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What have you invested in?

  • Thread starter nrbelex
  • Start date
Hey all -

Sooo... I'm thinking about doing a little bit of investing and am looking for advice from those in the know. Currently, I am watching the attached stocks and funds as prospects. What do ya think? Any experts out there?

I've found The Motley Fool and the Red Herring quite useful. Thanks!

~ Brett
 
I don't know jack about stocks, but I have heard about a company that recently went public and looks like it could stand to make a decent profit... They make a product called HexTend which is used to replace blood plasma when people have lost a lot of blood due to injury or surgery. The kicker is that HexTend prevents the formation of ice crystals in blood, opening up the possibility for low-temperature surgery and (possibly) even full-blown cryogenics. Test animals have been treated with HexTend, frozen, and revived, and displayed no ill effects after just a few weeks. Low-temperature surgery would allow doctors to perform much longer procedures than ordinarily possible - for example, the human brain can survive up to 18 hours on oxygen stored in brain tissue when chilled below forty degrees Fahrenheit. It has implications for all sorts of procedures, including cancer removal and the separation of conjoined twins. As soon as I'm out of school and making some money, I intend to put some cash away into these technologies.
Best luck,
~Joe
 
Hmmm - interesting - It's been public for 6 days so it's hard to really get a feel for it but I'll check up on it from time-to-time. It sounds a little bit similar to Oxygent.

Thanks
~ Brett
 
Invest in gold! I swear that's an investment with few if any risks. I would also invest some money into the Euro. The Euro is the highest currency, and I expect it will keep going up. Invest in google. I'd say invest in CAT, but I believe they split. Also, check out some of Sean David Morton's predictions below-

-The flu pandemic will reach its peak in 2006 and Asia will be particularly hard hit with deaths.
-Gold and precious metals will continue to rise in value. Gold will hit 725 by July-Aug. 0f 2006.
-Good stock picks for right now: Apple Computer, Pixar, Nuclear Solutions, Azure Dynamics and Magna Entertainment.
-The housing market/mortgage bubble will pop sometime within the next six months.
-A "savagely cold" winter for the Midwest and East Coast will cause energy costs to rise again, with the price of an oil barrel reaching $75-80 by January.
-The 2008 presidential election will be between Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush. (He declined to predict a winner at this juncture.)
-**** Cheney will resign due to "health issues."
-The San Francisco region will have three serious quakes in 2006. The precursor will be a 6.5 quake in central California occurring in Feb.-March.
-This will be followed by quakes centered near Hollister, Vallejo/Marin and the East Bay between April and October.

He is a remote viewer who has been very good on his predictions in the past, financially and otherwise.
 
I believe in remote viewing, but what does remote viewing have to do with clairvoyance? Isn't remote viewing able to see places far away from just standing still, well I know there's more to it. Sorry, don't want to derail this thread.
 
piratethread8na.gif


~ Brett
 
well..i would invest in gold, silver, platinum. other then that idk really..i know that many companies are out there to invest in.

thanks

Brad
 
i dont invest in stocks, i dont see much point in it. i keep a few rifles around that are worth some $$, the others that i have purchased really wont loose much of their value. personally i like the precious metals but even those can fluctuate qute a bit. personally i would be asking most on this forum for serious investment advise.

my personal view is i prefer to have hard assets to liquid. i like having my guns in the safe, and my few hundred dollars in gemstones. plus a few other odds and ends. i guess i just prefer to see what i have rather than to have to look up stocks to see what i have today, yah know what i mean? but thats just me and as far as making any serious money on it? i probably wont but im happy with my choice cause it suits me. now if i had anextra $30,000 i know a couple of lots up around the local lake i would be purchasing and installing septic systems and running power to. it would be a safe investment that probably would pay off big a few years down the road.
 
  • #10
Generally, people shouldn't invest in individual stocks, as it's just too risky. Stick with a good, reputable mutual fund.

As far as larger investments go, I've always been a fan of real estate. The world isn't getting any larger, and there are more and more of us. It just makes sense that real estate will continue to increase, especially over the long haul.

