Investment Discussions
http://going.com/ID
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Hi! This group spawns from a personal interest in investing ideas
and concepts. Particularly, I like to research out of the way
concepts, hidden stories, anomalies, and trends. While the
information contained herein has been obtained from sources
believed to be reliable, its accuracy and completeness cannot be
guaranteed. Chris Grande has not independently verified the facts,
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Chris
A Bridge is Going to Collapse in Everett? + -
read the rest here: www.chrisgrande.com
Chris
Global Infrastructure - An Unstoppable Trend + -
Many people know about or have at least heard about some of the major projects in China – for example, the Three Gorges Dam...
See the rest of this story here:
http://chrisgrande.com/?p=41
Chris Grande
Gene
All I got is WOW + -
Good for me, only have a relatively small holding left (took alot when it was in the triple digits. :)
Looking at that and Apple (AAPL) makes me think I got to start looking at PE again ;P.
Cheers all.
Chris
RE: All I got is WOW + -
Check out today's action in NHWK and sympathy reaction in VRAD - crazy - this is the time that investors relish;)
Chris
Chris
New York, New York! I Want to Wake Up, with a Lender That Never Defaults + -
In other news: with the recently lowered targeted interest rates, people are realizing...
go to www.chrisgrande.com to read the rest...
Chris
Another Band-Aid Over the Gushing Wound + -
The Dow was down over 460 points at 9:35AM and I was salivating - I wanted all the chickens to run around heads cut off and all and to really capitulate - it almost happened but Uncle Ben hit us with some of his 'converted' rice and we escaped death, narrowly.
My personal thesis is that the same 'smart' computer models that have helped pump this market up to where it is will help drive it down - I still wait to be proven right on that.
The good news is that mortgage rates are down. I mentioned in my blog ( www.chrisgrande.com) that this should be taken advantage of by the wise. As I said yesterday, keep your eyes open - opportunities will pop up - probably not in tech since those guys are too busy loading themselves up with options to care too much about you the shareholder.
Look for ridiculously unreasonable carnage - I'm hoping to find it in certain emerging markets. Have a plan before you execute any strategy. Good luck out there...
Chris
Chris
Asian then European Markets Spill Blood... + -
I guess it really was time to hoard cash:) (joking reference to my last entry). Seriously, we have been mostly out since November/December - but there are still opportunities.
Where do you see opportunities? I already mentioned a good one (cash). Do you see recession coming in any specific signs?
House prices in the Boston area may fall another 20-30% before we reach equilibrium so if the main asset backing most of our nation's debt (real estate) falls, then the repercussions throughout the economy in the short term could really be strong.
Of course this is not new - I posted on this on this group a long time ago and even before that in other medium - and I wasn't the first to notice. I credit insightful economists such as Dean Baker, Marc Faber, Jim Grant and others for foreseeing a lot of the mess you see now.
So where do we go from here? opportunities? Be careful tomorrow...
Chris
Time to Hoard Cash + -
Well, we may be entering into a period where cash will be king again. If asset prices fall, as they might, then we will have some serious opportunities 1-3 years from now. When this happens, you will wish you had cash.
Strategies:
1.consolidate cash and make sure it is safe and earning a decent yield (look up the 3 month T-Bill rate - if you are earning near that, then I think you're doing ok for safety)This way, it is easily accessible for opportunities
2. consolidate retirement money, preferably into a self directed IRA account. Some IRA accounts limit your options - self directed accounts can be put to work much more flexibly. I will write a piece on self directed IRA's soon to explain.
3. When they lower rates, refi your house, do NOT take money out to buy a $50K kitchen (might I add "fool" to the end of that statement) and use the savings from the reduced payment to add to CASH or pay down the mortgage.
4. Keep a home equity line of credit open (HELOC) to have additional available capital for potential opportunities (no KITCHEN!)
5. Read good investment books to get you thinking right:
a.Jim Rogers has a few good ones, the latest being "A Bull in China"
b. Any interview (written or video online) with Swiss born/HK dwelling economist Marc Faber
c. Dennis Gartman - The Gartman Letter
d. Jim Grant - publishes Grant's Interest rate Observer - too expensive for individuals but look up interviews online - he did one last month, forgot where...
I don't care what comes up - opportunity in the markets, in real estate, to buy a franchise/business - with credit harder to come by, you may get a steal on any number of things. Be prepared...
I did a similar post on my blog on this topic and a few others of interest there too:
www.chrisgrande.com
Warmly,
Chris Grande
1.16.08
Chris
January 4, 2008 + -
Crybabies are the people who are gung ho about investing in anything, then blame others when they lose money. I won't talk to much about that, since I don't want to repeat my personal blog entry. Let me stick to this column's theme - Investment Discussions.
First, as I usually do, let's review my last post. It was on November 10. I mentioned 4 things to think about:
1. closed end funds
2. inverse ETF's
3. creating a buy list to await opportunities
4. option strategies (specifically writing puts)
1. Closed end funds - this has been great recently. I was waiting to get the clients into certain closed end funds and opportunities arose for just the reasons I explained on Nov 10. Here is a nice education piece on what closed end funds are: http://closed-endfunds.com/_/docs/con...
So I took advantage of the low prices on certain funds for clients. I still think opportunities abound and you may want to consider researching them for yourself.
2. Inverse ETF's: With the market down to start the year, the QID which I referred to as an example on Nov 10, was up 9% just TODAY. How could this type of investment help you? For example, if 75% of your portfolio were in stocks, you could hedge that portfolio by putting the other 25% in something like QID. More adventurous types could use this simply as a bet against the market. I won't advise you either way since I don't know you - but this tool may be helpful to your plans.
3. Buy List: NOW IS THE TIME The market is dropping. Personally, I like looking for big drops on low volume - tells me the amateurs are driving the price down (big volume tells me the big boys are moving the stock). If we get a nice 20% correction, chances are the high growth stocks will drop 30-50%. If you believe it's not the end of the world (and it might be!) then you may want to use big drops as buying opportunities.
4. Option Strategies: The funny thing is, the example I provided on the site could have netted you some nice money. You would have pocketed the put premium and the stock never dropped below 150, so you would not have had to do anything. If it did drop below 150, and you had to buy it, then you would have ridden the stock up to over 200 - not bad either! And that scenario may be lining up again! (caution: option strategies are not for amateurs - know what you are doing or don't do it).
these ideas are not "should do's" but merely ideas to consider. Of course, consult an expert if you are not one before trying a strategy. Also understand that there is no shame in owning mutual funds and not worrying about all this:).
New ideas you may ask? Let me give you some of the investments that have risen so far this year to give you an idea of how you could consider diversification for your portfolio:
precious metals (gold, silver)
food (commodities like soy, wheat)
Japanese Yen vs US dollar
Some mining stocks (e.g. AUY)
Just food for thought...comments?
Disclosure: Chris has no positions in stocks mentioned in this column.
*The opinions expressed are those of Chris Grande as of 01//04/2008 and are subject to change based on market and other conditions.
Darren
akamai + -
Chris
RE: akamai + -
Chris
RE: akamai + -
Rebecca
RE: akamai + -
Chris
RE: akamai + -
Ace / 6one7 Pro
So... What stocks r u making money on in this market ? + -
I know today there r few positive... one being an IPO and other smaller companys under the radar... but thats what I wanna know...
Personally my portfolio is in the negative across the board today...