All things STOCKS

#2,601
#2,601
I literally know next to nothing about buying stocks but yesterday decided to buy four $50 stocks ( Apple, UnitedHealth Group, Tesla and Alibaba ). Not looking to get rich quick, although I wouldn't mind, but figured they were all "safe" stocks to buy as I slowly learn.

I'm thankful to have a good job that wasn't affected by Covid and even got a 5% raise so I'm looking to start investing while I'm young.
 
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#2,602
#2,602
Hayezb said:
I literally know next to nothing about buying stocks but yesterday decided to buy four $50 stocks ( Apple, UnitedHealth Group, Tesla and Alibaba ). Not looking to get rich quick, although I wouldn't mind, but figured they were all "safe" stocks to buy as I slowly learn.

I'm thankful to have a good job that wasn't affected by Covid and even got a 5% raise so I'm looking to start investing while I'm young.
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I just read an article that said Appel and UH health group were good stocks. Im looking to learn as well. Just hoping that might give you some confidence
 
#2,603
#2,603
mr.checkerboards said:
I just read an article that said Appel and UH health group were good stocks. Im looking to learn as well. Just hoping that might give you some confidence
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Same here. Was gonna go with Amazon but read that Alibaba has a higher ceiling being newish in the Asian market and Amazon already being solidified in America / Europe.
 
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#2,605
#2,605
JFreak said:
Vanguard website just crashed. Add that to the list of firsts.
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Shades of 2000 and 2001. Some days during the dot com crash logging into a discount broker's website was futile. Same on 9/11. Vanguard must not have figured out how to handle volume spikes yet. But since they are a not-for-profit organization it's understandable.
 
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#2,606
#2,606
Thunder Good-Oil said:
Shades of 2000 and 2001. Some days during the dot com crash logging into a discount broker's website was futile. Same on 9/11. Vanguard must not have figured out how to handle volume spikes yet. But since they are a not-for-profit organization it's understandable.
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I think that's as good of a reason to do a little pruning on some holdings. I'd prefer to have a little cash to throw at industries that are still a little behind in recovery (financials, hotels, energy).

If you look at the large essential retailers (HD, COST, AMZN, DG) and companies minimally impacted by COVID, this weeks rally has bypassed them for the large part.
 
#2,607
#2,607
Hayezb said:
Same here. Was gonna go with Amazon but read that Alibaba has a higher ceiling being newish in the Asian market and Amazon already being solidified in America / Europe.
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Markets are always forward looking, but Alibaba's stock could be in trouble as the free world cracks down on China's nonsense, especially as it relates to Hong Kong. Maybe it's priced in already. And if the Democrats gain seats in November then Chinese equities will benefit (which I don't think would be priced in yet).
 
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#2,609
#2,609
VTI (Vanguard Total Stock Market Index) is always a good place to park a few dollars for anybody that's not sure of where to invest and/or are learning about securities markets and want to ease into equities. It's a very widely held ETF (maybe the largest unless that's the QQQs) and there's safety in numbers. As long as the US does well, it will also. Despite the high volume it's probably not a great symbol for short term trading. Although the spread would be minuscule, I wouldn't think that there's a whole lot of volatility in it.

Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI) Stock Price, Quote, History & News - Yahoo Finance
 
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#2,610
#2,610
VTI also creates instant diversification. But if the objective is to quickly grow an account faster than average returns then funds would need to be concentrated in just a couple of names. However without that diversification the account could easily zoom towards zero as well. Risk tolerance is a very important criteria to address.
 
#2,611
#2,611
Thunder Good-Oil said:
VTI also creates instant diversification. But if the objective is to quickly grow an account faster than average returns then funds would need to be concentrated in just a couple of names. However without that diversification the account could easily zoom towards zero as well. Risk tolerance is a very important criteria to address.
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Ty for that advice. I bit and bought some. Now I have VTI VOO and JETS for ETF
 
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#2,612
#2,612
Another way to be more aggressive is with margin. A lazy man's approach could be to buy VTI, leverage it up by another 25% or so, and let the 2% yield on VTI knock out the margin interest. Could even dive a little deeper by selling covered calls on VTI and keep rolling that strategy forward.
 