Capslock
 
  • #11
yes..guns are nice too..the problem with me is i would never sell most of the guns i own..

property is also good. ones by water or jsut on the outside of town tend to be the best i believe.

gem stone/presious metals are nice bc..well say gold for example.it has always been valueable and..it will always be valueble.

coins are going up too..

thanks

Brad
 
  • #12
I have been investing for couple of years. All I can say is do about 2 hours of homework before buying into any company. May say that is a lot of time to study for one company but, if you want to make money that is what it takes. Invest in solid companies with dividends as you get better you can go with smaller companies. You will get burned many times and lose money, but will pay off in the long run with the tools and knowledge that comes from losing. Good Luck!
 
  • #13
Well today has not been a good day for the market... Oh well - good thing it's all virtual for me for now. Capslock - If you look back at the quotes in the first post, you'll see that three out of the five are ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds) much like Mutual Funds; only two are individual companies. And don't worry rattler, I'm not looking for serious advice - I already have a few ideas and was just throwing this out there to see what people think.
smile.gif


~ Brett
 
  • #14
Mutual funds are good and can be quickly converted into cash.  You'll miss the spectacular increases that are possible with individual stocks or real estate, but you'll also miss the spectacular declines.  And, unlike the many months it can take to sell real estate, you can cash in your fund almost instantly.  That's important if you might suddenly face medical problems or a family crisis or whatever.

I'm a pretty conservative liberal, so I like value funds.  They focus on companies whose stock prices are low relative to the companies' earnings.  The more adventuresome like growth funds, which focus on companies expected to earn more and more and more.  Then the bubble bursts and they return to earth very hard.

As for investing in guns, the problem is when you need to start selling them to fix the house or put the kid through school. There's a lot less emotional attachment to a mutual fund.
 
  • #15
But how about Exchange Traded Funds?

From Wikipedia:
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are open-ended collective investments traded as shares on most global stock exchanges.

The legal structure and makeup varies around the world, however the major common features include:

* An exchange listing and ability to trade continually
* Typically they are index-linked rather than actively managed
* The ability to handle contribution and redemptions on an in-kind basis (typically in large blocks of shares only)

These qualities provide ETFs with some significant advantages compared to traditional open-ended collective investments. The ETF’s structure allows for a diversified, low cost, low turnover index investment. This appeals to both institutional and retail investors to use as a long term hold and for selling short and hedging strategies.

Typically, ETFs try to replicate a stock market index such as the S&P 500, NASDAQ-100, MSCI EAFE, and so on.
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Today ETFs present a viable alternative investment option to traditional open-ended mutual funds, especially open-ended index funds. There are many available ETFs that attempt to track all kind of indexes (such as large-cap, mid-cap, small-cap, etc), specialties (such as value and growth), industries, countries, and even commodities (while commodity funds like Gold Shares are technically not ETFs, they trade like ETFs).

Anybody have experience with these? I definitely agree with the mutual fund arguments but the ETFs are just an extension of it.
smile.gif


Thanls!

~ Brett
 
  • #16
true Bruce, like i said its something that fits me. and thats one of the main differences between the hard and liquid assets for the most part, how quickly they can be converted to cash.
 
  • #17
You can think of ETFs as being like mutual funds, but they're much easier to buy and sell. You treat them as if they were stocks. They're somewhat new but there's a lot of variety in them now.
 
  • #18
That's what I had gathered but I just needed confirmation - thanks!

~ Brett
 
  • #19
i also really dont know much about stocks but with that social security thing going on i have a 401k plant and am investing in my own company i work for, nordstrom...
 
  • #20
Investing in the company you work for can be good, especially if there's a match by the company.  But, if the company tanks, you can lose your job and investment at the same time.  So be sure to diversify.

As for ETF's, I think they're best suited for people who move large chunks of money at a time.  Many mutual funds allow you to add modest amounts monthly or biweekly without additional cost.  The brokerage fees for doing that with an ETF would chew up a lot of your investment.
 
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