Stock Market Woes

[brewer12345]

These past few days have made me feel better about carrying puts. We'll see going forward, but if things continue in this vein I will soon roll down a strike and take a nice bit of change out.

Ha, so you are planning on selling what you have, buying puts with a lower strike, and sitting on the profits? I'm not sure what I want to do. I don't think the blood-letting is over yet even if we get a respite today. I am looking for QQQQ to get to 37.50 or a touch lower before I would e willing to let my puts go.

In the meantime I have been doing a little shopping...

 

[brewer12345]

Glad you mentioned BPOP, I have been adding to that one over the last 6 months and looks better now.

What's not to like? Dominant bank in PR, as anyone who has ever been there knows (the only bank branch on Vieques is a Banco Popular). Half their business is in the US and they have an inside track on the hispanic population. They run their business relatively conservatively. And all the other PR banks (DRL, FBP, WHI, etc.) have screwed themselves, so BPOP should have plenty of opportunities in its home market now that competition is substantially lessened.

 

[youbet]

Are you from Minnesota? walleyes and the name youbet - very close to youbetcha....

No, but I make several pilgrimages to Lake Wobegon annually.

 

[BUM]

In the meantime I have been doing a little shopping...

Me too. Right now I'm trying to figure out who's hi-tech fence will be deployed along the border.

 

[brewer12345]

Me too. Right now I'm trying to figure out who's hi-tech  fence will be deployed along the border. 

That is the wackiest thing I have heard in a long time. And where is the money going to come from? Borrowed from the Chinese, again?

 

[hogwild]

Sure makes the "buckets" method look good.

 

[Andre1969]

Just added up the total loss including yesterday. $17,000. Ouch! I'm still in the black for 2006 though, and this has really only put my net worth back by about 2-3 months, to where I was at in late Feb/early March.

I know why this happened though. You see, last month I decided to splurge on something I didn't need. A 19" flat screen monitor. Paid a whopping $255 for it. See what happens when I spend frivolously thinking "Oh, I have the money for it".

If I hadn't bought that monitor, I might be retired by now!

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I have to admit that I sucked in a little air when I saw the bottom line yesterday. Until i realized that it included the check clearing for the Pilot purchase.

One I noticed that...not so bad.

Looks a little up today. I think its a head fake.

 

[modlair]

I'll tell ya what I don't understand.

The market was up about 5% in all of 2005. It was up about that at the peak last week. So this means that over a 17 month period there was less than a 10% rise -- and somehow, God knows how, but somehow people who lived through the 90's were talking about how this was an absurd runup and a bubble waiting to pop.

And what's worse is those same people are now talking about the 4% drop of the last few days as if it was a "crash". These are people who saw The Great Crash of 2000 and they still are talking about 4% being devastating.

Weird.

 

[Papi]

I think that is the typical media response to create headlines and sell their wares. They love to distort facts and perfrom shallow reporting. Otherwise, nobody would buy their magazines, WSJ subscription, etc.

 

[justin]

I have to admit that I sucked in a little air when I saw the bottom line yesterday. Until i realized that it included the check clearing for the Pilot purchase.

A Honda Pilot? I've had my eyes on those.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Cheap right now man...go to carsdirect.com...you might have to drive a couple of hours to get the price, but theres $2k in dealer cash out there until 5/31 that carsdirect is getting thrown into the deal...$28k base LX model for $22.5 plus TLF.

 

[astromeria]

I'm not looking (LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA!)--I might be tempted to do something instead of just stand there! Besides...
-- I'm pretty conservatively invested (60% equities).
-- I'm diversified.
-- DH is still working.
-- I got my 4 buckets:
------ Social Security Blanket Bucket (CD ladder to provide 5 years of SS--we turn 57 this year)
------ Main Income Bucket o' stocks to provide that 4% (30% US, 20% intl, 10% real assets)
------ FI Buffer Bucket to "launder" that 4% and provide 6 years of expenses: 2 yrs in MM account, 4 yrs in 2-yr CDs with half due in 1 year, half in 2
------ Emergency/Freedom Bucket (hybrid funds)

 

[justin]

Cheap right now man...go to carsdirect.com...you might have to drive a couple of hours to get the price, but theres $2k in dealer cash out there until 5/31 that carsdirect is getting thrown into the deal...$28k base LX model for $22.5 plus TLF.

