Whoever was banking on crypto-futures beyond $19k per BTC, I hope you didn't put your eggs all in one basket.
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What investments are you getting in to? Funds? Stocks? Gold? Virtual currency???
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"past performance..." yadda yadda...
But the funds I found are heavily in NASDAQ, which is on a rampage last few years.
ie: tech is the dominant driver.
I do not base solely on past, but weighs heavily.
I am applying the Warren Buffet rule: Lowest expense first.
Made exception with one, that is slightly higher expense, but has the biggest gain.
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C$ still a good long term bet, IF you have spare change and strong stomach.
Simple Supply/Demand and math makes it a good move, BUT need to choose wisely among the 150 C$ on market.
I fiddle with some single stocks by myself because I've been toying with them for about 20 years. Good returns. Especially Amazon and Netflix, which shot up. I invested in those the first time I read about and used Hulu sometime in late 2007, just before the first Kindle released. I took a spectacular gamble on these two companies (though I'd played with Amazon before). I had a hunch that they've eventually revolutionize dying industries. I was right. I do invest in some morally questionable industries that a few forum members find disturbing so I won't comment on them again.
Aside from that, we do have a small team of people who invest our money wisely and distribute it with decent but not exciting returns. It's a small exclusive perk. One of my biggest regrets was not getting into BTC way back when it was dirt cheap. I even had an online friend offer me 100 BTC when it was around .30c a pop. I said no and laughed at the time. The concept sounded stupid to me. It still does. I'm not bummed out.
One of my wiser investments has been land and property. I bought from the mid 90s up until just before prices peaked in the mid 2000s, and bought when the market crashed hard. A few houses, lots of dead plots. Houses were snatched up a few years later with plots dwindling down. Let's just say I really like the EB-5 individuals who came in and put up gaudy crap, who I also took on as clients.
Money really has no value to me. That's a very douchebag thing to say and I'm aware. Being well off is one thing, but more assets haven't made me happier. Aside from the usual life events of what's made me happy, I think the best feelings I've ever had were when I beat skin cancer and when my children were born and healthy at that.
As far as index funds go, if you're in a similar position, you don't need them. But I have one and have had one for a long time. I haven't managed it myself in a long time, but they're good investment tools for just about everyone. Don't all your eggs in one basket, and all that jazz.
I'd like to say I started from scratch as an immigrant to this country to inspire hope, but that isn't the truth. I grew up privileged, took a decent loan from my folks after university and started my life. Paid them back a few years later when I was stable.
But, and this is important, I know many naturalized immigrants who came to this country with zero, even in the last 10 years, and they've made it. It doesn't matter if you have a blue collar business or white collar or whatever. You do what you feel is within the law and can make you successful and share that success with people you work with.
I believe in karma. I'll treat people the same even if I don't really like them. Eventually, if you're a jackass, it'll come back to bite you in the ass in one form or another.
If I could redo my life, I'd probably do what I wanted to do originally. Become a surgeon. I changed course because I winced at blood. Totally normal, apparently. That would have been a fun career, too. Or become an anesthesiologist.
Edit: No. That's a lie. I didn't just wince. I hurled chunks at the professor's feet.
Aside from that, we do have a small team of people who invest our money wisely and distribute it with decent but not exciting returns. It's a small exclusive perk. One of my biggest regrets was not getting into BTC way back when it was dirt cheap. I even had an online friend offer me 100 BTC when it was around .30c a pop. I said no and laughed at the time. The concept sounded stupid to me. It still does. I'm not bummed out.
One of my wiser investments has been land and property. I bought from the mid 90s up until just before prices peaked in the mid 2000s, and bought when the market crashed hard. A few houses, lots of dead plots. Houses were snatched up a few years later with plots dwindling down. Let's just say I really like the EB-5 individuals who came in and put up gaudy crap, who I also took on as clients.
Money really has no value to me. That's a very douchebag thing to say and I'm aware. Being well off is one thing, but more assets haven't made me happier. Aside from the usual life events of what's made me happy, I think the best feelings I've ever had were when I beat skin cancer and when my children were born and healthy at that.
