The good: it's indexed, and the companies owned are all of the big boys

The bad: if/when there's a China correction/bubble burst, it will hurt.

If you're going to get into china, this is probably one of the best ways, but i'd watch it closely, and keep a relatively tight stop.

10/3/2007 11:30:50 AM

don't know much SBUX. if they can grow internationally, they're good to go.

FXI is being pulled down today because of PTR (one of its key holdings). should you get it? i don't know. how risk averse are you.

trading China is a momentum play. its like surfing. you want to ride the wave without getting wiped out. in the short term, i am heavy in China, we'll se where it goes.

just bought CSUN and GRRF at market prices. sold some JRJC for $44 after hours yesterday.

10/3/2007 11:31:44 AM

Im pretty risky, and its all roth money.

10/3/2007 11:33:32 AM

up 20.5% in my scottrade account (non-retirement), YTD on current holdings. i was up 25%, but the last few days have killed me (GRMN to blame, mostly)

up 22.5% YTD on what i've sold.


don't know what the numbers on my Roth are, but it's all index funds (mostly S&P500, with small cap, mid cap, and international/emerging market indices)

10/3/2007 11:37:41 AM

just to throw it out there again, anyone using the Motley Fool CAPS?

check it out here: http://caps.fool.com/

It would be interesting if those of us who post in this thread regularly were on this and could track our picks over time.

My player page: http://caps.fool.com/ViewPlayer.aspx?t=01009765188070684243

10/3/2007 11:40:16 AM

i've been watching SBUX for a while...my guess is that it's a good buy at current prices, but I'm not sure if it's the best place for new money or not. I'm kinda hesitant to do much buying with the Dow >14k...figure I'll wait until another slide, then make a purchase or two.

10/3/2007 11:40:36 AM

Anyone want to comment on option strategies for locking in gains at an unsure time such as this?

I would like to learn how to do it when I think long term (4-6 month) is bullish, but short term may see some flops.

10/3/2007 11:49:38 AM

If I no longer wish to increase my exposure in company stock would I be better off continuing to buy shares through my EPP with my 5% discount while selling off older shares or should I just halt my contributions all together?

10/3/2007 12:02:23 PM

Just 5%??

Hmm ... I imagine you have a 6 month wait, right?

Probably best to just invest in something else, if you are an aggressive investor. If you are conservative, then take your 5% and be done with it, selling off the old stuff once it reaches capital gains eligibility.

10/3/2007 12:05:43 PM

Ancillary to what we talk about here, but relevant on a macro scale. seems they've gone from completely retarded to slightly retarded -- a huge move towards participating in the global economy which is booming (especially in their own backyard).

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a6Y61swTtgxA&refer=home


btw, i've held EWY for a long time



[Edited on October 3, 2007 at 12:34 PM. Reason : EWY]

10/3/2007 12:32:44 PM

^^

Yeah, used to be 15%. Not sure why they changed.

I'm passed the 6 month point.

How is it a conservative move to sell off the old stuff if I continue to keep buying the stock?

10/3/2007 1:13:32 PM

all the China stuff if trading considerably lower after hours

i'm trimming my positions

10/3/2007 6:57:32 PM

^^ just because you get that guaranteed 5% (the conservative part) instead of trying to use that same money to invest in more riskier things during that same 6 months...

Sell off the old to diversify, while accumulating the new at the small discount.

10/3/2007 9:24:13 PM

re: Chinese stocks -- Shanghai still closed, Hong Kong was bad overnight, but premarket here is running up. I've never traded premarket -- maybe i should keep it that way.

10/4/2007 8:36:47 AM

Looks like GRMN is bouncing back somewhat.

10/4/2007 2:54:39 PM

sometimes i feel like this kid

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9WmKre5O2I&mode=related&search=

10/4/2007 3:58:51 PM

My gf just got a job w/ the state gubbermint and while she gets a state pension plan (that takes 6% of her income), they do not match anything on their 401k plan.

