The Investment Thread (stocks, bonds, real estate, retirement, just not gold)

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^ he did very well for himself but I don't think $1 million (pre-tax) is enough nowadays to slow down.
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confettiflyer said:
I think Momus had zero debt andretu consider +30% returns from market bottom in 2011 it makes sense how he got to $1M.

I'm nowhere near Momus but I'm accumulating at a rate much faster than I imagined.
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No debt makes more sense.... that would have enabled him to take advantage of 2009s massive returns (plus not having to pay back the actual loan).
 
Gombrich12 said:
Please tell me you're ratcheting down your equity exposure Momus, you've won the game.
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Why should he? If his timeline is measured in decades, there's absolutely no reason to shift to a conservative allocation.
 
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just running some numbers in my head. If my wife and I had $230k (we graduated in 2010 with $230K in student loans which we paid off) in S&P500 on this day back in 2009, today that part alone would be worth $700k.

Well, the real life story played out when we graduated in 2010 we were worth NEGATIVE $200k, but now we are worth about $400-$500K. If we didn't have the cost of our wedding and having 2 kids we would be worth at least another $250K more by now.
 
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Momus said:
Mint.com
Mint%20-%20Overview.jpg

Finally, 7 figure club. Not bad for a 30 yo lowly staff pharmacist. Next full time goal is to find a professional frugal wife! LOL.
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Impressive.
Own a home, or are you renting?
 
Yeah Momus, Everyone here including my self likes to know how did u do it??more importantly if u have invested in stocks, which stocks would u recommend to buy?
 
Whereismynorco said:
Yeah Momus, Everyone here including my self likes to know how did u do it??more importantly if u have invested in stocks, which stocks would u recommend to buy?
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Momus would agree buying individual stocks is the fastest way to go broke.

Bogleheads, baby!
 
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+295,000 in February. U-6 down to 11%. Lowest since the recession started. Euro down to 1.08 and dropping as I type.

Flights to Europe are starting to get ridiculously cheap:

dct3q0.jpg


That's 2 round trip tickets to Stockholm for 527 Euros. That works out to about $572 with the current exchange rate as it is. That is $286 PER ROUND TRIP! WooooW!
 
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confettiflyer said:
Momus would agree buying individual stocks is the fastest way to go broke.

Bogleheads, baby!
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Nothing wrong with buying couple single stocks with play money. Bought bank of America when it was <$5 a share. Bought Trius pharmaceuticals before they sold to Cubist. So far these play money bets have done far better than my main retirement accounts. Great for some fun, but I would never stake the bulk of my retirement investment on it.
 
WVUPharm2007 said:
+295,000 in February. U-6 down to 11%. Lowest since the recession started. Euro down to 1.08 and dropping as I type.

Flights to Europe are starting to get ridiculously cheap:

dct3q0.jpg


That's 2 round trip tickets to Stockholm for 527 Euros. That works out to about $572 with the current exchange rate as it is. That is $286 PER ROUND TRIP! WooooW!
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Err, you are going to Sweden in January? When all the babes are covered with three layers of heavy fur coat? Then what's the point? J/k
 
confettiflyer said:
Momus would agree buying individual stocks is the fastest way to go broke.

Bogleheads, baby!
Click to expand...

The overall stock market seems a bit pricy to me. I think easy credit has something to do with it. Instead of buying just index funds, I have also been buying individual stocks that are struggling.

I think it is all about risk tolerance. I wouldn't put my rent money in one stock but if I have a few extra dollars, it is a nice way to keep you involve in your investment.
 
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xiphoid2010 said:
Nothing wrong with buying couple single stocks with play money. Bought bank of America when it was <$5 a share. Bought Trius pharmaceuticals before they sold to Cubist. So far these play money bets have done far better than my main retirement accounts. Great for some fun, but I would never stake the bulk of my retirement investment on it.
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Fun money is different, always has. I sunk a bunch of fun money into oil companies.