As far as index funds go, if you're in a similar position, you don't need them. But I have one and have had one for a long time. I haven't managed it myself in a long time, but they're good investment tools for just about everyone. Don't all your eggs in one basket, and all that jazz.
I'd like to say I started from scratch as an immigrant to this country to inspire hope, but that isn't the truth. I grew up privileged, took a decent loan from my folks after university and started my life. Paid them back a few years later when I was stable.
But, and this is important, I know many naturalized immigrants who came to this country with zero, even in the last 10 years, and they've made it. It doesn't matter if you have a blue collar business or white collar or whatever. You do what you feel is within the law and can make you successful and share that success with people you work with.
I believe in karma. I'll treat people the same even if I don't really like them. Eventually, if you're a jackass, it'll come back to bite you in the ass in one form or another.
If I could redo my life, I'd probably do what I wanted to do originally. Become a surgeon. I changed course because I winced at blood. Totally normal, apparently. That would have been a fun career, too. Or become an anesthesiologist.
Edit: No. That's a lie. I didn't just wince. I hurled chunks at the professor's feet.
Money has no "value" to me either, but practically one needs to have a roof overhead, food on table, and medicine in cabinet (if needed, knock on wood).
I do not have enough to retire now, but as long as I keep an eye on stocks I should have the needed funds.
Which is expected to be at least $400,000 when I do retire (ways to go). Oh, not counting on any SS.
.....
Sure, anyone can immigrate with $0, get a good job, house, food, all that, but where do they live, what kind of debts they have, other details, and of course how much of nest egg they have.
....
Blood is rather important stuff, and we do not have much to spare.
On the flip side, seeing blood can mean extreme danger and could be dangerous, thus a built in revulsion to it.
Like holes in skin.
I could have retired in my 30s. I like working. It's a drop of greed, but mostly wanting to keep busy. When I do take time off from work, say a few weeks, I start doing unnecessary repairs, painting and changing landscaping around. In about 16 years, I've redone our entire driveway about twenty times. I think if you were to cut some of the wood facade on the outside of the house, there will be close to a 100 layers of paint on it. Other major hobbies are gardening. You should have seen my wife's face back in 2011 when I began replicating all our plants with cuttings. I do collect some stuff. From cheap to expensive.
The kids can get their share of money when they're much older, mature and have a solid career. I've seen way too many people's kids, including one of my partner's kids do some stupid **** when they were handed access to their trust at 18. No spoiling either. My folks never did. It's always the new money types that have to learn control. I've posted this in the car thread before, but one of our neighbors up the street are worth a few hundred million and most of their cars are about 3-7 years old. Priuses, mostly. I have to ding them for that. Can't stand those cars, but I like their solar AC thingamajig.
We probably won't do private schools either. I used to be for private schools a long time ago but the public school district we're in is very good, award winning, blah blah blah. We might consider a charter, but those aren't too popular here and they tend to under perform compared to the traditional schools. The majority of private schools from grade to high school are also religious. I'm not into religious lessons. The only thing lacking is sports. The neighboring district is good in that, but the quality of instruction isn't great.
That's way into the future for now. Maybe another kid or two. Buy or build a third house. I think my ideal "retirement" would be a house near the coast. Say 20 minutes walking distance, a few acres of land. Just walk on down with a 5 gallon bucket, a rod or two, bait and do some surf fishing. Or, provided I'm still quick enough, go spearfishing. I love fishing, particularly surf fishing. I've caught some large 30+ lb skates off the coast, sea bass (which is surprising) and the occasional baby shark. Actually, I can't wait until the boys are old enough so I can take them fishing. I think they'd try to stomp on the fish now. Kids...
I suppose you're right. I considered going back and doing medical school, do residency and then do my anesthesiology residency. It wasn't a hot ticket item back unlike now. I think I'd have done well with that route. Hard work, but fairly clinical and boring to a point. I like boring. I consider myself boring. But I'd be working the same amount of hours, even with my own practice, and not making what I do now.
But, being a doctor would be fulfilling than what I do now. That's for sure. Which is why I worked in government doing assessments and securing foreign aid money. Paid practically nothing, but good benefits, and that warm fuzzy feeling. Also, it was under Bill Clinton, so the excess money was used for nice lunches and name brand supplies when we were stateside.
