• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Stock-Age: Stocks, Options and Dividends oh my!

Fools idol

Banned
For someone who is inexperienced in the stock market, are index funds going to be my best approach? Or would I be better DCAing into certain companies? Do we expect the stock market to have further decline or are we considered to be close to the bottom?

I would say that you should have 60% of your money in a solid index fund like $QQQ and then pick 5 or 6 stocks for the rest and spread evenly. Make sure you have one or two dividend payers for cashflow and just add to it over a long period of time, ups and downs. Your average return over 20+ years will be amazing.

At the moment a lot of great companies are trading 80% cheaper than they were just 1 year ago. It's a good time to start, just dont go all in at once.
 
Last edited:

Grildon Tundy

Gold Member
Just made my first trade of the year and it's a buy.

$SQM - large lithium play. 12% starting div yield locked in... even if this does not move for 5 years I will double my money from dividends and reinvesting them.
Can I ask, how did you lock into a 12% starting dividend?
 

Grildon Tundy

Gold Member
What happens to Activision Blizzard stock if Microsoft acquires them? Would an ATVI stock bought at $70 be worth the ~$90 that Microsoft offered to pay for ATVI?
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
ya its why Warren Buffet bought a shitload of Activision Blizzard because he wanted to make money on the arbitrage.
Ya. But be weary what Buffet's public antics are. He says one thing in public but might do another. And you wont know his final decision until like a year later after he's well past it.

For example for years he said tech companies were trash, overpriced or "I dont understand tech stocks so I dont buy them". Then an article would come out saying he'd been loading up on Apple and Amazon for years without telling people publicly. Amazon probably had a PE of 100 or 200 when he was buying up.

He dumped all his Wells Fargo stock over the years. Thats why it tanked to like $25. Never said a thing. Next thing you know an article comes out saying he sold all of it.

He's also been a big promoter about dividends, passive income and people should buy the types of stocks he buys (income generating). Yet his Berkshire stock never pays one.
 
Last edited:

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
Ya. But be weary what Buffet's public antics are. He says one thing in public but might do another. And you wont know his final decision until like a year later after he's well past it.

For example for years he said tech companies were trash, overpriced or "I dont understand tech stocks so I dont buy them". Then an article would come out saying he'd been loading up on Apple and Amazon for years without telling people publicly. Amazon probably had a PE of 100 or 200 when he was buying up.

He dumped all his Wells Fargo stock over the years. Thats why it tanked to like $25. Never said a thing. Next thing you know an article comes out saying he sold all of it.

He's also been a big promoter about dividends, passive income and people should buy the types of stocks he buys (income generating). Yet his Berkshire stock never pays one.

Dang! I respect Buffett alot, but this make him sound like a douchebag.
 
Ya. But be weary what Buffet's public antics are. He says one thing in public but might do another. And you wont know his final decision until like a year later after he's well past it.

For example for years he said tech companies were trash, overpriced or "I dont understand tech stocks so I dont buy them". Then an article would come out saying he'd been loading up on Apple and Amazon for years without telling people publicly. Amazon probably had a PE of 100 or 200 when he was buying up.

He dumped all his Wells Fargo stock over the years. Thats why it tanked to like $25. Never said a thing. Next thing you know an article comes out saying he sold all of it.

You're aware you can see what BH buys and sells quarterly, right?

He's also been a big promoter about dividends, passive income and people should buy the types of stocks he buys (income generating). Yet his Berkshire stock never pays one.

Don't see the relevance here. Just because you like dividends doesn't mean it makes sense to pay one yourself.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
You're aware you can see what BH buys and sells quarterly, right?
That's what I mean. He wont openly tell people what he's doing unless you dig into it. He'll openly tell people when it's already be done.

Don't see the relevance here. Just because you like dividends doesn't mean it makes sense to pay one yourself.
That's the point. His investing PR is invest in income generating stocks, low PE kinds of tried and true value stocks and dont buy overpriced tech with high valuations. If that's the case, nobody should buy Berkshire (his own company). It pays no dividends and has a PE of 60. Even Tesla has a better PE at about 40.
 
Last edited:

GHG

Member
People referencing Buffet need to pay attention to what he actually does - it's all documented in Berkshire Hathaway's 13Fs.

One thing to note is that he rarely talks about when he's exited or trimmed his positions but like the best of them he's very quick to tell everyone when he's entered.
 