It's like Jekyll and Hyde....I'm like mad money/Gordon Gekko when I'm in my fun money brokerage account, then I become boring and logical when rebalancing/reviewing my actual nest egg.
 
BMBiology said:
The overall stock market seems a bit pricy to me. I think easy credit has something to do with it. Instead of buying just index funds, I have also been buying individual stocks that are struggling.

I think it is all about risk tolerance. I wouldn't put my rent money in one stock but if I have a few extra dollars, it is a nice way to keep you involve in your investment.
Click to expand...

Meant to reply to this too, but even in my "fun money" account the most I will do now is targeted sector ETF's with a couple dozen stocks in them or so.

Aside from being horrible at stock picking, my logic behind it (logic? in a fun acccount? isn't that hypocritical? hah) is that the transactional costs of buying each stock ($7) meets up with my desire to buy different stocks to diversify just a little. I still want to spread out risk among a handful of handpicked stocks, so I have two options:

1) Buy a high quantity of an individual cost to make the transaction cost effectively disappear, like withdrawing $100 at an ATM instead of $20.
--> Downside, if I want to diversify among 5-7 different stocks, that's a lot of individual stocks to own
2) Buy a little bit of a lot of different stocks, like building your own ETF.
--> Downside, that's a lot of transactional costs to deal with and manage.

I see your point buying a stock here or there. Here's my illustrious history buying stocks:

1) I took Z's advice one day and bought ACTC @ 0.08, sold at 0.20/share, wahoo x 2500 shares.
2) Got emotional and bought FB shares...took a dump and ended up selling them before they rebounded.

This is why I'm a pharmacist and not an i-banker.
 
confettiflyer said:
Fun money is different, always has. I sunk a bunch of fun money into oil companies.

It's like Jekyll and Hyde....I'm like mad money/Gordon Gekko when I'm in my fun money brokerage account, then I become boring and logical when rebalancing/reviewing my actual nest egg.
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Lol, great minds think alike. I just sank $10k into oil sector ETF myself on Wednesday. Here is to our luck, logic combined with our sense of invincibility.

If by the miracle of god that I get the major hospital DOP job over the other candidates with more experience, I'll PM you within offer. This profession needs people worth their salt, not status quo. Any corp that is willing to take an up start like me deserve a second who is not averse to do what's right, even if it means I shall yield. Meritocracy. I shall be happy to see anyone who is a more worthy opponent rise above me.
 
I try to avoid buying speculative stocks. What do I know?
 
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xiphoid2010 said:
Lol, great minds think alike. I just sank $10k into oil sector ETF myself on Wednesday. Here is to our luck, logic combined with our sense of invincibility.
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Haha, which oil ETF? I did $5k OIH @ $35.39/share and $3k VGENX @ $51.70. I've spread out about $2k of VGENX purchases from the start of the year and will wrap that up on 3/31. I'll cap it at $10k and call it a day...and try not to stare at it.

It's funny, WSJ made a case to avoid OIH, Morningstar made the case to buy it. We're in for a hell of a ride.

If by the miracle of god that I get the major hospital DOP job over the other candidates with more experience, I'll PM you within offer. This profession needs people worth their salt, not status quo. Any corp that is willing to take an up start like me deserve a second who is not averse to do what's right, even if it means I shall yield. Meritocracy. I shall be happy to see anyone who is a more worthy opponent rise above me.
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You're too kind, but it's hard beating a dream job/location/situation...I'll PM you at some point.
 
BMBiology said:
I try to avoid buying speculative stocks. What do I know?

I like to buy big companies that have a record of success but are going thru a tough time. For example, I am looking at Exxon, McDonald and UPS right now. The dividend is also nice.
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Gotta love dividends...you must be Australian (lol).

But no, with crappy treasury rates, unless you're retiring tomorrow, large/mega-cap stocks with dividends are a good place to be....maybe high quality corporate debt as well.