The kids can get their share of money when they're much older, mature and have a solid career. I've seen way too many people's kids, including one of my partner's kids do some stupid **** when they were handed access to their trust at 18. No spoiling either. My folks never did. It's always the new money types that have to learn control. I've posted this in the car thread before, but one of our neighbors up the street are worth a few hundred million and most of their cars are about 3-7 years old. Priuses, mostly. I have to ding them for that. Can't stand those cars, but I like their solar AC thingamajig.
We probably won't do private schools either. I used to be for private schools a long time ago but the public school district we're in is very good, award winning, blah blah blah. We might consider a charter, but those aren't too popular here and they tend to under perform compared to the traditional schools. The majority of private schools from grade to high school are also religious. I'm not into religious lessons. The only thing lacking is sports. The neighboring district is good in that, but the quality of instruction isn't great.
That's way into the future for now. Maybe another kid or two. Buy or build a third house. I think my ideal "retirement" would be a house near the coast. Say 20 minutes walking distance, a few acres of land. Just walk on down with a 5 gallon bucket, a rod or two, bait and do some surf fishing. Or, provided I'm still quick enough, go spearfishing. I love fishing, particularly surf fishing. I've caught some large 30+ lb skates off the coast, sea bass (which is surprising) and the occasional baby shark. Actually, I can't wait until the boys are old enough so I can take them fishing. I think they'd try to stomp on the fish now. Kids...
I suppose you're right. I considered going back and doing medical school, do residency and then do my anesthesiology residency. It wasn't a hot ticket item back unlike now. I think I'd have done well with that route. Hard work, but fairly clinical and boring to a point. I like boring. I consider myself boring. But I'd be working the same amount of hours, even with my own practice, and not making what I do now.
But, being a doctor would be fulfilling than what I do now. That's for sure. Which is why I worked in government doing assessments and securing foreign aid money. Paid practically nothing, but good benefits, and that warm fuzzy feeling. Also, it was under Bill Clinton, so the excess money was used for nice lunches and name brand supplies when we were stateside.
Brass in the form of .223/5.56
Steel & aluminum in the form of an AR & a couple of 1911’s. Picking up powder & promote this weekend as well , got about 80#’s of leas ready to cast .45 pills
Steel & aluminum in the form of an AR & a couple of 1911’s. Picking up powder & promote this weekend as well , got about 80#’s of leas ready to cast .45 pills
Bow & arrow are preferred when you need to keep things quiet........
Foxglove.
But you could give him senna tea and show the daughter what an awful house guest he is.
Although there are circumstances which could change this advice, the only sensible retirement savings strategy, and I mean only is to invest in low-cost index funds, with a potential split with low-risk securities and/or international stocks.
Buying Apple stock, Google stock, crypto currency, gold, or anything else is not a retirement strategy. Keep that in mind.
Buying Apple stock, Google stock, crypto currency, gold, or anything else is not a retirement strategy. Keep that in mind.
Medical marijuana investments mostly; Up about 300% in six months which gave a very healthy jump to my portfolio.
Only wish I had invested way more than I did. It's far too late to put more money in that game now, and I'm actually pulling most my earnings out. Afraid things have entered bubble territory.
Other than that ETF and index funds for safety, entertainment and tech stocks for medium risk and researching lithium, security and machine learning positions for my mad money.
Medical marijuana investments mostly; Up about 300% in six months which gave a very healthy jump to my portfolio.
Only wish I had invested way more than I did. It's far too late to put more money in that game now, and I'm actually pulling most my earnings out. Afraid things have entered bubble territory.
Other than that ETF and index funds for safety, entertainment and tech stocks for medium risk and researching lithium, security and machine learning positions for my mad money.
Yeah, sounds like a good decision. Let is stabilize, and wait for what Sessions/congress will do.
What stock you invest and look at?
BTW, looking at SBUX, DNKN, and AVY right now.
Yeah, I should note that when I bought the majority of my own individual stocks, they were under $30 a pop for the most part, with Amazon and Netflix being cheaper. I wouldn't advise anyone buying now. But if you bought cheap, it's not bad. I don't see investing in stocks or funds to be anything worthy of retirement unless you plan on living in a very low but safe CoL environment.
