Investment BS Thread - Stocks/Futures/Mutual Funds/Bonds/Commodities/Options/ETFs/401ks/Etc

Oh wow.....
Government is the worst investment I've ever made

 

Yeah, investing in government is not usually a winning strategy. But most of the money you "invest" in government is not by choice, and unfortunately a lot of it is redistributed in ways that don't benefit you or many of the people in your daily environment.

 

I am not sure if I'm taking bait here, but...

I strongly believe in maximizing the use of intelligent debt. I also think forcing government healthcare on everyone is a terrible idea (I use it with the VA, so I have some experience in this area).

We would have a hell of a debate on probably everything (if your post is serious)!

 

I saw a sign this morning at a bus stop that said "do you have Medicare and Medicaid?".. my immediate thought was "if so, the government has failed you"

 

what do you all think about the index fund bubble everyone keeps talking about?

The only thing I can think of is that the weighted positioning by market cap could possibly cause a bubble (i.e. if Apple is the largest % of your portfolio, say, 5%) is by contributing the same large percentage of dollars to the same large market cap companies. Supposedly these myths have been debunked, but I'm not sure if there is confirmation bias in those debunkings.

 

Also, I bought a few shares of Redfin (RDFN) and Zillow (ZG). I am thinking that purchasing houses without a real estate agent, or at least without paying them 3%, is the way of the future. My house buying process was 99% done online, including document signatures. The only time I physically met with my realtor was to view two different townhomes. All the other research was online. All my realtor had to do was set up a search with certain parameters and I would get a daily/weekly email with listings. It was virtually 100% automated. I have a feeling that realtors are able to juggle many more clients than they used to, so 3% is awfully high. Very lucrative for now, but a ticking clock if you ask me.

 

From my little bit of research it sounds like things should always balance out... If too much money went in to passive index funds, opportunity would be created and money would flow out of them into individual stocks until passive index funds made sense again. That is if I'm understanding the concept right.

 

We set parameters ourselves via the initial link from our agent. All they did was coordinate viewings. Even with the parameters that were set and daily emails, we did the bulk of our search on those two websites. Agents are more inclined to steer you towards one of their or their company listings before anything else.

 

I will never again use a buyer's agent to purchase a piece of property. I can at least take 2.8% out of the equation.
The seller's agents kind of hold the MLS hostage so there's that, but I see zero need for a buyer's agent. All the standard contracts are available online and a real estate attorney can be hired to look over paperwork and answer questions better and for a fraction of a real estate agent's commission.

 

So I got a new job a while back and theres an employee stock purchase program with a 15% discount.
Is that a worthwhile investment or just meh? If it was 25% I'd jump right on it, just not sure how to tell if it's a good long term thing.
The ticker for it is AQUA

 

looking at their business model, I'm surprised they don't have a dividend, but looks like they IPOd recently. I'd say go for it, but don't put all your eggs in one basket.

 

got so annoyed with robinhood and their horribly inaccurate premarket quotes that I opened up a Charles Schwab account because they have also started $0 trades and they are also planning to offer partial share ownership soon as well. Can't wait to get away from robinhood's super basic and shoddy platform. I just hope Schwab is a better experience

 

I went with Schwab only because of their partial stock ownership plan. If TD goes that way, I may open an account with them if I'm not happy with Schwab

 

hey @memario1214 does TD Ameritrade have show pre-market/after-hours % changes? On Schwab it looks like it just shows the bid/ask price, which does seem to accurately reflect the current pre-market trading activity, but doesn't show % changes relative to the previous day's closing.

 

I find the CNBC app to have the best after hours quotes. You just have to make a watch list, but it’s pretty good just to follow. I doubt any brokerages are going to be better for that.

 

ESPPs can be a good investment for part of your portfolio. Be careful not to go too overweight with your employer. You already depend on them for your paycheck. Calculating taxes on ESPP sales can also be complicated.

 

C’mon guys let’s get some new hot stock picks, stocks to watch, stocks you’re interested in.