Do you invest in any stocks?
- Thread starter Deft Beck
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Ace Harding
Member
Yes, but the vast majority of my investments are in index funds. I would advise anyone not to invest too much of their savings in individual stocks.
thekonamicode
Member
I think we have a thread for this.
TarpitCarnivore
Member
I only use targeted funds in my 401K and Roth IRA. Once I have more equity built up in both of them I plan to use some of it for more individualized stocks.
Unless you have the time and knowledge to dedicate to individual stocks don't get involved.
Unless you have the time and knowledge to dedicate to individual stocks don't get involved.
There's an old guy I know that says he makes thousands a month on 'options'. He tells me I should start doing weekly options and make a few hundred every week. I don't even know where to begin. He won't hold my hand through it, but he's very adament that I, a young man, get a 2nd source of income and do options.
He's been telling me this for months, but it's all a foreign language to me.
He's been telling me this for months, but it's all a foreign language to me.
Skiptastic
Member
I do but I'm considering moving out into index funds. I love my dividends, though, so might need a dividend accruing fund.
TarpitCarnivore
Member
yeah, don't do this. I'm not saying getting into options is a bad thing but you need a lot of knowledge in order to know the market and see things happening.
Infinity
Member
Options can lead to huge returns and likewise, huge losses. I'm a "buy-and-hold" investor and like to invest in great companies when they're on sale. I only invest in a few, with the rest in Vanguard index funds.
To me, options are a big gamble. IMO, you have to really know the company, it's history and the market of the business.
With options, you're basically betting on whether or not a company will succeed or fail. I won't go into the technicals, because sites like www.investopedia.com can do a much better job of that.
TarpitCarnivore
Member
This is what I was trying to get at. I wasn't advocating to not invest in them, but it was clear the poster would be way in over their head.
I want to eventually get into buy and hold on individual stocks, but I want more equity in my portfolio first.
Infinity
Member
Totally my bad - my reply was directed to the OP, and I replied to your message.
Indeed, a few judicious puts on a company that you know beyond all reasonable doubt will not perform well at a quarterly report can net you a ton of cash.
shadowsdarknes
Member
I've taken graduate level courses on options and I dont even feel confident to get on the market and trade to make money via options.
PandaPandaPanda
Member
I currently trade options and the old guy isn't lying but that being said, if you don't know what you are doing then either find a way to learn or don't even try as it's even more dangerous than regular stock trading. If you can get approved for options trading (I couldn't get approved unless my parents co signed for my account) you should give it a shot if you have some idea of what to do.
Also i'm still very much a beginner < 3 months experience in options trading as i'm still learning from my dad who has 25+ years experience in the market so don't bother asking me for advice as I wouldn't be able to give any good advice.
negreenfield
Member
Seriously just stick to index funds. I'll direct you to bogleheads like I do everyone.
When I was born my dad invested stock in Disneyland for me and I've had that stock ever since.
I have a friend who's done tons of investments since High School and makes lucrative amounts of money from it, and he's just a college student. Blows my mind how he does it, and he claims it's really easy too.
I have a friend who's done tons of investments since High School and makes lucrative amounts of money from it, and he's just a college student. Blows my mind how he does it, and he claims it's really easy too.
toxicgonzo
Taxes?! Isn't this the line for Metallica?
To all the naysayers, stock options let you control the amount of risk you want to take on. It can be a gamble if you over-leverage your portfolio, but it can also be used as temporary stock insurance.
bought some Apple stock, realized the performance of a company has no strong corellation to stock prices (the market be cray), kept it so i can - whenever i enter an Apple store - feel like i own the place (because i kinda sorta do!)
wouldn't ever do trading with any single stock for speculative reasons, because i realized that:
a) i can't outsmart the market (or maybe i can, but the market's too dumb to realize!)
b) i'm risk-averse anyways
I'm invested in two funds, currently, but they yield like ... 4% annually, are extremely low risk though.
wouldn't ever do trading with any single stock for speculative reasons, because i realized that:
a) i can't outsmart the market (or maybe i can, but the market's too dumb to realize!)
b) i'm risk-averse anyways
I'm invested in two funds, currently, but they yield like ... 4% annually, are extremely low risk though.
I have stock in a few companies. Verizon, AT&T, Pepsi, Yum Brands, American Electric Power, and a couple others. Not too many shares, though..most of my extra money goes towards the 401(k) and student loans. A Roth IRA is a good place to put your money, too.
Agree with the people saying index funds, that's a good thing to get into.
Yeah, you can make some serious money through options, but you can also lose serious money. It's been awhile since I had this class, but the extremely short version:
Call option: You're buying the right to BUY a stock at a specified price, no matter how much the actual price is.
Example: You buy an option to buy 100 shares of company abc at $2.00 per share. The price goes up to $10.00 per share. You exercise the option, because then you get those stocks for $2.00, and you can turn around and sell them for $10.00, for a profit of $8.00 per share. Big money.
Put option: You're buying the right to SELL a stock at a specified price, no matter how much the actual price is.
Example: You buy an option to sell100 shares of company xyz at $10.00 per share. The price goes down to $2.00 per share. You exercise the option, because then you sell those stocks for $10.00, even though they're only worth $2.00.
There's a lot more to it than that..there are expiration dates, "naked" puts, etc etc. That's just a VERY high level overview of options.
Agree with the people saying index funds, that's a good thing to get into.
Yeah, you can make some serious money through options, but you can also lose serious money. It's been awhile since I had this class, but the extremely short version:
Call option: You're buying the right to BUY a stock at a specified price, no matter how much the actual price is.
Example: You buy an option to buy 100 shares of company abc at $2.00 per share. The price goes up to $10.00 per share. You exercise the option, because then you get those stocks for $2.00, and you can turn around and sell them for $10.00, for a profit of $8.00 per share. Big money.
Put option: You're buying the right to SELL a stock at a specified price, no matter how much the actual price is.
Example: You buy an option to sell100 shares of company xyz at $10.00 per share. The price goes down to $2.00 per share. You exercise the option, because then you sell those stocks for $10.00, even though they're only worth $2.00.
There's a lot more to it than that..there are expiration dates, "naked" puts, etc etc. That's just a VERY high level overview of options.
User 479360
Banned
No. I know next to nothing about the market and it scares me. I don't want to risk losing money.
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