Hi I'm Q's Laptop and I Don't Want to Retire Just Yet

[Scrapr]

Welcome aboard Q

if I may be a bit forward and slap me around if this is too personal

What kind of laptop are you? Chromebook? Win 7/8/10? Macbook?

How big is your screen? Do you like the built in mouse pad? Or do you prefer people keep their grimy fingers off you and use a mouse?

This will get you off on the right foot here. Then let the Mac vs Win wars begin!

 

[Qs Laptop]

Alas, trying to beat the market often takes energy and time away from the above pursuits. Assuming index funds provide the cash to enjoy these things in life why not go with the index and have fun?

I'm not much of a trader, more of a buy-and-hold guy. Find a quality investment and stick with it.

 

[Qs Laptop]

Welcome aboard Q

if I may be a bit forward and slap me around if this is too personal

What kind of laptop are you? Chromebook? Win 7/8/10? Macbook?

How big is your screen? Do you like the built in mouse pad? Or do you prefer people keep their grimy fingers off you and use a mouse?

This will get you off on the right foot here. Then let the Mac vs Win wars begin!

Ha ha. Yeah, I like Android over iPhone; PC over Mac (I build my own desktops.)

 

[NW-Bound]

I'm not much of a trader, more of a buy-and-hold guy. Find a quality investment and stick with it.

I want to buy and hold. The problem is other crazy investors out there keep bidding my good stocks to the stratosphere, way more than I think they are worth. What can I do but to sell these stocks?

Conversely, they sell some stocks down to the mud. How can I stand by and not step up to rescue the stocks and buy some?

OK, it does not work out for me every trade. Often, a good stock is way better than I thought, or some stocks are really bad and deserve to be spanked and I did not know it. But you see why I cannot just buy and hold. The other guys make me trade.

Only if people just left them stocks alone for them to rise, oh, say 6% a year, then I would not have to trade.

 

[copyright1997reloaded]

There are people of all stripes here, even people like me who retired and are now back at w*rk.

In my case, I retired in 2009 and was (and remain) FI. After a year, I took a part time j*b teaching (college adjunct). First one class, then two classes, then three classes. Then a full time slot opened up and for the last 3+ years I've been teaching full time. I'm doing this because I like the mental stimulation, the job hours are flexible (outside of the class time which is three days a week), and I have a child in high school (I didn't want him to see Dad just sitting around or playing all the time).

I am also a individual stock holder, but unlike you have avoided broker recommendations from the early 80's. When I first started investing, I spent a lot of time at a brokerage, and got to know them. What I learned was in general they weren't the sharpest tools in the shed. I also liked (and still like) to make my own investment decisions...as a result I have no one else but myself to blame (or to praise).

Unlike many here, I think it is possible to outperform indexes, but unlike you I believe it is very difficult for large mutual fund companies to outperform the indexes (over a long period of time). Note I didn't say impossible, just difficult (in my opinion). Having said that, I am also aware that I might be wrong. So, I have about 50% of my assets in low cost mostly passive index funds, and the 50% in individual securities and sector oriented funds. Quite a few of my individual stock holdings are very long term: MAR (1990), AAPL (2000), BAX (1989), EW(1989, Bax spinoff), HON (2003), ADI (1990 via LLTC), and so on...

So don't get discouraged into thinking that is just one school of thought here. But at the same time, remember that we try to be nice to each other here, even when someone disagrees....unlike just about any other Internet forum out there these days.

 

[NW-Bound]

... I believe it is very difficult for large mutual fund companies to outperform the indexes (over a long period of time). Note I didn't say impossible, just difficult (in my opinion)...

Large investors may have some advantages, but nimbleness is not one of them. Buffett was able to beat the market in his early years, but now that Berkshire is a behemoth, he cannot employ the same tactics he did.

One advantage of a small individual investor is that you can quickly sell a position if the company is in trouble. You can also go overweight on something without having to justify to anyone. You also can trail behind the market while waiting to be right, compared to an MF or hedge fund manager who faces share redemption or withdrawal if his timing is off. I am not surprised when reading about Michael Burry (in "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis) facing the anger of his shareholders while he waited for his vindication when the housing bubble finally burst.

So, long ago I came to the conclusion that I had to either index or do my own thing, and not to rely on any MF manager.

 

[HadEnuff]

Howdy, Q, and welcome. There are a lot of differing, yet well thought out views on personal investing on this forum. You can find confirmation or contrary opinions to just about anything you present.

One thing you say rings true for me. I also ran my own business for 40 years, and managed my own retirement plans for most of that time. Now, in retirement, one of the hardest things I find for myself is to keep my hands off. I feel I should be "doing something", rather than relying on my AA and MF decisions to run their course through he ups and downs of the markets.
I'm pretty sure that when I decide to fiddle, it's usually counter-productive, but I am not geared to the hands-off approach.

Good luck, and Welcome!

 

[Montecfo]

Welcome to the board!

There are many investing viewpoints here. I think where people can get in trouble is being too sure their view is always right, or always will be. That spells trouble. Things work till they don't.

I think perhaps the most pervasive view on investing here, is to "do it yourself". Whether active passive combo, whatever, most folks here believe in avoiding managers. I do agree that makes sense.

Personally, I buy individual stocks, selected MF's, a few equity indexes, bond funds. Value oriented. Try to learn more where I can.

Cheers!

 

[bloom2708]

No pressure to do ANY particular style of investing. Understanding different styles is very important. Personally, I hope that all of you use Edward Jones and pay high fees. I kid, I kid of course. Index investing? Average at best. Stock picking always works in the long run!

Most don't know what they don't know.

If you don't rely on back testing, hunches, feelings, expected returns, tips, hints, estimates, etc, then you aren't left with a lot of options.

There is a good discussion about "why not 100% International EX-US". "Expected returns" for international are higher. OK. Who sets "expected returns"? How often does expected equal actual?

Tough stuff. You put the "Personal" in Personal Investing. Hopefully you look back and it worked out OK.