#2,613
#2,613
mr.checkerboards said:
Ty for that advice. I bit and bought some. Now I have VTI VOO and JETS for ETF
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I like the JETS idea. There's diversification by company, but it's still concentrated in an industry. A billion in assets and the .6% expense ratio isn't unreasonable. 20,000,000 shares traded daily provides a decent opportunity to bail out without getting crushed.
 
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#2,614
#2,614
Thunder Good-Oil said:
I like the JETS idea. There's diversification by company, but it's still concentrated in an industry. A billion in assets and the .6% expense ratio isn't unreasonable. 20,000,000 shares traded daily provides a decent opportunity to bail out without getting crushed.
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Thanks. My hope is this summer travel will be higher than normal after restrictions ease and thus stock will go up.
 
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#2,616
#2,616
BigOrangeMojo said:
Yeah, me and wifey (when she worked in MK tower) used to eat at old location. Brad was a big UT fan but couldnt keep enough staff once his mom got sick (She passed away last year). He used to call me Alabama because I would tell a Bama joke or bring in artwork that made fun of Bama (just like my avi). On a related note, I've lost 30 lbs since they've closed. Ha ha.

Regarding XOM, I considered that when I bought CVX and COP. Just went with the smaller companies. I think XOM might have a bit more room to run in the short/middle term than CVX.
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I hate to hear that about his mom. A colleague of mine asked him about closing, and he did say that he was having trouble finding good help. I definitely miss that as an option to eat.

After my Dad’s first early retirement from the corporate world, he was an advisor for Edward Jones for a couple of years while I was in law school. I bought some XOM, held it for a bit, and made some good money. If I recall, I sold it to put a down payment on our house after getting married. Not sure I ever recall seeing it that low, and now it’s nearly doubled.
 
#2,617
#2,617
Hayezb said:
I literally know next to nothing about buying stocks but yesterday decided to buy four $50 stocks ( Apple, UnitedHealth Group, Tesla and Alibaba ). Not looking to get rich quick, although I wouldn't mind, but figured they were all "safe" stocks to buy as I slowly learn.

I'm thankful to have a good job that wasn't affected by Covid and even got a 5% raise so I'm looking to start investing while I'm young.
Click to expand...
Apple is trading around $330, Tesla is trading around $885, United Healthcare is at $331 a share and Alibaba is about $219.... That's about $1800 just to buy one share of each, I'm curious how you bought all four for $50.

Maybe someone is selling you fractional shares for a fee. I'm just curious.
 
#2,618
#2,618
GoDucks349 said:
Apple is trading around $330, Tesla is trading around $885, United Healthcare is at $331 a share and Alibaba is about $219.... That's about $1800 just to buy one share of each, I'm curious how you bought all four for $50.

Maybe someone is selling you fractional shares for a fee. I'm just curious.
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If he's on Robinhood you can buy fractional shares just like you buy normal ones.
 
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#2,619
#2,619
GoDucks349 said:
Apple is trading around $330, Tesla is trading around $885, United Healthcare is at $331 a share and Alibaba is about $219.... That's about $1800 just to buy one share of each, I'm curious how you bought all four for $50.

Maybe someone is selling you fractional shares for a fee. I'm just curious.
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Yup. That's what I meant. Like I said.. I'm new lol I want to ease in before I start dumping a couple thousand.
 
#2,620
#2,620
Hayezb said:
Yup. That's what I meant. Like I said.. I'm new lol I want to ease in before I start dumping a couple thousand.
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Got ya.. that's sort of a good way to get your feet wet.

Apple is the only one of those I own. Apple has been a good stock for me. It may be a bit over valued right now with a target price of $318 and current price of $331. It's a bit hard to tell in this market. Just buy and own quality companies and you should be ok.
 
#2,621
#2,621
mr.checkerboards said:
Where did you all start when first getting into stocks. Ive been intrested for a bit, but kinda of nervous to start because I don't know much about stocks
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I'd always been interested in the stock market, started subscribing to Wall Street Journal when I was 20. Didn't really get into individual stocks till 1996 (age 39) when I took a job as a stock broker. I wasn't good at selling stocks retail. Went back to school got my MBA with a focus in finance and went to work for a very successful boutique small cap value contrarian institution money manager.
 