But my question to you is...why bother owning the stock, when you can buy a targeted fund like an S&P 100 mega-cap fund or a fund that focuses on all large-cap/high dividend paying stocks? I think that's the better play...but this is logical confettiflyer talking, not high flying master trader confettiflyer.
 
BMBiology said:
I try to avoid buying speculative stocks. What do I know?

I like to buy big companies that have a record of success but are going thru a tough time. For example, I am looking at Exxon, McDonald and UPS right now. The dividend is also nice.
Click to expand...

Not speculative, but what I admittedly is shallow: oil sect
confettiflyer said:
Haha, which oil ETF? I did $5k OIH @ $35.39/share and $3k VGENX @ $51.70. I've spread out about $2k of VGENX purchases from the start of the year and will wrap that up on 3/31. I'll cap it at $10k and call it a day...and try not to stare at it.

It's funny, WSJ made a case to avoid OIH, Morningstar made the case to buy it. We're in for a hell of a ride.



You're too kind, but it's hard beating a dream job/location/situation...I'll PM you at some point.
Click to expand...


I put 10K on DBE on wednesday. Kindness has nothing to do with it. I need people who can think for themselves, do what's right despite of mistakes by their superiors. I'm one myself, and it's up to each of us to rise to what we are capable of. Working with me, I will surround myself with people who deserve what they earn, even if they end up rise above me. Call me an idealist, but I would have no other way, may the weak perish, and the strong rise to their stations. I wish for a world where the righteous and the brilliant owns the world, moving all of mankind forward. If you are as worthy of an opponent as I think you are, then you will earn everything you deserve.
 
confettiflyer said:
Gotta love dividends...you must be Australian (lol).

But no, with crappy treasury rates, unless you're retiring tomorrow, large/mega-cap stocks with dividends are a good place to be....maybe high quality corporate debt as well.

But my question to you is...why bother owning the stock, when you can buy a targeted fund like an S&P 100 mega-cap fund or a fund that focuses on all large-cap/high dividend paying stocks? I think that's the better play...but this is logical confettiflyer talking, not high flying master trader confettiflyer.
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Because I like to pick from the bottom of the barrel. More risk, more return. In short, I am betting my picks will do better than S&P 100 caps.
 
BMBiology said:
Because I like to pick from the bottom of the barrel. More risk, more return. In short, I am betting my picks will do better than S&P 100 caps.
Click to expand...

There are gems to be picked from S&P500, but looking as how great the run has been up to now, the only logical conclusion is that's not sustainable.

I still have around 30% in S&P500 index funds, live and let live, but passive indexes can only capture about 70-75% based on historical track record. Based on that, you could (a) rely on it to do as well as 75% of of the investors, or (b) you would tweak it to try for better if you have greater aspirations.

Granted that risk and reward are correlated, but... did Bill Gates, Napoleon, Rockefeller risen because they went with the safe bet? I for one hedged my safety net so that I have the enough safety net to retire at 60-67, but at the same time take on enough risk there is the chance of earning a disproportionate share.
 
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Good god, I've put in over $3000 in my 401k and I'm at +$20.
 
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Any of y'all use one of the online-only banks? (Discover Bank, Ally, ING Direct, etc.) I'm looking to park my emergency living funds (4 months expenses, building up to 6 months by end of the year) into something making more than the 0.3% APY I am seeing at my local bank. Discover, Ally, and American Express are all advertising 0.9% - 1.0% APY right now, and Discover is offering a $50 sign-on bonus.

Seems to me to be a no-brainer, but...I have never stepped foot into internet banking before. I don't use any of the online features available through my local bank. I avoid debit cards. I won't do anything that requires me to enter by SSN into an online platform. I'm paranoid about identity theft and logging in to the account to see a zero balance. I went to a recent cyber security presentation by Kaspersky Labs, and that didn't instill a great deal of confidence. Sure all the online banks say that they are FDIC insured, but...who has to prove the heist? These hackers are good at covering their tracks.