Ideally, if you're lucky enough to get to a good place, you get your money to work for you and live off the interest. Living within your means, so to speak. How much your means are depends on you and how often you want to dip. Most people won't ever admit to having likely failed a few hundred times before things clicked into place.
Pretty sure I've had at least 200 failed ventures over my lifetime, with just a handful of successful ones.
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Medical marijuana is, to me at least, a morally questionable industry. However, it has increased profits for schools and government public works, and reduced crime rates. I still wouldn't get involved until the designation is dropped. And even then, I probably won't get involved unless I can put enough space between me and it.
The long term effects of the drug haven't been studied enough and what little literature there is seems to have been influenced one way or another. Though I wouldn't be surprised if the big tobacco lobby manages to persuade the government somehow. Big tobacco already has the network and facilities to steamroll through.
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I would be finishing a couple of books and working on airplanes as a hobby.
Not the grand projects you have.
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I too look at cheap stocks (which today is more in $60 range), but those that pay dividends are better.
Agree on MJ, not being federally legal is a concern. But we have alcohol and tobacco, so MJ should easily fit into that category (with ads about moderate use, etc).
And yes, what is the real pharmaceutical benefit of MJ? Again, if legal that will be researched in depth. Either way, it will be a growth stock for a bit, have to see.
As in writing? Been there, done that. And I've already been through the RC hobby. The way I see it, is that unless I'm too weak or it's too dangerous, I'd rather do something on my own. Honestly, I've had and still have quite a few hobbies.
On MJ: It isn't big tobacco holding it back, from what I've read over the years. It's the alcohol industry. Tobacco would always be open to another revenue stream because, as I said, they already have the manufacturing ability and the facilities. Younger people would prefer to get high at an event that allowed it and not pay $6-10 bucks for a cheap pint of watery beer.
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Not RC, that flew away decades ago. Real things.
Really OLD flying things.
War birds.
<<< USAAF logo.
(Yes, pilot and mechanic)
Congress is being moronic on their position with MJ. They are turning over a huge emerging industry to Canada who, with lack of American competition, is fast becoming the world leader in medical & recreational marijuana.
(Side note: Recreational marijuana will be federally legal to purchase for anyone 18+ across all of Canada as of June this year)
Sessions' announcement actually made all the Canadian stocks jump in price. Which is great for me as most of the MJ stock I bought happen to be Canadian companies.
Other stocks I've grabbed recently include iRobot, Apple, Coors and Yahoo. I like iRobot, Apple and Yahoo's tech. Coors I see as more recession proof.
Would also like to expand into the Australian market... but that's trickier. Plus, the bull market is getting mighty old world wide so I'm doing less stock investing and more looking at Gold and building up my straight cash fund.
SBUX is interesting... I'll have to look into that one more. What thoughts do you have for DNKN and AVY?
This will probably sound boring to all you daring investors, but I recommend that you take a look at S&P 500 index funds. The most famous is the Vanguard Index 500 fund. These index funds simply try to match the performance of the S&P 500. It is a mechanical task, not requiring research, analysis and expensive fund managers. The advantages of index investing are: 1. Diversification across a large swath of large cap companies, meaning you are basically taking "market risk", but virtually no individual "company risk", 2. The Vanguard fund charges no "load" (fee to buy in) (though you may have a brokerage fee depending on where your money is). Index funds generally have very low costs (Vanguard is less than 0.04% annually for their "Admiral Shares" - yes 4/100ths of a percent) because they don't need to pay professionals to research, analyze and select stocks - they simply mimic the performance of the S&P 500 by holding most of those stocks in roughly similar proportions to the 500 stocks in the index, 3. The effect of loads and annual costs is that you basically start out in the hole on your investments. With no load and low costs, your return on the portfolio is not much lower than the actual performance of the investments. 4. You personally don't have to pay attention to individual companies or various well-paid mutual fund managers who sometimes do well, but other times not so much, and 5. (kind of trivial...) you can see how your investment is doing by simply checking the S&P 500 on the news - it is reported by nearly every news program along with the Dow Jones index. The challenge is timing and assessing market risk. However, no matter what stocks you buy, you really can't avoid market risk. I can't see the future, so I simply buy and hold. You get burned sometimes (think 2008), but it's hard to avoid that if you are in stocks, and eventually stocks keep rising in the long-term. If you like analyzing companies and taking those risks (and potentially greater returns), then you should go for it, but you might consider an index fund as the place to park your money that you are not investing in individual companies or funds that you take the time to research. vanguard.com for more info. They certainly describe index investing better than this macrumors reader.
