Finance/Investing ITT

[Vedubin01]

I'm still kicking myself for not buying Citi stock when it was $0.99 a share in the beginning of March. It is probably still a good buy at ~$3.50 as it sits today.

Gov. owns 60 or so percent of it. No thank you.

Even if you took Ford at its lowest just under $1 back earlier this year. It being the biggest gainer of the list. And it went up 8.44, what it is today at close. you would have increased your investment 8.44 to 1. Or in J.B case $300, he would break with just under $2700 or $2532. Well shy of the $14k one claims. (Ford Motor Co does not pay dividends.)

[John Rocker]

anyone need or want a Scottrade account please pm me. I recommend someone we both will get 3 free trades. Not much but hey.

Id almost call BS on J.R. with his claims to going from $300 march 09 to $14k today August 05 2009.

Readem and weep:



Ive made small deposits along the way, but I mainly accredit it to me taking advantage of the aggregated fear of the banking industry. Like I said, I was buying shares of C @ $1, BAC @ $3, FITB @ $2.50, and WFC (cant remember what I bought in at)




C is now at $3.50ish/share, BAC is @ $17.10, and FITB @ $10.

*edit* at almost 15k today

[Alkasquawlik]

I wish I could turn $300 into $15k in a couple months. I'd be in an E46 M3 right now.

[nmlss2006]

If you're willing to accept that the $300 will most probably turn into 0 instead (see poster's previous experience) anything can be done.

[Vedubin01]

Readem and weep:

Looks to me you use Scottrade as well. Though the graph looks really impressive, Send me a copy of your trade history. Then I will be quite Impressed. Currently I am up 46% for the year.

Current investments
CHK
Dow
FSUMF
GE
PVG
PVX
UYM
VICL

[John Rocker]

I dont like GE, for the fact that they seem to be going the way of GM. They make jet engines, have their own GE financing division, make appliances, own a TV network, etc.

Spread too thin, and have too many focuses. I just really dont get their business model.

[Vedubin01]

I picked up GE when it was at 9 and today its sitting at 14. Up until this last rounds of dividends GE paid out around 10%. Not that bad of an investment. The GE Finance is whats holding them back. But as banks recoup so will GE Finance.

[Alkasquawlik]

So obviously some of you guys use Scottrade. Any use e-trade?
I'm trying to figure out which one is the best to start out small with.

[Vedubin01]

E-trade has a dark past. Stick with something solid. Scottrade will allow you to start an account with only $500 and with $7 trades.

[John Rocker]

Stick with Scottrade. Nice platform, maybe not the best (I have not tried others), but lots of good tools. If you are starting small, you dont want to go with a bigger brokerage and get fucked with $15+ per trade, etc. $7 is the cheapest of the big boys. Ive seen other places offer $1 or $3.50 per trade, but they are brokerages I would never deal with. If you are daytrading on a small amount, a round trip (buy, then quick sell) is going to cost you $14 at scottrade, maybe $30 somewhere else. Do that a few times and it really starts to errode your takehome profit. Then after taxes your gain may be close to zero. Cheaper trades are better.

That and you can go into a Scottrade office near you and talk to a live body. Most brokers there have helped me out with stuff at no charge.

[John Rocker]

I picked up GE when it was at 9 and today its sitting at 14. Up until this last rounds of dividends GE paid out around 10%. Not that bad of an investment. The GE Finance is whats holding them back. But as banks recoup so will GE Finance.

Thats a nice take. That would be a good trade to hold onto. My strategy has been to buy bank shares cheap, keep buying, wait for TARP to be paid off, then dividends will rise above the $.01 dividend cap. Im taking some off the table though at the moment because the BKX (bank index) has taken a pretty sharp run-up within the last 2 weeks. Some people I know are going purely cash right now, expecting a downturn.

Has worked thus far, Im assuming the same strategy can be used with GE, minus the whole dividend cap thing (unless they received TARP funds).

[Saul325is]

That's neat. Thanks for the link.

No problem! I actually made a huge return with that game in Spring of 2008 when Apple, Visa, and Halliburton sky rocketed...too bad I didnt invest real money :(

[nmlss2006]

E-trade has a dark past. Stick with something solid. Scottrade will allow you to start an account with only $500 and with $7 trades.

...dark past? No, I would not recommend etrade either, but because they're expensive. What dark past?

[Vedubin01]

...dark past? No, I would not recommend etrade either, but because they're expensive. What dark past?

They had a lot of their own company invested in those high yielding sub prime funds and they took a bath. I am not going to invest my money in a company that is not stable. E-trade being one of them.


As for the banking stocks.

Ive been watching FAS since it was in the low teens, today its sitting at or around $77 per. 52 week high was $293+. I have some free cash and thinking of trying to pick up about 50 shares and ride whats left of this banking run. Im just looking for a pull back. Stock is up $7 today alone.

[nmlss2006]

They had a lot of their own company invested in those high yielding sub prime funds and they took a bath. I am not going to invest my money in a company that is not stable. E-trade being one of them.

As I thought, then. I would perhaps advise you to doublecheck the above, by the by. But I'll stop here.