impact on how i approached my normally somewhat reckless spending and "saving". i know you can google anything these days and so much information is free, but this was worth every penny...if you're at JMU taking classes don't pass it up.

[Apoc]

It's been a pretty good past couple months for me too. I put most of my non-retirement income in large cap blended funds are they're up 7% since year end. Of course the S&P is up something like 5-8%, depending on what point you choose, so maybe I'm not really doing that well!

My retirement savings are a bit more difficult to track at this point because I just rolled over to my employer's plan last month.... and I just rolled that over last summer to my old employer's plan. Following the bouncing money is fuuuun.

[Apoc]

P.S. - Thanks for the kick. I took a look at my cash reserves and realized that since we're officially moved, expenses have normalized and I have a steady paycheck, I was sitting on entirely too much. Took a chance on a health care stock fund. :-)

[Evan]

the apple machine is just a monster....they are one i'm wishing i held on to.....

it had gone parabolic and was bound to pop. it gained the entire value of Intel in just 2 months!
most people are a step behind and get in too late and hold long and end up holding the bag.

a small bump back up today, i would expect that it will go back down to around 460 or lower in the coming weeks.
i may buy some puts today or wait for confirmation tomorrow and early next week.
selling some 500-510 calls might be a nice income producing gamble as well

[Apoc]

Anyone shorting the Yelp IPO???

[Evan]

ill look into it, looks like its up 66%?
probably ripe for a big pullback but id wait for confirmation first

just made a quick buck of CAT put options today.

ps- apple is now worth more than poland

[Evan]

oh I forgot, you cant short an IPO for 90 days.

fucking stupid

and options wont be available for at least a week.

[Apoc]

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