Am I being irrational?
 
I use Capital One 360 and Ally. You may want to go with Ally because they offer 2-factor authentication unlike some of the other banks. Nothing is 100% secure, but it does give you a little more protection if you have to enter two codes instead of one. I've never had any problems in nearly a decade of online banking, the most important thing is to make sure you're using a clean computer. That is a computer that only you or someone you trust uses with updated security software and is not exposed to strange websites or emails.
 
297point1 said:
Any of y'all use one of the online-only banks? (Discover Bank, Ally, ING Direct, etc.) I'm looking to park my emergency living funds (4 months expenses, building up to 6 months by end of the year) into something making more than the 0.3% APY I am seeing at my local bank. Discover, Ally, and American Express are all advertising 0.9% - 1.0% APY right now, and Discover is offering a $50 sign-on bonus.

Seems to me to be a no-brainer, but...I have never stepped foot into internet banking before. I don't use any of the online features available through my local bank. I avoid debit cards. I won't do anything that requires me to enter by SSN into an online platform. I'm paranoid about identity theft and logging in to the account to see a zero balance. I went to a recent cyber security presentation by Kaspersky Labs, and that didn't instill a great deal of confidence. Sure all the online banks say that they are FDIC insured, but...who has to prove the heist? These hackers are good at covering their tracks.

Am I being irrational?
Click to expand...

In my opinion, if just for parking emergency fund, eg, $30k max, a difference of 0.7% is pretty small especially minus benefits of having a local branch. The interest rate difference would make more sense for larger sums, eg, $200k+, such as a mortgage.
 
297point1 said:
Any of y'all use one of the online-only banks? (Discover Bank, Ally, ING Direct, etc.) I'm looking to park my emergency living funds (4 months expenses, building up to 6 months by end of the year) into something making more than the 0.3% APY I am seeing at my local bank. Discover, Ally, and American Express are all advertising 0.9% - 1.0% APY right now, and Discover is offering a $50 sign-on bonus.

Seems to me to be a no-brainer, but...I have never stepped foot into internet banking before. I don't use any of the online features available through my local bank. I avoid debit cards. I won't do anything that requires me to enter by SSN into an online platform. I'm paranoid about identity theft and logging in to the account to see a zero balance. I went to a recent cyber security presentation by Kaspersky Labs, and that didn't instill a great deal of confidence. Sure all the online banks say that they are FDIC insured, but...who has to prove the heist? These hackers are good at covering their tracks.

Am I being irrational?
Click to expand...

Go with Ally.com. Been with this one since 2008. 0 issues, 0 fee on all accounts, 0 fee on ANY ATMs, and excellent customer service.

Local bank is crap. Only good thing about local bank is you can get cashier check immediately and do international wires. Other than that, Ally beats the sh1t out of brick and mortar.
 
beachpharmer said:
I gotta say somethings not right on this. You graduate at 24 (earliest estimate) and in 6 years you make $1,000,000? That is $167000/yr AFTER paying off student loans, AFTER taxes (and u live in CA??), AFTER living expenses?

Even taking best case scenario investing into account I question the accuracy of your model.
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fewaopi said:
it might not be too far fetched. graduated in 2008, worked till now, enjoyed greatest run in stocks in history of mankind, max out your 401k and ira's, saved like crazy, might just make it. assuming 130-140k with some from overtime, probably 700-800K total gross income. it sounds totally possible.

Momus, mind telling us your general strategy on how you reached 7 figs? did you save like crazy, avoid vacations, live frugally, no student loans? are you factoring in real estate? that's pretty impressive performance and pretty plausible. but i remember a yahoo article where a 24 year old said he was a self-made millionaire and found to be a liar. not saying i don't believe you but how did you do it?
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Gombrich12 said:
Please tell me you're ratcheting down your equity exposure Momus, you've won the game.
Click to expand...
Whereismynorco said:
Yeah Momus, Everyone here including my self likes to know how did u do it??more importantly if u have invested in stocks, which stocks would u recommend to buy?
Click to expand...