I was just watching some financial show on TV and it said if this is the case, don't touch the 401k and put your extra money into a Roth IRA.

Does TWW agree? why? Even w/o matching, the 401k and Roth IRA each have their own pros and cons that seem comparible. ie, tax free growth vs tax free withdrawl. but i kinda thought the 401k's taxfree growth would prevail.

10/5/2007 11:48:13 AM

Not unless she is making a fuckton. Go with the roth and anything she can save over 4K can go in the 401K.

10/5/2007 11:53:07 AM

hrmm maybe a poopton, but def not a crapton, shitton, or fuckton.

10/5/2007 12:01:54 PM

Hmm BIDU is now about where I got in on GOOG in March of 2006. Maybe this is a sign I should buy BIDU?

10/5/2007 12:40:21 PM

bought some fxi today ... shoulda done it yesterday, when my gut told me to.

Oh well .. just a few shares, but placed a stop at -10% .... so lets see what we can do

10/5/2007 12:55:41 PM

^ same here

except i put a low limit on yesterday and then forgot to adjust it because i was busy with work...ended up buying tis morning.

should've also upped my RIMM position, but i have a little bit that's been sitting there for a while, so i'll just be glad about that.

10/5/2007 2:09:37 PM

GRMN on the way back up. Hopefully some of you bought in/increased positions on that huge slide. I wanted to, but I was just afraid to put such a huge slice of my portfolio in one stock.

10/6/2007 12:36:25 AM

alright, i'm going to propose an idea a lot of you might think is crazy, and i'll admit that it just occured to me and i've neither thought about it much nor done substantial research about it...but hear me out and let me know if you think the idea has any merit, at least as a long-term play.


Ford Motor Company. They are trading at a 6.93 P/E, to start with. Also, some expect them to follow suit after GM's deal with UAW regarding retiree health care benefits (which i believe is supposed to save GM 2.5 BILLION per year, and by the way, GM is trading around a 52-week high). I figure that the VEBA deal is already priced in for GM, but not for Ford.

They have a new CEO, and turned a profit last quarter for the first time in a couple of years.

Interest rate cuts stand to help them out, given the mountain of debt they're under.

...and really, how likely are they to go bankrupt?

10/6/2007 2:46:38 AM

^They're actually expected to get a much better deal with the UAW then GM did. The UAW understands the precarious situation Ford is in and the UAW leaders have already said they must take this into consideration during the labor deal process.

I pretty much considered the same thing you're doing, but instead with GM early last year when everyone was saying GM might go bankrupt and the stock was trading in the low to mid twenties. I thought there would be no way they would go bankrupt and foreign auto companies wouldn't want this either. Several factors over time boosted the stock and it turned out well.

10/6/2007 7:19:25 AM

i just have trouble investing my money into a company that sucks, simply because they might start to suck less.

10/8/2007 4:16:08 AM

i tend to steer away from poor companies too...but you have to remember that good companies can have bad stocks (i.e. Microsoft) and that bad companies can have good stocks (i.e. internet boom)

i also think that GM and Ford are not bad companies (not great either), they are just victims of this enormous UAW/Pension plan fiasco (which is partly their fault), but other than that, they are making strides in the right direction

10/8/2007 6:48:07 AM

Quote :

"you have to remember that good companies can have bad stocks (i.e. Microsoft)"

....
Recently it might not have been the best performer, but it was an incredible stock to own several years ago.

Quote :

"i also think that GM and Ford are not bad companies (not great either), they are just victims of this enormous UAW/Pension plan fiasco (which is partly their fault)"

GM and Ford are victims of their own stupidity. They sell shitty cars. Period. End of debate. They make a crappy product that frequently breaks down, isn't fuel efficient, and can't compete with foreign imports...then they whine when people flock to Toyota et al.

10/8/2007 9:17:21 AM

ssjamind, as soon as I made a douchebag comment about CTDC it took off. I'm going to start bad mouthing all of my stocks and hope that it turns out to be a trend.

