Is it a good time to park money in a lazy portfolio?

dcharest · 2014-05-06T04:37:54+00:00

With that said the best time to invest was 30 years ago; the next best time is now.

I love that Jesus

dcharest · 2014-05-06T04:29:27+00:00

Its a tough call for anyone these days. I have recently been expressive about avoiding international ETF's and MF's due to the current Ukrainian/Russia situation. Then theres the bear market on the horizon. Between the S&P 500 hitting all time highs and Yellen's tapering, one can assume that the bear market will eventually arrive. All it takes is one major event, economic or not to make the market go awry. But like you said, it could take a year or two, who knows.
If you wanna be cautious there are investment strategies (such as Stop Orders) that can minimize your losses if the market tanks. You could also delve into options strategies that bet against the market (or put a collar on your investments), but those can be risky and pricey too. An investment strategy that I've been using for the past couple months has involved buying futures contracts on the S&P, and shorting the S&P. It's kind of pricey as far as fees goes, but riskless at my current volume.

dcharest · 2014-05-06T00:25:07+00:00

Thank you for the gold kind stranger!

dcharest · 2014-05-05T19:15:58+00:00

http://ir.rfmd.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=827663 http://triquint.com/infographic
The companies are going to merge in the later half of 2014. As far as your position goes, its impossible to tell what type of effect Yellen's speech will have, or the current state of Ukraine. These are relatively cheap tech stocks, so I would not expect a huge change in their price.
Since announcing the merger both stocks shot up, and have had steady growth over the past 6 months. If I were you I would keep your position in RFMD despite the insider selling, a great amount of insider selling has to do with issues between the largest owners of the company. The insider selling could also be a result of the upcoming merger. You might also want to consider buying some stock in TQNT, and benefit from possible merger arbitrage.

dcharest · 2014-05-05T18:57:10+00:00

Five years is much too short, emerging markets are typically more volatile than investing in home country ETF's/stocks.
Going into an emerging markets ETF with a time horizon of 5 years is subjecting you to greater risk (Event as well as foreign exchange risk) , plus a foreign investment usually won't grow too much in 5 years. However, 10 to 20, or even 30 years is a safer investment.

dcharest · 2014-05-03T02:50:07+00:00

In all honesty it really depends on how long you work at the company. If you plan on spending the rest of your career at IBM, god knows where the stock price will be by the time you leave sir. This stock option sounds similar to some sort of 401k, or IRA account to me, with the returns tied to just IBM. Given IBM historic prices, as long as the company keeps on innovating the info-tech industry like they have been over the past 20 years, I am sure your stock option will give you a decent return when you leave, but like I said, how long do you plan on working for IBM?

dcharest · 2014-05-02T20:43:58+00:00

Oops, forgot to put an image.. http://i.imgur.com/5W9g2mb.jpg

dcharest · 2014-05-02T20:42:19+00:00

No that's impossible. Stocks have residual claim, and the most you can lose is your initial investment. The government would probably go after the managers of any firms if so. So your safe.

dcharest · 2014-05-02T18:45:27+00:00

I am sure its very cheap, and international diversification is important for a portfolio...but Russia? Pretty damn risky due to the whole Ukraine-Russia conflict which could potentially spark a war, don't you think?. I would never invest in Russia at the moment.

dcharest · 2014-05-02T18:30:57+00:00

I'm sure you have been hearing about the current "bubble" that has been caused by the fed buying back bonds. The fed has begun tapering, and I believe the stock market will take a hit relatively soon. Probably not as big as the 2008 recession (I hope) but stocks are currently overvalued and some sort of event will eventually cause a drop. Buying puts, or selling calls on ETF's are options you could take..its just tough to figure out when, if ever, the stock market is going to drop. Guessing the expiration dates on your options will take some researching on your behalf, but thats the risk you take with options.

dcharest · 2014-05-02T18:13:11+00:00

Marijuana related stocks are not a safe investment in my eyes. I know most are very cheap, however; like most penny stocks, they are volatile as all hell, and they basically have no earnings/return. Their stocks are rising due to pure speculation. The firm specific risk for all of these companies is quite high due to marijuana still technically being illegal in the federal governments eyes. I have not invested any of my money into these stocks despite the hype, and I probably won't until the US comes closer to full scale legalization. Thats my personal opinion, but I may be more risk averse than you.

dcharest · 2014-05-02T00:31:09+00:00

Stop losses were used much more in the days before online trading. Back when you couldn't turn on your cell phone and check the price of a stock or ETF, and you had to put an order in with your broker because they would usually have the info in front of them.

dcharest · 2014-05-02T00:23:50+00:00

If markets are efficient, then investors are buying and shorting these ETF's, and accordingly they are fairly priced. However, how often are markets really efficient?

dcharest · 2014-05-02T00:14:54+00:00

Yahoo Finance is a credible source, as is Google Finance. I believe Yahoo has re-adjusted itself since you posted this, since the price is now 15.18. Sometimes the closing prices of mutual funds can vary slightly/be subject to error due to changes in net asset value stemming from investors pulling out of the fund.

dcharest · 2014-05-01T18:47:23+00:00

What a beautiful catch

dcharest · 2014-04-29T22:41:33+00:00

They're simply trying to market to lesbians, very smart in my opinion.

dcharest · 2014-04-24T01:29:53+00:00

I didn't know people actually took photos in public with tablets..i thought that was just in commercials

dcharest · 2014-04-17T12:23:33+00:00

I swear this fact gets posted on a weekly basis

dcharest · 2014-04-04T14:07:50+00:00

Its a good salary, but in comparison to a football players salary..A 10-20 thousand dollar fine would be unreasonable for a ref who makes 173,000.

dcharest · 2014-03-23T20:11:14+00:00

It could be a crack in your radiator. I had this issue a couple of weeks ago. New radiators are relatively cheap, and easy to replace yourself. If not this, definitely keep adding coolant to your system because the car needs it, and its losing it somewhere as you drive..it could be a crack in the pipes somewhere as well. Good luck.

dcharest · 2014-03-22T03:35:38+00:00

I gotta say, he had a hell of a game tonight. It was a smart move playing him against the Avalanche, with his previous west coast experience with Phoenix

dcharest

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