Where do you invest now?
 

Just wondering what companies one thinks it is a good time to invest in? Our planner suggested AT&T or waste management or Johnson and Johnson?? Not sure about any of these. also what about oil drilling?? would now be the time to possibly invest in a private company??

Need to know the purpose for the investment - income or growth - and the mix of your other investments. For income AT&T and JJ would be ok. Don't know much about Waste Management. Oil drilling seems to be going in an entirely different direction from the other recommendations. This raises questions on how good the advice is. I would look toward ETF's or mutual funds as the risk should be less than one or two stocks.

If you are asking those types of questions you should probably invest in Mutual Funds and stay out of direct stock investment. There are no short cuts. Either you do your own research and understand the info or invest in Mutual Funds and let others do it for you.

I agree that you may not be getting the best advice. However don't despair, it is really not that hard. First a couple of things you and every other investor need to accept and believe.

1. Markets are very efficient and all price variables are already in place in all stocks.

2. You as an individual cannot possibly beat the market. In is not possible and any one who claims differently is making false promises. There is always a hot stock picker or a lucky mutual fund manager and they may do well for a few years, but every time the market will beat them. Even one of the very best, Peter Lynch, will admit he could not continue to beat the market.

3. Once you accept those facts, the only way to invest becomes very simple. Determine your level of risk and then pick the asset allocation (stocks vs bonds) that matches your position in life and risk tolerance.

4. Select a well know highly respected fund company. Fidelity, Vanguard, Schwab, etc.

5. Buy the lowest expense ratio index funds you can find that match that asset allocation. Use total stock market, total bond market, total international, and total emerging market funds.

6. VERY KEY. Re-balance when ever your asset allocation falls 5% out of balance.

This way you own the entire stock and bond market. By re-balancing you are always buying low and selling high. You will beat 90% of all stock pickers and mutual fund managers every year. You will beat 100% of them over 10 years. This is a very simple, easy to manage, low risk approach to investing.

I am a chartered financial consultant and spent 25 years in the financial services business. I don't have a clue - I am almost totally in cash equivalents right now - this market is totally unpredictible (more than usual).

:agree:

In my experience you first need to create an investment plan that lays out your goals i.e. growth or income or what ever. Decide your risk tolerance and then work with your advisor to create the plan that is best for you. This seems to be a traders market as far as stocks go. i have been having sucess selling OTM puts on etf's like QQQ and SPY collecting the premiums and staying in mostly cash. If I get a put contract assigned to me I start selling OTM covered calls or even ITM covered calls if I can make a quick dime or two. I sometimes do a debit or credit spread to limited the risk and generate some income on a case by case basis. I agree index funds are a little safer than blue chips as you don't need to worry about a banckruptcy or some unseen event wiping out 100% of your investment. I have been using the above strategy for the last two years and earning between 10 and 12% on my money the last two years

Dirt ! God isn't making anymore ,,,,

:coolsmiley: Even Dirt has gotten high! Good farm land has doubled in price the last few years----Bubble?? I made a bit of money on real estate in the past, fortunately got most of the way out before the Bubble burst!

When investing in stocks, you now have to assess the political risks, as well as the business risks. For example, we know how this administrations feels about companies making exorbitant profits, outsourcing of manufacturing jobs and offshoring of profits.

I have made more investing in Apple over the years than any other stock that I own. I would love to own it now, even at this price. But what are the political risks? Apple has more profits than any other company (more than the top three oils combined), manufactures 100% of their products overseas, and has more cash parked overseas than the Fed has on its balance sheet. What happens if politicians and courts turn on them, like they did on Microsoft.

As for me, I am out of the market except for gold and silver. I am buying rental houses just outside of The Villages. Prices are very low, and rental returns are more than 10% on cash purchases. It is more work than stocks, but they don't keep me awake at night.

I've got all 3. A few years ago I got completely out of the market, but then you couldn't make anything with CD's or money market so as advised my a very successful friend of mine, I bought dividend stocks. I only bought stocks that paid between 3% and 5% and were very highly recommended by the one newsletter I subscribe to. I'm very happy with the results for the past year and half or so since I started. Out of 19 stocks only 2 are slightly down. I created a watch list and decided on a buy price based on the last year or so performance. I waited for a very down day on the market and bought. I'm not very knowledgeable about terms and such on the stock market so I avoid things I don't understand. Been working very well for me.
I got turned off by mutual funds because I couldn't buy at a price I wanted because I had to wait for the closing price at the end of the day and the same for selling. Also you have to hold the stocks for quite a while to avoid early trading penalties.

i bought a house in tv

One word-DIVERSIFICATION. A good fee based financial advisor will help you from worrying every day while watching CNBC. Patience is also key.

Haven't lost anything from my mattress yet.

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I'm curious. For those of us who went through B-School in the 60's, the market today bears no relation to the fundamentals we studied back then. As a financial professional, you know you cannot sit in cash unless you want to lose ground rapidly. So let's say you have to make 10% on your investments going forward, how would you do it? Don't whine, don't whimper. You have a quarter century experience. How?