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#2,622
#2,622
GoDucks349 said:
I'd always been interested in the stock market, started subscribing to Wall Street Journal when I was 20. Didn't really get into individual stocks till 1996 (age 39) when I took a job as a stock broker. I wasn't good at selling stocks retail. Went back to school got my MBA with a focus in finance and went to work for a very successful boutique small cap value contrarian institution money manager.
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Wow. Im 23 right now. I'm hoping to go ahead and get a good start now, and then by the time I'm old enough to retire have a nice little fund to fall back on
 
#2,623
#2,623
mr.checkerboards said:
Wow. Im 23 right now. I'm hoping to go ahead and get a good start now, and then by the time I'm old enough to retire have a nice little fund to fall back on
Click to expand...

Compound growth can be amazing.

Rule of 72s: divide 72 by a percentage rate to see how many years until an investment doubles in value. Or reverse it, divide 72 by a number of years to see what percentage return is needed to have a double in value. So, for example a thousand dollars that can earn 12% per year would be worth $128,000 in 42 years.

72 divided by 18 (percent) is a double every 4 years.

72 divided by 12 (percent) is a double every 6 years.

At 12% (72 divided by 12 = 6):
$1,000 in year zero
$2,000 in year 6 (1 double)
$4,000 in year 12 (2 doubles)
$8,000 in year 18 (3 doubles)
$16,000 in year 24 (4 doubles)
$32,000 in year 30 (5 doubles)
$64,000 in year 36 (6 doubles)
$128,000 in year 42 (7 doubles)
$256,000 in year 48 (8 doubles)
$512,000 in year 54 (9 doubles)
$1,024,000 in year 60 (10 doubles)
$2,048,000 in year 66 (11 doubles)
$4,096,000 in year 72 (12 doubles)

At 18%:
$4,096,000 in year 48 (12 doubles)
$8,192,000 in year 52 (13 doubles)
$16,384,000 in year 56 (14 doubles)
$32,768,000 in year 60 (15 doubles)
Starting with just $1,000

Did that in my, head. Hopefully the calculations aren't screwed up.
 
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#2,624
#2,624
Thunder Good-Oil said:
Compound growth can be amazing.

Rule of 72s: divide 72 by a percentage rate to see how many years until an investment doubles in value. Or reverse it, divide 72 by a number of years to see what percentage return is needed to have a double in value. So, for example a thousand dollars that can earn 12% per year would be worth $128,000 in 42 years.

72 divided by 18 (percent) is a double every 4 years.

72 divided by 12 (percent) is a double every 6 years.

At 12% (72 divided by 12 = 6):
$1,000 in year zero
$2,000 in year 6 (1 double)
$4,000 in year 12 (2 doubles)
$8,000 in year 18 (3 doubles)
$16,000 in year 24 (4 doubles)
$32,000 in year 30 (5 doubles)
$64,000 in year 36 (6 doubles)
$128,000 in year 42 (7 doubles)
$256,000 in year 48 (8 doubles)
$512,000 in year 54 (9 doubles)
$1,024,000 in year 60 (10 doubles)
$2,048,000 in year 66 (11 doubles)
$4,096,000 in year 72 (12 doubles)

At 18%:
$4,096,000 in year 48 (12 doubles)
$8,192,000 in year 52 (13 doubles)
$16,384,000 in year 56 (14 doubles)
$32,768,000 in year 60 (15 doubles)
Starting with just $1,000

Did that in my, head. Hopefully the calculations aren't screwed up.
Click to expand...
Hopefully I can get up to that 18% mark, but I'd be happy with 12
 
#2,625
#2,625
mr.checkerboards said:
Wow. Im 23 right now. I'm hoping to go ahead and get a good start now, and then by the time I'm old enough to retire have a nice little fund to fall back on
Click to expand...

At your age, I strongly recommend a Roth IRA. I started contributing the annual max when I was almost 20 and now I'm 40 (almost 41). The return hasnt been astronomical (13.64% annualized) but the dollars add up quick. Passed $400K yesterday in my Roth.
 
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