Last edited:

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Squeaked out a whopping +$83 today! lol. I'll take it. Was red for most of the day. Been green every day except one since late December.

Edit: Just checked. Final adjustments or currency conversion I dont know. Down to +$69.67!

AmuLbCz.jpg
 
Last edited:

Fools idol

Banned
People referencing Buffet need to pay attention to what he actually does - it's all documented in Berkshire Hathaway's 13Fs.

One thing to note is that he rarely talks about when he's exited or trimmed his positions but like the best of them he's very quick to tell everyone when he's entered.

Buffett's entire shtick is a fraud imho. He's one of the worst insider traders there has ever been, we just don't hear about it because he's Warren Buffett.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
What a run. I think my portfolio has gone up 10 of 11 days. Today too was a good one (Canadian markets open). My Canadian stocks went up 4% alone today.

My stocks have gone up about 14% in two weeks. Roughly 7% overall as I'm about 50/50 stocks and cash. Still a ways off from my ATH since 2022 was such a downer. Portfolio has to go up another 12% to get there! So my stocks have to go up 25% more!

I'm teased to get back into more stocks. Shoulda, woulda, coulda.
 

Ellery

Member
I need to get started in investing. Guess I gotta start somewhere right?

Definitely. Investing is always great to start, because investing is long term. You can also trade, but that would be more like short term speculative "investing".

I am not saying that trading is bad, but it operates on a different timescale and has completely different emotional requirements. Investing is for everyone. Trading isn't.

But investing and learning about finances is something that everyone should do. Start with small positions and see how it works. Get to know how companies operate dive into the world of putting your money to work.

replying to myself here but my all-in investment into $BABA just crossed 80% return on common stock and approximately 450% on my call options.

It almost feels disgusting to 3x my portfilio size in a market where most people have lost their asses. I wanted to share this post as when I wrote it, I was as much sharing it for integrity as I was convincing myself my decision was the right one to make.

What a week. $baba at $115 again, roll on $200.

I hope you are all ready for lord wealth destroyer J.Powow himself to rug pull the market with the CPI report tomorrow.

Big congratulations. That is a gigantic trade and well deserved.

Say what platform/broker are you using to trade options?
 

Fools idol

Banned
Big congratulations. That is a gigantic trade and well deserved.

Say what platform/broker are you using to trade options?

thanks mate!

I was using Interactive Brokers. I closed out the options to lock in the absurd gains because the risk was high, I don't like options trading at all.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Today is a momentous day. I finally broke even day trading after some really hard lessons. Been doing it since early 2021.

Thanks/fuck you, Tesla!
Yup. Another nice one. Stocks went up 3% today. I think my stocks have gone up 15% in 3 weeks. If they can repeat this, I'll break even from my 2022 lows (what a lousy year 2022 was) and reach my ATH again like in 2021.
 
Last edited:

hollams

Gold Member
Wild ride with NVDA past year. Start of 2022 I was up 12K in the stock and for some reason didn't sell. Oct 2022 was down 4K. Today up $100. Whew.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Good rebound. Only lost $500. Was down $1000s in the morning.

So tempted to roll the dice on volatile shit like Roku, Square or Paypal. I dont even care about the fundamentals. Just hope for the Nasdaq to go up and they go up 20% with it kind of thing. Then bail.
 
Last edited:

Fools idol

Banned
the dividend-only portfolio I set up for my 4 year old daughter reached a milestone today... $10,000 per year in dividend income. Thanks to recent dividend hikes from $LOW, $TGT and $SQM (12% starting yield when I loaded a few weeks back!).

The actual overall return thus far is down -16% total thanks to the shitty year we just had but the dividend keep rolling in and increasing.

it pays out $2.5k or so every 3 months, give or take a few dollars depending on further raises this year. It has been set to fully reinvest all dividends and I automated a $1k deposit to go in every month from now. Purchases made every 2 months to reduce fees and dollar cost average. I am hoping by the time she turns 18 it will be churning out at least $75k a year so she can pursue whatever she wants in life.i
 
Last edited:
Good rebound. Only lost $500. Was down $1000s in the morning.

So tempted to roll the dice on volatile shit like Roku, Square or Paypal. I dont even care about the fundamentals. Just hope for the Nasdaq to go up and they go up 20% with it kind of thing. Then bail.

Yep, a sort of extended day trade mentality has been creeping up on me as well.
 

