Livestock Trading Thread: Baa or better

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > Livestock Trading Thread: Baa or better

big shtick energy: May 27, 2004

Mr. Wynand posted:

Hello BFC!

I'm about to do something I know is not entirely smart and spend some of my RRSP investments (us note: it's similar to a 401k but you can direct your investments however you wish) in single stocks. About half of my yearly contribution actually.

I've done this before with AAPL because a) it's essentially a good company with a good long term business plan b) I actually understand the industry enough to follow the news and gage for myself how stupid/smart decisions are and c) it was relatively cheap when I bought it. That worked out well. (sold at a tidy return)

This time AAPL is gently caress-expensive and I don't know what to think of it so I'd rather not touch it. Instead I have my sights set on the following companies, for the same a-b-c reasons as before:

ATVI and ERTS. Both are conveniently suffering stock price hick-ups and both are essentially good companies with good, hard to gently caress-up portfolios.

Is there any outstandingly obvious reason I should not be doing this?

So you'd be putting half you retirement savings into a few single stocks? I mean, if your goal is to speculate, that's fine, but combining speculation and long-term retirement savings can easily end in tears.

# ¿ Feb 16, 2010 00:14

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# ¿ May 3, 2024 06:40

big shtick energy: May 27, 2004

Anyone else in BPT? It's at kind of a premium right now because it's been bid up 15-20% despite flat oil prices, but it's the best instrument I can find for longer-term exposure to crude prices.

# ¿ Mar 25, 2010 21:17

big shtick energy: May 27, 2004

asmallrabbit posted:

Beyond all the other resources to explain how stocks and such work, is there a guide or resource on the basics of how trading for income works? I ask because while it seems like information on strategies and analyzing data etc is easy to find, I haven't found a good example of how to actually get started and what to look for.

For example, how much money should one have to get started and actually have a shot at being successful? 500? 1000? 5000?

If you mean trading as a full time job, you're going to need something well into the six figure range to make it worthwhile. If you mean just making small trades as a hobby (poker is probably more fun and there's a decent chance you'd lose the same amount doing either) then, as you mentioned you need enough that commissions don't eat up all of your profit from a trade.

I'd encourage you to do a LOT more reading before jumping in, though. I think the OP has some good resources to check out.

# ¿ Apr 14, 2010 21:37

big shtick energy: May 27, 2004

Corn posted:

I have a hypothetical question for those of you in this thread who know what their doing,

Say that a firm such as Goldman Sachs stock went down to $.98 cents a share (which it did sometime in april), and I decided to buy 10,000 of those. Wouldnt that be a gaurenteed profit? Can someone explain this to me, and why wouldn't everyone do something like this? Admittedly, I have little experience in the stock market, I'm still a beginner slowly learning.

What? It didn't go below $140 in April.

# ¿ Jun 6, 2010 00:59

big shtick energy: May 27, 2004

fougera posted:

Been reading Ben Graham's book. How applicable is that general portfolio policy between stocks and bonds to today's market? Are there better alternatives to bonds? I ask because I thought the bond market is crowded now or does it not make a difference?

I don't think you really understood the main message of the book, assuming you're talking about the Intelligent Investor. You may want to check out the long-term investment thread.

# ¿ Jun 8, 2010 04:57

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# ¿ May 3, 2024 06:40

big shtick energy: May 27, 2004

Heisanevilgenius posted:

Well, I've read quite a lot of conflicting reports about Questrade that sound iffy. I'll probably end up going with TD since it's so well recommended here. Thanks.

Questrade is by far the cheapest. TD in canada is okay, but not super amazing. I can't recall whether they let you hold USD in a RRSP, which is something you'll want in order to avoid a bunch of forced conversions. qtrade (which has nothing to do with questrade) often gets the top spot in canadian brokerage rankings so you might want to look at them as well. From what I heard iTrade is kind of crappy now so there's not reason to go with it.

I'm with questrade, and not unhappy about it, but you get what you pay for in this case.

# ¿ Jun 3, 2011 20:00

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > Livestock Trading Thread: Baa or better