  1. I keep my expenses to minimum. I mean I survive with just $900 a month. Most students probably have higher expenses than mine LOL!

    $450 for rent + utilities + internet
    $14/mo Cricket unlimited data/txt/call - I made 10 referrals @$25 credit/person/yr.
    $32/mo liability only car insurance
    $200/mo food (high estimate), $150 gas
    $50-75 for misc gadgets/entertainment, Netflix/Hulu free from friends, movies from thepiratebay.se
  2. Become a Boglehead.
  3. Max out 401k + back door ROTH IRA every year.
  4. 1/2 of my paycheck goes straight to investment account, the other 1/2 after paying minimum expenses ALSO going to investment account!
  5. Profit!
$1M is not cutting it nowadays. In the 80s, if you had $1M networth, it actually made you rich. Nowadays, you need $3M inflation adjusted dollar to have the same purchasing power. So, no, I am not slowing down anytime soon before I hit at least $3M which is probably going to happen in my mid forties (assuming stocks double every 10 years - rule 72 with 7% return).

297point1 said:
Impressive.
Own a home, or are you renting?
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Renting. I became an accidental landlord after I moved for a job. So far, the house has appreciated over 150k+ and I don't have to put a dime to cover PITI, so I guess it's a win win.
 
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confettiflyer said:
Meant to reply to this too, but even in my "fun money" account the most I will do now is targeted sector ETF's with a couple dozen stocks in them or so.

Aside from being horrible at stock picking, my logic behind it (logic? in a fun acccount? isn't that hypocritical? hah) is that the transactional costs of buying each stock ($7) meets up with my desire to buy different stocks to diversify just a little. I still want to spread out risk among a handful of handpicked stocks
This is why I'm a pharmacist and not an i-banker.
Click to expand...


If you bank through Bank of America, you can have Merrill Lynch as a brokerage for your personal investments. As long as you have $50K between your BOA savings/checking and Merrill Lynch investments you get 30 free trades a month.
 
confettiflyer said:
What's the time frame and what funds have been purchased?
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Beginning of the year totals. $3200 put in and I'm at $20. I have a mix of assets in a targeted retirement fund, US all cap equity, ssga US bond index, and blackrock global allocation fund.
 
Momus said:
Go with Ally.com. Been with this one since 2008. 0 issues, 0 fee on all accounts, 0 fee on ANY ATMs, and excellent customer service.
Click to expand...
Not quite "any" ATM. You still have to use one of the ATMs in their network which is most of those generic ATMs inside stores, etc, but you can't use ATMs that belong to major banks like Bank of America.

But I also have an Ally account with no issues and recommend it to all my friends.
 
BenJammin said:
Beginning of the year totals. $3200 put in and I'm at $20. I have a mix of assets in a targeted retirement fund, US all cap equity, ssga US bond index, and blackrock global allocation fund.
Click to expand...

Hmm...well, on the bright side, you have like a 25+ year time horizon. 1Q2015 is but a blip on the long term plan.

I'm just not a fan of targeted retirement funds...and judging from your mix that you listed, I think you're too heavily weighted into bonds and underweight on international.

If you don't have access to Morningstar's portfolio analyzer (paid on Morningstar, free if you have a TD Ameritrade brokerage account, probably free somewhere else that I don't know about), try plugging your current portfolio in at www.futureadvisor.com and see what it recommends (free registration).

I'm +2.8% for the past 3 months, which would mean if I managed your money hypothetically, you'd have earned +$90 and not $20. Worth looking into. I follow most of its advice EXCEPT I ignore its recommendations on bonds (I have 0%) and I ignore its recommendations for domestic small-cap value funds (I tilt in favor of these due to historical outperform data).

