Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

You have to be brave and you have to believe in yourself. Start by finding a basket of about 30 different companies that have a long history of paying dividends. Buy about 300 dollars worth of stock in each of these companies and st up your brokerage account so when these companies pay their dividends every three months the dividends will automatically be reinvested into more shares of stocks usually without any brokerage fees. Over time if you do nothing you'll be surprised how much this small investment will grow. If you add funds to it through the years all the better. The Internet is loaded with ideas about "Dividend Achievers", "Dividend Champions", and Dividend Reinvstment Programs.

Vis a vis' stock price manipulation it's not much of a problem for long-term investors. Corporations have a basic underlying values. Over time the underlying values of companies will emerge. Stock market manipulators can drive share prices up or down in the short term, but they eventually have to reverse their positions or they'll go broke. Having said that stock price manipulation is part of the game, but in a world with an expanding consumer population where homes, transportation, infrastructure, and consumer goods are constantly wearing out and being repurchased this is the time to be a fearless unrepentant Capitalist.

Do you have 30 companies to recommend?

Yes, but it would be better for you to go to the "Seeking Alpha" web site or to google dividend achievers or dividend champions yourself. It's not that I don't want to give you advice, it's that you'll feel more comfortable with your picks if you choose them yourself. Most of the names you'll find will be names you are already very familiar with like coke, Pepsi, ely lily, Bristol Myers Squibb, Edison electric, DuPont, Dow chemical, McDonalds, Yum(taco bell and KFC), proctor and gamble, and Kimberly - Clark , Johnson and Johnson, caterpillar and John Deere.

There are many more. I've done well, but you'll do better and it will be more fun for you if you create your own dividend reinvestment portfolio based on your knowledge of the world around you in conjunction with a list of Dividend Champions.

You can do this!!!! You can be an unrepentant capitalist. Wrote this from my phone - hope there's not too many typos.

Anonymous wrote:

You have to be brave and you have to believe in yourself. Start by finding a basket of about 30 different companies that have a long history of paying dividends. Buy about 300 dollars worth of stock in each of these companies and st up your brokerage account so when these companies pay their dividends every three months the dividends will automatically be reinvested into more shares of stocks usually without any brokerage fees. Over time if you do nothing you'll be surprised how much this small investment will grow. If you add funds to it through the years all the better. The Internet is loaded with ideas about "Dividend Achievers", "Dividend Champions", and Dividend Reinvstment Programs.

Vis a vis' stock price manipulation it's not much of a problem for long-term investors. Corporations have a basic underlying values. Over time the underlying values of companies will emerge. Stock market manipulators can drive share prices up or down in the short term, but they eventually have to reverse their positions or they'll go broke. Having said that stock price manipulation is part of the game, but in a world with an expanding consumer population where homes, transportation, infrastructure, and consumer goods are constantly wearing out and being repurchased this is the time to be a fearless unrepentant Capitalist.

Do you have 30 companies to recommend?

My 401K has been in index funds since I started working 11 years ago. I've been contributing these 11 years, never more than 10K a year, and probably as low as 7-8K for half that time. So I'm guessing I've contributed no more than $100-110K to it, and it's just over $200K now. I would say that's not too bad for nothing more than typing in your contribution percentage.
Make a plan (preferably an easy one) and stick with it - that's my recommendation.

Manage your own money, educate yourself and pay the least fees you can.
1. Stocks - Buy and Hold. Pick a few stocks of companies you know and respect.
2. Real estate - choose a good location and the right renters.

Have done well so far with that.

Commodities, really? Food has already boomed quite a bit (though with drought, perhaps we are reversing the gains of the green revolution).

Most food staples are waaaay below their all time inflation adjusted highs. We became very accustomed to low prices during their 25 year bear market. They're also a good dollar hedge - dollar goes down commodity prices go up. We got a taste (pun intended) of food riots in very poor countries during the recent run up. I'll sell my grains when there's riots in wealthy countries - maybe here.

Anonymous wrote:FCOJ and try to corner the market.

Beeeeeks?

+10,000

FCOJ and try to corner the market.

Beeeeeks?

Gold also hit a high of something close to $775 in about 1983 and the gradually dropped to about $300 and stagnated there for 20 years. Gold has no real value other than what so other fool is willing to pay for it.

For hundreds of years the Spanish had tons of hold and silver. So much so that they never bothered to industrialize. All the while the British just had spinning jennys, looms, and a hunger for world domination. Eventually, the gold ran out and Spain lost its power and influence. Great Britain and other industrial nations then went on to rule the world.

Gold only has value to Doomsday Preppers. That's why their always running those dopy gold and silver coin advertisements on Fox with William DeVane and those equally ridiculous pretentious people with the English accents. If gold and silver are such great investments why are they selling??? Why are they keeping it all for themselves???

Taking responsibility for our own finances can be frightening because our welfare beyond the year when we can reasonably sell our labor for wages depends on these decisions we make now. It's a frightening thought to potentially make that kind of a monumental mistake.

You have to be brave and you have to believe in yourself. Start by finding a basket of about 30 different companies that have a long history of paying dividends. Buy about 300 dollars worth of stock in each of these companies and st up your brokerage account so when these companies pay their dividends every three months the dividends will automatically be reinvested into more shares of stocks usually without any brokerage fees. Over time if you do nothing you'll be surprised how much this small investment will grow. If you add funds to it through the years all the better. The Internet is loaded with ideas about "Dividend Achievers", "Dividend Champions", and Dividend Reinvstment Programs.

Vis a vis' stock price manipulation it's not much of a problem for long-term investors. Corporations have a basic underlying values. Over time the underlying values of companies will emerge. Stock market manipulators can drive share prices up or down in the short term, but they eventually have to reverse their positions or they'll go broke. Having said that stock price manipulation is part of the game, but in a world with an expanding consumer population where homes, transportation, infrastructure, and consumer goods are constantly wearing out and being repurchased this is the time to be a fearless unrepentant Capitalist.

I put about 25% of DH's retirement plan into a Fidelity index bond fund and I have been surprised by how well the returns have done.

I guess, but we made $16,000 in the past week or so. since Xmas my TSP account has gone up about $30K (that's with my contributions too). All on paper of course, but still.

About 70% of trades each day are high speed trades. These trades are done by speculators make money on small difference in price, a few pennies. It really distorts the market to short term selling and not building value. Who cares what the stock does in a year. There is little chance of investors of making money this way. They don't need your money, you don't have the expertise, and they don't give money away.

The truth is, stop trying to find a get rich quick scheme to beat the market. The pp is right who said the best return you can get for the least risk is to buy one total market gund with low expense ratios. Try vanguard. Yes you will have down years like 2009, and over the past five years, but over the long haul like 25 to 30 years it is the best return for your money.

If buy and hold wasn't working for you, you either Werner holding long enough, or weren't holding a diversified enough class of assets. Or, your expenses for the products were too high. I wouldn't buy any product with higher than a 1% expense ratio , and even that's too high. Its more like .2% for most vanguard funds.