<p>"I’ve made a rule for myself: no options trading, no going on margin…although I had to go on margin in 2008 to dig myself out of a hole. :eyeroll:</p>
<p>Wow…I try to avoid that…the margin… ;)</p>
<p>Going to sell some CF and then take a break for awhile (sure, sure). Seriously thinking of
getting out altogether ( sure, sure, sure).</p>
<p>Yeah…:)</p>
<p>I bought CF near the lows in 2008.</p>
<p>In my Goldman Sachs account…</p>
<p>And GS was freaking out because of the financial crisis…and GS kicked me out because I wasn’t trading enough. (I wasn’t). My account wasn’t worth enough to GS to keep open. (It wasn’t).</p>
<p>So I sold all my stocks in that account and didn’t buy them back in my Schwab account.</p>
<p>Yahoo, Ebay, CBS, a few others…CF…all bought at great prices.</p>
<p>Ouch…</p>
<p>I want to buy Ebay but I’m not…no more buying this year (sure, sure).</p>
<p>Greed and fear, greed and fear.</p>
<p>No more margin for me ever–it was like running into a tornado.</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>Do people still use EBAY?</p>
<p>I guess they do…</p>
<p>If there is one thing I’ve never done, don’t do and never under any circumstances will ever do is to buy on margin</p>
<p>Interesting…from an article in todays paper(i have been espousing this for awhile)</p>
<p>Americans aren’t as stupid as Wall Street thinks. At least they aren’t any more.
Let me give you something to ponder today in the wake of the Federal Reserve’s decision not to take any action to help the economy.
Wall Street, as you know, has been desperately hoping our central bank would indicate that it planned to print more money in the near future.
This extra dough — produced through strategies known as Quantitative Easing and Operation Twist by eggheads who like deceptively innocent titles for dangerous things — is intended to keep interest rates down.</p>
<p>The thinking on Wall Street is that low rates would force Americans to take more risk with their investments. And the riskiest of all the things you can do with your money this side of a poker table is investing in the stock market.
So following that line of logic, Wall Street believes Americans would put more of their money into the stock market if the Federal Reserve had taken additional action to keep rates — including those obtained on savings accounts — preposterously low.
You know the drill from there: The stock market would move higher, just like it did in response to the previous two QEs. The financial community would be happy, and bonuses would flow again on Wall Street, which would be restored to its rightful place in the cosmic order.
That, at least, is what Wall Street was hoping.
But — and here’s the point I wanted to make — Americans say they aren’t that stupid or easily manipulated.
According to a new survey by BankRate.com, only 18 percent of Americans questioned said they were more likely to invest in the stock market because of cut-rate rates at banks.
Seventy-six percent said they aren’t more inclined to be pushed into stocks simply because their money in the bank is yielding less than a corn crop planted in the middle of Sixth Avenue.
(The remaining 6 percent probably ordered a pizza when BankRate called.)
According to just-released figures available from Gallup, the polling organization, 53 percent of Americans now have money in the stock market. That’s down from 67 percent in 2002 and lower than the 54 percent last year.
At 53 percent, this is also the lowest reading since 1998.
Live and learn, I guess.</p>
<p>Well…the market has gone from 6600 To 13000. I could have used some of those stupid pills. ;)</p>
<p>"hat, at least, is what Wall Street was hoping.
But — and here’s the point I wanted to make — Americans say they aren’t that stupid or easily manipulated.
According to a new survey by BankRate.com, only 18 percent of Americans questioned said they were more likely to invest in the stock market because of cut-rate rates at banks.
Seventy-six percent said they aren’t more inclined to be pushed into stocks simply because their money in the bank is yielding less than a corn crop planted in the middle of Sixth Avenue.
(The remaining 6 percent probably ordered a pizza when BankRate called.)
According to just-released figures available from Gallup, the polling organization, 53 percent of Americans now have money in the stock market. That’s down from 67 percent in 2002 and lower than the 54 percent last year.
At 53 percent, this is also the lowest reading since 1998.
Live and learn, I guess. "</p>
<p>Maybe wall street is correct in calling the public “dumb money” if they haven’t been in the market the last 3 years.</p>
<p>I was buying in thoughout the downturn, but rising 100% in 3 years is ludicrous…i am happy to scale back now…If the Fed wasn’t doing what it is doing, i’d be a tad more optimistic…It IS a con right now, Madoff went to jail for this,lol…</p>
<p>Doct, my favorite line by Wall Streeters is ’ the marekt will continue to rise, because the retail investor is still on side lines’… What the next line should read is, ’ then we will pull the rug out from the retail investor’. AGAIN</p>
<p>Lol, just got a call from my Fidelity rep, wants to meet to discuss my accounts…business must be slow. ;)</p>
<p>Why is is it ludicrous?? The market is not back to where it was in 2007, the PE of the market is significantly lower than it was then because of good earnings growth, the housing market is improving.</p>
<p>Ok…doct…then why are we in cash? I am saying we…</p>
<p>Because the market is built on a pile of lies…i’d love to be more “long” , but Uncle Ben gently pushing gamblers,i mean investors into the stock market will come back to haunt us…We ALL won’t retire with a vacation home with a Mercedes in the driveway,no matter how much money mangers/mutual fund companies tell us it is doable…</p>
<p>People use PayPal like mad. It’s a great way to securely transfer funds all around the world. Ebay is like a banking operation with PayPal. I don’t use Ebay myself as I think that it is a little nutty but I run into people that use it routinely.</p>
<p>“We ALL won’t retire with a vacation home with a Mercedes in the driveway,no matter how much money mangers/mutual fund companies tell us it is doable…”</p>
<p>That is true…</p>
<p>All these fees add up…</p>
<p>I have a series of accts. In some - I’m mainly in mutual funds. In trading accts, I have one that is strictly selling puts for income, one that is strictly dividend paying stocks and cash, one that is more speculative trading oriented. In some of these I’m in cash because even though I believe the market will be higher longer term, it may be bumpy shorter term.</p>
<p>Oh well… I guess I missed out on EBay…really screwed that one up. :)</p>
<p>I’d be happy with my convertible and 2 vacations a year, am i asking for too much ? ;)</p>
<p>My cash percentage of my portfolio is too large…</p>
<p>After BCEagle91 mentioned INTC…I was tempted to sell some Intc puts…</p>
<p>But after looking at the prices…I am not that desperate. :)</p>
<p>Aapl disappointed me too…I wanted to sell some weeklys calls…but the stock dropped and the calls dropped…</p>