The only thing that will hold you back is fund availability if this is a 401k through work and you don't have a brokerage window. The site I listed...you have to do some massaging to get recommendations (like telling them you have an IRA not a 401k or they'll make zero recommendations to change), and once you get fund recommendations, you're going to have to find a suitable fund substitute if you can't buy a certain fund, or if they recommend an ETF, you'll have to look at a comparable fund.

It's a good tool and another way to look at your portfolio, but incomplete and requires additional knowledge/reading.
 
beachpharmer said:
I gotta say somethings not right on this. You graduate at 24 (earliest estimate) and in 6 years you make $1,000,000? That is $167000/yr AFTER paying off student loans, AFTER taxes (and u live in CA??), AFTER living expenses?

Even taking best case scenario investing into account I question the accuracy of your model.
Click to expand...
The market has tripled since the crash. He actually got in at the perfect time and is a beneficiary of good fortune- he probably only put in 500-600k of that, the rest was all capital gains.
 
Gombrich12 said:
Please tell me you're ratcheting down your equity exposure Momus, you've won the game.
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Now is the time to diversify broadly, not ratchet down. If he can keep his investments returning 9% and continue contributing, he could have one hell of a nest egg and retire well before most people could ever dream of it. Hell, if he plays it right, he could be retired and living like a king by 45.
 
Gombrich12 said:
I use Capital One 360 and Ally. You may want to go with Ally because they offer 2-factor authentication unlike some of the other banks. Nothing is 100% secure, but it does give you a little more protection if you have to enter two codes instead of one. I've never had any problems in nearly a decade of online banking, the most important thing is to make sure you're using a clean computer. That is a computer that only you or someone you trust uses with updated security software and is not exposed to strange websites or emails.
Click to expand...

Momus said:
Go with Ally.com. Been with this one since 2008. 0 issues, 0 fee on all accounts, 0 fee on ANY ATMs, and excellent customer service.
Click to expand...

Thank You.
Two votes for Ally...and I'm liking the two-factor authentication.

Anyone have any experience with Discover Bank? 5 stars on bankrate.com (vs. 4 stars for Ally), and a $50 sign-up bonus.
 
The stock market is getting crushed!
 
I'm sure my 401k is in the red for 2015 now. Damn.
 
BenJammin said:
I'm sure my 401k is in the red for 2015 now. Damn.
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That means it is a good time to buy. I have been cautious this year and have not maxed out my 401 k.

Weren't you a small gold bug a while ago? What made you change your mind and invest in the stock market?
 
has anyone heard or have idea about Robinhood zero commission stock brokerage ?? Good?? bad ????
 
BMBiology said:
That means it is a good time to buy. I have been cautious this year and have not maxed out my 401 k.

Weren't you a small gold bug a while ago? What made you change your mind and invest in the stock market?
Click to expand...

Oh no no no. I'm anti gold actually. I decided to get into the stock market once I discovered Vanguard.
 
Whereismynorco said:
has anyone heard or have idea about Robinhood zero commission stock brokerage ?? Good?? bad ????
Click to expand...
I was excited to give it a try, but then found out it's currently iOS only. Supposed to have Android and web versions sometime this year though.
 
confettiflyer said:
Okay fools, time to bust out the crystal balls....I just activated the SDN Stock Market Challenge for 2015.

Stock market challenge site:
http://www.marketwatch.com/game/the-sdn-pharmacy-stock-market-challenge

Main thread for commentary:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/the-sdn-pharmacy-stock-market-challenge-v2-0-2015.1124778/

@BMBiology @BenJammin @xiphoid2010 @297point1 @Its Z @WVUPharm2007 @SpirivaSunrise @Momus @Jibby321
Click to expand...
I joined and made some transactions but don't see myself on the listing.
 
Are you using your SDN username as your game name? I don't see you. I'm on there as Benjammin SDN.
 
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