Sick of loosing money in the stock market

[tonypeoni]

I say this because for the past 5 years my return has been less than inflation. And for the 5 years before that it only kept up with inflation. Am I missing something? I dont know of many people who have actually seen great benefits from investing in stock. I think Im going to take this money out and buy a hud repo house!

[RWebb]

what exactly were the investments?

[dan88911]

With a house comes property taxes, maintenance cost, lack of liquidity, insurance. Just to name a few things.

[tonypeoni]

Originally Posted by RWebb

what exactly were the investments?

Mostly bank stock that failed. It was my fault. At that point in my life I had just paid off all my student loans and was totally debt free . I wanted to get back at the banks. So I thought I would buy them and they would pay me.. STUPID. They kept loosing and I kept investing hoping things would turn around. WRONG. Then came the year 2008. Yeah the banks got me a second time. Lesson learned. Banks will always win.

[motion]

Why don't you buy a bank?

[fintstone]

I am been paying 5% on unsecured loans (treat as bond and only pay interest until balloon) and the investor is happy with that (part of his diversification scheme). Setting up one for $360K right now. The market fund that my retirement money is in only pays about 4.5% with more downside risk...so it is pretty hard to beat inflation by much without significant risk now.

[Shuie]

Don't sell

[GG Allin]

Xom, duk.

[look 171]

Originally Posted by tonypeoni

I say this because for the past 5 years my return has been less than inflation. And for the 5 years before that it only kept up with inflation. Am I missing something? I dont know of many people who have actually seen great benefits from investing in stock. I think Im going to take this money out and buy a hud repo house!

To live or to flip?

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by look 171

To live or to flip?

I bet he is buying as an investment either to flip or rent.

An old timer with a ton of money made in stocks always tried to convince me that stocks in the long run always out performed real estate. Over 50 years they have run about even in SoCal.

But isn't it always dependent on what stocks vs. what property?

"Now some they do and some they don't
And some you just can't tell" — Supertramp

[slodave]

I made a bunch of money in the stock market. You have to know what you are doing.

I also got out a long time ago, right before the tech bubble burst. The stock market is not for me these days. There are more stable places to invest at the moment.

[look 171]

If he can cover it with rent, why not? Just hang on like everything else and let time do its magic. We hope. If he wants to make money, he's must buy really low and sell so he can make a buck.

Milt do you know if things are moving in Long Beach. I should start another thread on this.

[Bill Douglas]

Originally Posted by tonypeoni

my return

Show off, you have had a return!

I, err, haven't had a terribly good year. In fact I've lost rather a lot of money I sould have bought another property or collectable guns, or just anything other than stocks.

[VincentVega]

Buy when it's cheap sell when it's not. Yeah, smartass comment I guess but it's not intended to be. Learn from your mistakes, dont compound them by not being in the market.

I have some C that's so underwater it's sad. I wont sell it because it's a reminder of my bad decisions in the past.

[enzo1]

[aigel]

If you are the average guy with a 401k that's diversified and left alone, you can assume you are tracking close to a major index. Take the S&P 500: Tracking that, you would have made 1.58% a year in the last 5 years. In the last 10 it would have been 4.17%. The 10 year is bearable, but certainly not the 8% you always hear about ... the last 5 years just plain sucked, and that's after a huge recovery.

You just have to spread your $ around. A big chunk should go into a classic aircooled Porsche. You can drive it and it has similar returns - if not better!

Cheers,

George

[gatotom]

After making a ****load and lossing a boatload a few times, I now have a conservative attitude about it all.

Yes, by all means enjoy the fruits of your labor cuz you can't take it with you, life is really short. To invest in cars ,planes and boats that make your life is OK in my eyes cuz your using your money without lossing any value ( that's the benefit of inflation) as long as you choose wisely.

The older I get the less I value other peoples advise. The best advise I got yrs ago is anything you invest in as long as you have control over it, you have something. When you give your money to someone or something you lose that control. I am not saying that this is bad, ask Apple investors from 2009 that are still in the stock.

My lessons in life, diversify. All your eggs in one basket can work but you can't fall asleep or the burn will get you.

Am I happy with my profession, absolutely, feel lucky as all hell. Which brings up another thought on life. Life is all about good luck and bad luck, its that simple.

[Hugo930]

I own 5% door a very, very large storage unit business. At the time that I invested, I could have purchased 75 of the investment for approximately 80k out of pocket. I kick myself In the ass every time I think about it. Car washes, coin operated laundry, storage, rv pArking and parking in general, all stuff to look at. Think in terms of land banking, eventually the land will be worth more thAn present use, if you're lucky

[s_morrison57]

IMO the stock market is the same as any form of gambling, you have to be prepared to lose it all when you invest or don't bother investing at all.
Finn

[rcooled]

Originally Posted by s_morrison57

IMO the stock market is the same as any form of gambling, you have to be prepared to lose it all when you invest or don't bother investing at all.

The stock market used to be primarily a place where businesses could go to raise capital in order to expand their operations. Now that enormous blocks of stock can be traded instantly by mega-computers, that's become a secondary purpose. The markets are now manipulated by powerful investment & banking firms for short term gains. Nearly three-quarters of the stocks traded on the NYSE are currently held for three minutes or less. The individual investor doesn't stand a chance unless they are unusually lucky. Just like in Las Vegas...