I know. I was shopping for a slightly larger SUV for my sister in law, and saw the Pilot that I would want for ~$23k at carsdirect. That's cheaper than the minivan I was considering. I'm waiting till the wifey pops out another couple of kids first. Then I'll be all over it. Hopefully gas prices will still be high then (to make the PILOT cheap).

How do you like it? Probably better than the Lexus honeywagon huh?

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I like it fine.

My wifes words after driving it "Its nice. But its no Lexus".

 

[justin]

Not bad for 1/3 the price though

 

[REWahoo]

A Honda Pilot? I've had my eyes on those.

Justin, sounds like you might have missed this thread where CFB shared with us his twisted self-justification of buying yet another new car this year adventures in buying his new Pilot.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Not bad for 1/3 the price though

I tried that "You know, we could have two of those in the garage for the same price as the lexus"

(mystified look) "But why would we want that?"



She's a pro.

 

[justin]

Sorry I missed your earlier thread CFB. I was out of town for a week. I don't know if anyone mentioned it, but you may be able to get the rear seatbelts replaced in your car. My civic seatbelts have a lifetime warranty. Not sure if it protects against "dog chewing"...

Apologies for the thread derail!

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

"So...i'm driving along and I tap the brakes...and that just happened to the seat belts! Just like that!"

About eighty bucks a piece and about 2 hours to put them in. But I could buy a much cheaper dog chew toy.

 

[Nords]

I tried that "You know, we could have two of those in the garage for the same price as the lexus"
(mystified look) "But why would we want that?"
She's a pro.

I'll say-- she has you thinking that you were having a conversation about cars.

 

[haha]

Ha, so you are planning on selling what you have, buying puts with a lower strike, and sitting on the profits?  I'm not sure what I want to do.  I don't think the blood-letting is over yet even if we get a respite today.  I am looking for QQQQ to get to 37.50 or a touch lower before I would e willing to let my puts go.

I agree with you Brewer. Face it, a 25% drop from last week would get us close to 30. IMO, this is not impossible. My highest strike is 40, but I won't hold it all the way down, should QQQQs continue down. For one thing, my time value disappears, for another I am vulnerable to snapbacks. So I would dump the highest strike, and add to lower strikes (or not, if volatilities have jumped way up.) I have an array of strikes all the way down to 34.

Ha

 

[brewer12345]

I agree with you Brewer. Face it, a 25% drop from last week would get us close to 30. IMO, this is not impossible. My highest strike is 40, but I won't hold it all the way down, should QQQQs continue down. For one thing, my time value disappears, for another I am vulnerable to snapbacks. So I would dump the highest strike, and add to lower strikes (or not, if volatilities have jumped way up.) I have an array of strikes all the way down to 34.

Ha

Gotcha. I'm just sitting on a pile of 40s, so I either have to decide to give up the scurity balnket, or affirmatively sell it and buy something lower. Since (as expected) everything continued going into the **** today after a little head-fake, I think I will be hanging on for a bit. Still doing some shopping along the way down, and I will eventually liquidate and use the proceeds to pick up some unconsidered trifles.

 

[Nords]

Since (as expected) everything continued going into the **** today after a little head-fake, I think I will be hanging on for a bit.

Tech-- ouch.

Overall, a few gratifying exceptions-- PID is flat, Berkshire Hathaway is up over 1.5% (a huge gain for them), and I see EGLE is up another 1% from yesterday.

 

[brewer12345]

Yeah, I can't say that I find all of this terribly upsetting, given that we are talking about being less than 10% off multi-year highs.