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dennishoddy

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I enjoy picking individual stocks but have learned a few lessons the hard way. I have invested in too many companies without understanding them at all, mainly biotech stuff. I bought into bitcoin on pure emotion/excitement thinking it could go to the moon (lost my @$$ bad on that one), then on top of all that I wouldn't set a stop loss and would refuse to sell from pride or hope or whatever so my losses would drop to the point of no return. I have spent a lot of time researching the basic principles to successful trading and a few things that stand out to me are the importance of entry price, cutting losses short, letting profits run. I have always loved buying and selling (vehicles, guns, ammo, etc...) and trading equity is no different. The more familiar you are with what you are buying the better your odds are for a successful sell.

Lately I have taken Andrew Carnegie's advice to heart: "Put all of your egg in one basket, then watch that basket". I will focus on just a handful of companies that I am familiar with and watch them closely.
I feel your pain. I have a fun money account to invest in distressed stocks that are too big to fail. It's done really well, until thinking GE was going to be a jewel in the rough. Even with a CEO change, dumping non paying assets, it still sucks. Thought I bought in at the bottom, but that was a fail. It's dropped since, so that fund will just sit there until it recovers. The dreams of quick money didn't happen.
 

Shadowrider

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I feel your pain. I have a fun money account to invest in distressed stocks that are too big to fail. It's done really well, until thinking GE was going to be a jewel in the rough. Even with a CEO change, dumping non paying assets, it still sucks. Thought I bought in at the bottom, but that was a fail. It's dropped since, so that fund will just sit there until it recovers. The dreams of quick money didn't happen.
I was looking at GE a couple of weeks ago. The new guy is turning it around but the former asshat had them in such bad shape it almost killed the company. GE is almost a buy now. Key word is almost. They aren't finished dropping yet. Scuttlebutt says they will drop their dividend altogether or slash it drastically. After they do that is when the talking heads say it'll be time to buy. It may yet be another year or a little more.

Did you get into Sandridge? I took them out of my watch list and wrote them off as gone when they were delisted. Boy was that ever a mistake... :(
 

JD8

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I enjoy picking individual stocks but have learned a few lessons the hard way. I have invested in too many companies without understanding them at all, mainly biotech stuff. I bought into bitcoin on pure emotion/excitement thinking it could go to the moon (lost my @$$ bad on that one), then on top of all that I wouldn't set a stop loss and would refuse to sell from pride or hope or whatever so my losses would drop to the point of no return. I have spent a lot of time researching the basic principles to successful trading and a few things that stand out to me are the importance of entry price, cutting losses short, letting profits run. I have always loved buying and selling (vehicles, guns, ammo, etc...) and trading equity is no different. The more familiar you are with what you are buying the better your odds are for a successful sell.

Lately I have taken Andrew Carnegie's advice to heart: "Put all of your egg in one basket, then watch that basket". I will focus on just a handful of companies that I am familiar with and watch them closely.

More importantly pick several sectors, at least 5-6 IMO. Then become familiar with the sector and pick the best of breed. Be careful to not overload too many stocks in one sector unless you are extremely nimble and know what you are doing.
 

filbert

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I've had mine in conservative for years, cause I just don't know anything about investing and don't watch the market. I guess it's back to my safe space.
I always keep my TSP in C,S, and I Funds. I am down 5% right now, went to G Fund tell this blows over, maybe 2 weeks. You are wasting your time keeping your money in G or F Funds, I go to G Fund only when we hit a bump. I have averaged over 12% annual grow in C,S, and I.
 

dennishoddy

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I was looking at GE a couple of weeks ago. The new guy is turning it around but the former asshat had them in such bad shape it almost killed the company. GE is almost a buy now. Key word is almost. They aren't finished dropping yet. Scuttlebutt says they will drop their dividend altogether or slash it drastically. After they do that is when the talking heads say it'll be time to buy. It may yet be another year or a little more.

Did you get into Sandridge? I took them out of my watch list and wrote them off as gone when they were delisted. Boy was that ever a mistake... :(

Yeah, GE is going to be long term, not short term like I dreamed.
I forgot about sandridge unfortunately.
 

Jeff405

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I always keep my TSP in C,S, and I Funds. I am down 5% right now, went to G Fund tell this blows over, maybe 2 weeks. You are wasting your time keeping your money in G or F Funds, I go to G Fund only when we hit a bump. I have averaged over 12% annual grow in C,S, and I.

Mine was sitting in G for 7 years, I just recently moved to 60% C and 40% S. Nothing In I right now. I'm as new as you can get to this stuff at 38 years old.
 

SlugSlinger

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So is today a rebound or a bounce?

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I’m just letting my investments ride at this point. I’m still up 8% YTD (as of yesterday) and almost 25% for the last 12 months.

What alternative is there at this point in the business cycle? I suspect there will be a correction once interest rates stabilize higher. And rates must go higher before inflation raises it’s ugly head. The Fed raising rates are mainly driving the market volatility right now.
 
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Fredkrueger100

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I have no idea what's going on, I just moved my TSP to more aggressive. Maybe that wasn't a good idea.
I have my 401k and my wife’s in aggressive and they are both doing excellent. I am glad I chose the things I did to put our money in. Don’t let all the negativity get you down. Just make sure and watch it about every 6 months. Sometimes it will do bad. Sometimes it will do great. But if you have solid losses over the course of a year and a half I would put it back in conservative. Also my ROR for the year is 15%. Can’t rememebr what my wife’s is.
 

CoronaBorealis

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If you're going to get in the market, now is as good a time as any. Generally speaking, today is the cheapest the market will ever be. Now is an especially good time with the pull back.

I don't ever touch my money in a market slump. Some people were mentioning moving their money to more conservative investments during times like this. If you do this with current investments, you are actualizing the losses. If you do it with new money, you're passing up the opportunity to buy at really discounted prices.

The best strategy you can use is determine what level of risk you are comfortable with and then stick with that strategy until your comfort level changes. If your comfort level is determined by how well the market is or is not doing, you need to reevaluate your actual comfort level. I'm 36 and completely content to see the market drop 10%. Granted I don't want to see that, but I'd be fine with it because I'm young and am investing new money every two weeks. Reevaluate your strategy once a year and leave it alone. You can go more conservative or more aggressive during that time, but trying to chase the gains or minimize losses by reacting to fluctuations throughout the year will only lead to heartache.
 

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