10/8/2007 12:22:26 PM

it burned me also. i'm getting my revenge on it as i type this. looking to get out above $12.

getting half out at 11.7



[Edited on October 8, 2007 at 12:34 PM. Reason : ]

10/8/2007 12:29:22 PM

JAVA is headed up a good bit today. Not sure why.
GOOG has hit $600/share.

10/8/2007 2:46:09 PM

When did sun change it's ticker symbol?

10/8/2007 3:06:49 PM

just dumped the rest of CTDC @ 11.2

don't have time to watch it...

10/8/2007 3:13:02 PM

Anyone notice Vonage today?
Settled the lawsuit with Sprint and went up 125% to $2.50.

I still wouldn't put my money anywhere near it.

10/8/2007 3:39:17 PM

Not sure when Sun changed it's ticker, it was a while ago. Looked one day at my listings -- "I don't own any JAVA...oh...."

GOOG definitely had a good day.

Kinda a weird day for me. My tech stock gains were balanced out by my blue-chip losses.

10/8/2007 4:21:40 PM

^ Which is why the Nasdaq is up as opposed to the S&P and the DJ, Is anyone else waiting for Research to retrace a little?

10/8/2007 4:51:59 PM

was vonage expecting more of a loss? does this clear their plate? -->

10/8/2007 4:55:57 PM

^^^^^^^

Those are valid points if we're it's 1998.

Unfortunately it's 2007, and Microsoft has been down since 1998 (9 years is not exactly short term) and recently Ford and GM's quality has been steadily improving.

But hey, I'm not investing in either until the UAW mess shakes out, though it's an interesting speculative bet to short these stocks for the Oct 10 deadline the UAW gave GM.

10/8/2007 6:29:21 PM

thread broke again?

10/9/2007 9:58:51 AM

...did I miss something?
GOOG up another $11.

10/9/2007 10:05:33 AM

Anybody been keeping up with Hipegg recently?
They're all like "damn we hate the war and these people are jackasses, but we love the money the companies are making".

10/9/2007 10:09:37 AM

I'm making the mother-lode off of AAPL

10/9/2007 11:06:03 PM

I sold my AAPL @ 135, but i bought MDR with it, which is up 35% so i don't feel too bad about it.

now if only i held on to VMW when I bought it at $49.

10/9/2007 11:43:12 PM

yeah, i sold AAPL way too early...

but i made a big profit on it very quickly, and now that i sold it, there's no way i can lose that money. i'm ok with that.


GRMN's coming back. back up 25% YTD in my scottrade acct (waiting on getting my IRA statement to see how that's doing).

[Edited on October 10, 2007 at 12:03 AM. Reason : asdfasd]

10/10/2007 12:03:19 AM

Damn I haven't been keeping up with VMW.
*smacks self for not buying*


Oh well, GOOG just keeps going.

10/10/2007 12:21:56 AM

...it seems my posts are not showing up in this thread anymore

10/10/2007 9:37:35 AM

Quote :

"...it seems my posts are not showing up in this thread anymore"

I can see this one. Were there others?

10/10/2007 11:55:03 AM

...i think we back

10/11/2007 1:01:49 AM

so how can i get rich quick with this thing?

because working until 2 AM and weekends for my salary just isn't cutting it

10/11/2007 1:09:31 AM

Quote :

"just to throw it out there again, anyone using the Motley Fool CAPS? check it out here: http://caps.fool.com/ It would be interesting if those of us who post in this thread regularly were on this and could track our picks over time. My player page: http://caps.fool.com/ViewPlayer.aspx?t=01009765188070684243"

I joined the day you posted this. I'm currently in all of the stocks that I have listed, except VSEA. I dropped VSEA (in real life) the day after I posted on CAPS, but CAPS makes you keep your picks for a week.

http://caps.fool.com/ViewPlayer.aspx?t=01008117348667173775

10/11/2007 9:08:18 AM