Ellery

Member
lol Powell folded like a deck chair. What a little cuck.

Guess we will get a rally for a month or two.

I am somewhat afraid of taking any positions in the market at the moment. (I also don't have access to all the cool short term leveraged trading instruments)

I feel like I am too late now and some stocks already had crazy gains in the last 4 weeks.

But most of all I am surprised how well the US and euro zone is taking quantitative tightening. Maybe the fallout comes with a big delay

Extremely hard to make sense of the markets for me. I will probably stick to the technicals and evaluations and imho things are too expensive

Do you expect a 10-20% rally for 4-5 weeks and then bear market again?
 

HoodWinked

Member
It's weird how psychologically good this market is at manipulating your mind.

Like you think only an idiot sells low and buys high. And just like that when the market was bottoming end of December no Santa rally that's when you should have brought as people were selling. And now fear and greed index shows little fear as the market has rallied and more dumb money is flooding in.
 

Ellery

Member
It's weird how psychologically good this market is at manipulating your mind.

Like you think only an idiot sells low and buys high. And just like that when the market was bottoming end of December no Santa rally that's when you should have brought as people were selling. And now fear and greed index shows little fear as the market has rallied and more dumb money is flooding in.

Yeah I try to stay away from any media or influencer opinion regarding the state of the market.

On a personal level I think shit is fucked beyond repair, but that would just be my personal opinion and the market doesn't bow to my personal opinion so I can't use my anecdotal feelings as an investment strategy.

It also isn't as easy as being an anticyclical investor.

What is your current modus operandi?
 

GHG

Member
the market doesn't bow to my personal opinion so I can't use my anecdotal feelings as an investment strategy.

On a fundamental level this is how everyone trades and invests, even the best. But there are three important things that you need to have:

  • Rules - what are you willing to risk and what do you seek to gain. What's your walk away point if you're wrong and at what point do you realise your profits if you're correct.
  • Conviction to see the trade through to its final outcome defined above - this can only come from a deep understanding of why your thesis is what it is - can this be backed up through research? As an example, if you think "shit is fucked beyond repair" why is that your feeling and can that be quantified in any way? If you can't find anything concrete to back up your feelings then don't put anything into action, keep searching until you can find something that gives you confidence to take action.
  • Discipline - simple one in principle but many find it difficult in practice, stick to your fucking rules.
 
Last edited:

GHG

Member
There is an inverse Jim Cramer ETF that buys what he says to sell and shorts what he says to buy and so far its up around 200% on the year lol

Or just scrap everything I said in my post above and do this.

Inverse Cathy, inverse Cramer.

I've also noticed Cathy Wood is getting herself back in the press in recent weeks. The signals are all starting to align again.
 

Ellery

Member
Or just scrap everything I said in my post above and do this.

Inverse Cathy, inverse Cramer.

I've also noticed Cathy Wood is getting herself back in the press in recent weeks. The signals are all starting to align again.

What do you mean? The signals for what? :pie_thinking:
 
Personally when shit his the fan I went for the blissful ignorance approach and am just pretending I'm not loosing thousands of dollars.

I'm in what I'm in for the long run I guess. Be that a good or bad thing!
 

Grildon Tundy

Gold Member
I bought some MSFT, NVIDIA, and AMD last week since they seemed low. They're up 6%, 10%, & 20% right now, respectively.

It's fun to see some increases after watching my main portfolio hover around -15% lifetime for a year or so. Even if I'm still down overall

Not that it really matters; this is my personal retirement portfolio (in addition to my company 401ks) I do for fun/in an effort to invest as much as I can as early as I can. Not planning on pulling it out for another decade at least.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Yep the mania is back. AMZN, AAPL and GOOGL all miss. Market up.

Don't see how this doesn't all end in tears.
Ya, I was going to say the same thing. I missed all month to jump back into tech stocks.

I'm itching now. Maybe Monday.

I did buy some HIMX a week or so ago and up a modest 5%. But been on the sidelines for a good half a year.
 
Yep the mania is back. AMZN, AAPL and GOOGL all miss. Market up.

Don't see how this doesn't all end in tears.

I wonder if it’s smart or dumb money behind this rally. I don’t really hear anyone at work or in my friend circle talking about the stock market like they all were during the post-Covid run up. regardless, for sure there will be a significant pull back. The question is when. I think we run up for a few more weeks and have a correction by mid February or early March
 
Top Bottom