So who here has made big bucks on the 'street lately?

[Polar_Bus]

NOT ME...............

I thought I was very diverse over the span of my entire Edward Jones managed investment portfolio as far as risk....Luckily i'm fairly young, and have still another 20+ years of investing to recover. I feel so bad for near retiree's that are getting hit so hard right between the legs. I used to laugh at CD interest returns, not they're not so funny compared to a 30% decline in stocks. Oh well, just cry for now and try to ride out the storm. Thanks god for all my EEE bonds !


This is painfull history being made as to how negitive and speculative wall street investors steer our investments.... One year ago the DJ was hovering around 14K, up until 2 months ago the DJ was hovering around 11K, and now it's struggling to keep above 8K.

 

[JRJ]

Re: So who here has made big bucks on the 'street lately?

I use EJ also, but remember, your broker makes money when you buy and when you sell. Take all advice with a grain of salt, and buy blue chips while they are down. I don't profess to know anything about investing, but there are some folks here that do. Good luck.

 

[mthieme]

Re: So who here has made big bucks on the 'street lately?

The guy I just bought a TV from made big bucks!

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: So who here has made big bucks on the 'street lately?

Well it was the oil companies !!!!
Now I think it is the "repo" companies !!!!!

 

[SS MAYFLOAT]

Re: So who here has made big bucks on the 'street lately?

Not me, but the terrorist supporting drug dealers with their heroin are cashing in.......Sad sad sad............SS

 

[bassman284]

Re: So who here has made big bucks on the 'street lately?

If you've got 20 years to earn, you're in good shape. Just don't sell now.

I'm 62 and have lost about 70k in my 401 since the first of the year. Looks like my retirement will consist of turning in cans for deposit.

 

[JB]

Re: So who here has made big bucks on the 'street lately?

"Equity" is ghost money. If you don't sell you neither make nor lose real money. . . just ghost money.

The people who are inline to make big bux are the people who are buying now or in the near future and will convert the ghost money to real money when they do sell. If that is when they retire they will be well set.

There is a lot of negative equity around, many trillions. . .but if those people can hold on to their homes and equity investments they will be okay after the recovery. If they default or sell now their ghost money losses will turn into real money losses.

The guvmint has done and is doing the right things to make the credit market well, but like any therapy administered to a very sick patient it will take time. Once the credit market is healthy again the equities markets will recover.

The biggest remaining problem is panic. . . people pulling pennies on the dollar out of their investments or abandoning upside down mortgages.

 

[jevery]

Re: So who here has made big bucks on the 'street lately?

The biggest remaining problem is panic. . . people pulling pennies on the dollar out of their investments or abandoning upside down mortgages.

Well put JB. I'm down 50K and sitting tight. Just glad I've got the time. I feel for you bassman.

 

[bassman284]

Re: So who here has made big bucks on the 'street lately?

Correction. Actually it's 80k since Jan 1.

But you're right, JB. As long as I don't sell, still no REAL loss. The big question is, how long will the recovery take? Sure, I can work longer than I planned, but at what? I work in automotive and the bleeding there is severe. I have reason to believe that I will be one of the last thrown off the sled, but what if the sled disappears? OEM automotive suppliers are dropping like flies in a big freeze. My company is surviving by picking up the remains, but the big 3 are looking a little peaked. One of the programs I'm working on is disappearing at the end of the month because Chrysler is closing the plant we ship to. This is the point where you begin to feel you are not in control of your destiny.

I just keep going to work every day and focusing on the immediate.

 

[JRJ]

Re: So who here has made big bucks on the 'street lately?

Very interesting time right now. Who would have thought Chrysler and GM would be talking merger? Be nice if the market bottoms next week.

 

[Kiwi Phil]

Re: So who here has made big bucks on the 'street lately?

I am pessimistic about this.
There is something terribly wrong with our 'system'.
We still hold to the belief that everything is going to return to the 'normal', which was not sound in the 1st place.

We believe shares should earn us a 'big' profit, which can only come from increased value of the shares, not from the shares 'actual earnings'.
The 2 are out of kilter.
The value should reflect the earnings.
The value of the share does not reflect its earning ability......it reflects greed....meaning it will sell for more when some bigger fool comes along.

what did JB call it...."Ghost Money"

The value of a home is not based on the possible rental income, nor a realistic value of the land and building, nor the borrowers ability to meet the repayments in to the future.
Instead we see reckless lending, the belief the borrower owns the property where in fact the lender owns it, and over-valuations to create a surplus the borrower promptly spends on consumables but is left with a long term debt exceeding the life of that consumable.
Over-riding that, the borrower firmly believes they will sell that house to another 'idiot' who is prepared to be more reckless than them.

My point is this:
1. By all means buy shares, I would suggest blue-chip, and make sure the ratio of price to earnings is correct.
2. I do not believe this is going to end up a 'recession'. I have a nasty feeling it will be a 'world-depression'.
3. I would also make sure I had 'liquid' money stashed away. If things get nasty, unemployment may jump, consumption will drop, and things may implode further.

I have believed for some time that our system was B/S....people were making money out of "ghost money": people are living on debt and thinking it is clever.
The house is mortgaged to the hilt, the car is on a loan, as is the boat, the Cr Cards are max'd out, then they take a holiday on a 2nd Cr card.
If we do get a depression, if such a person looses their job...??????

Cheers
Phillip

 

[SgtMaj]

Re: So who here has made big bucks on the 'street lately?

"Equity" is ghost money. If you don't sell you neither make nor lose real money. . . just ghost money.

The people who are inline to make big bux are the people who are buying now or in the near future and will convert the ghost money to real money when they do sell. If that is when they retire they will be well set.

There is a lot of negative equity around, many trillions. . .but if those people can hold on to their homes and equity investments they will be okay after the recovery. If they default or sell now their ghost money losses will turn into real money losses.

The guvmint has done and is doing the right things to make the credit market well, but like any therapy administered to a very sick patient it will take time. Once the credit market is healthy again the equities markets will recover.

The biggest remaining problem is panic. . . people pulling pennies on the dollar out of their investments or abandoning upside down mortgages.

You're right on the money about most of that, except that we'll have to agree to disagree about the government doing the right thing... I'm fairly certain the right thing wouldn't have included 150 bn of pork barrel spending while running up the deficit/national debt even further. Also I think there would be more help for the little guy. I see a lot of money being thrown at the already wealthy, but not so much for those struggling to get by.

 

[treedancer]

Re: So who here has made big bucks on the 'street lately?

What stocks I hold have been?ok lately, more than doubled what I paid for them two years ago and only went down around 25% so far. Lots of bargains out there due to the panic selling; as Kiwi Phil says, check the bottom line carefully.

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: So who here has made big bucks on the 'street lately?

Well, at least I got a bunch of it back today!

 

[Nova II 260]

Re: So who here has made big bucks on the 'street lately?

"Good Morning, Welcome to Walmart", practicing for new job.

 

[OldePharte]

Re: So who here has made big bucks on the 'street lately?

I'll join the chorus. I retired the end of April, although not living on my 401(k) now, but looked for it for the future.

I won't go into details, but I needed to take early retirement at 62 and take SS payments. Now, I will be working again, part time, to earn some more $$ to help make up some of the losses. Although I don't expect to, I did find out that should I make close to my pre-retirement $$, SS can be suspended.

And oh, I should mention. We are also trying to sell a house. Needless to say, my timing really, really, sucks. Our only saving grace, is that we don't have to sell it, but we want to move to the lake.