Ha! I see it now, but didn't when I read through most of the posts. I agree it is probably the best way to invest in stocks for most people. I've doing it for nearly 30 years, which shows 1. I am old, and 2. I am a very boring investor, unfortunately spending way more time studying macrumors and the sports page than I ever spend studying the stock market.
I think we're within the same age range. Yes, at some point if you've done well, you're welcomed into special branches of your bank or banks. Want to buy a house on the spot? You're cleared to and the interest rate is either non-existent or laughably small. They know you're good for the money, and that you'll pay the loan off in less than 3-7 years, if not 50% down and 50% the next year.
Unfortunately, they don't offer cheesecake and espresso like the regular branches. For day to day expenses, I just use a regular bank branch, which is separate. It's definitely an LA thing, I guess. We're weird people.
Edit: Actually, I wouldn't call it espresso. It's one of those fancy Nespresso machines. It's a decent commercial espresso.
Nothing boring about it. Regular savings, dollar cost averaging and a nice steady return will make you rich in the long run.
For me, I enjoy doing the research, and there is a thrill in setting your own course. But, I also have about 40% - 50% of my portfolio in boring index funds just waiting for retirement.
Thanks for news on Canada. Missed that part.
This one?
My Marijuana Canada Inc (CNSX:MYM)
DNKN is Dunkin and strong competitor to SBUX, street word is a good buy and pay off dividends. Food companies seem to be a good bet these days, such as DSP.
AVY is maker of all those quality labels, but they also make RFID tags that are predicted to grow rapidly. Bar code's have reliability issues, RFID is much more reliable and readers becoming more commonplace
Have a handful of Avery. @PracticalMac The problem I see with marijuana other than the biased reports and questionable long-term outlook on health is that even if the Dems win in 2020 or this November and impeach (long shot), there is zero guarantee that the Dems would push for de-scheduling of the drug. There's always a lot of talk, especially in recent years, but I don't see it happening anytime soon. Until that happens, I consider the industry stocks volatile but with projected growth. On the other hand, there's some interesting research being done into synthesized compounds derived from natural cannabis for chronic pain relief in the absence of opioids. Which should alleviate the problem a portion of the country is suffering from. And I think drug manufacturers would want to cut back on production since it'll shrink the legal wrath they may face in the future. Back in the 80s, there was research into capsaicin being done for topical pain relief. The results, IIRC, weren't great until they managed to provide a stabilized spray or cream. Personally, as someone who's used capsaicin cream and Voltaren, the former is much more efficient at pain relief, albeit slower, and doesn't introduce risk of excess dose through the skin, nor any bad reactions from inactive or active ingredients.
Native Americans used to use wintergreen, the plant, and crush it and use the oils it produced to provide pain relief. The oil is readily available and is used in a variety of ways. It's potent stuff. Given the nature of the oil and how it's used, it wouldn't be too difficult to get into acute overdose akin to that of aspirin.
Something you want to use nylon gloves with if dosing a humidifier. Or you could be like me and opt for lime and mint oil during the fall and relive the memories of a warm summer sitting back with mojitos. Rum optional.
Native Americans used to use wintergreen, the plant, and crush it and use the oils it produced to provide pain relief. The oil is readily available and is used in a variety of ways. It's potent stuff. Given the nature of the oil and how it's used, it wouldn't be too difficult to get into acute overdose akin to that of aspirin.
Something you want to use nylon gloves with if dosing a humidifier. Or you could be like me and opt for lime and mint oil during the fall and relive the memories of a warm summer sitting back with mojitos. Rum optional.
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