Do you own stocks?

Hey, do you own stocks? Are you good at it? Making money? What's your trick?

I have lots of stock right now. The problem is that I always buy them before a financial crisis or buy some Russian stuff right before they invade Ukraine and gets sanctioned. I try to learn now some technical analysis just for fun, like MACD, RSI, OBV, Parabolic SAR and such. But it doesn't help, I don't feel it really indicates when a trend is about to reverse.

My dad does. Suffered a great loss last year as stock prices fell. Personally i don't beleive in mutual funds, stock buisness. Very risky.

@indzman: Indz only puts stock on sexy =P

I just put money in stock indices (eg S&P 500, NASDAQ) and don't worry about it. "Beating the market" is really hard. You're better off not trying to pick stocks.

Anyday =P

It doesn't have to be.

Yes, I own stock.

Only the stocks that are traded as part of my 401k. Although I am considering when I've saved up enough savings investing some of that into a mutual fund. Although I haven't quite gotten to the point where I can devote enough upfront costs for that yet. Trading stocks individually is to risky for me. I'd must rather have my money split amount several stock sources as well as bonds to limit potential loss.

i wish i had the money to put into walmart and costco stocks

I own stock...ings!

I just buy low cost index funds or low cost mutual funds. I dont have the patience to buy individual stocks. Too much research and guessing.

Nice. Same thing I do. Vanguard index funds FTW! Lol. I'm not Warren Buffet, so I gave up any hope of consistently beating the market.

It wont help because those who are really ahead of the trends ARE CHEATING. This is a known problem.

I do own stocks, but I reduced my EU stocks by a lot over the past decade. I only have a trivial amount now. My other stocks are US / in plans.

own a bunch in my 401k and then some outside my retirement savings. i've had both winners and a few losers. i don't spend much money on the individual stocks as it's more gambling than investing. the few lessons i've learned is that generally speaking if you're very patient you can make some extra $ with stocks but you're never going to time things just right.

Yeah, I mean, I have a small play fund that I do for fun, but that's not anything serious. It's kind of like the fantasy football mentality - it's fun and keeps me informed.

Low fee indices and ETFs are the safe way to go.

Technical analysis trading is more or less bunk (at least if you're referring to the chart trend reading the term has been used to refer to recently). They might be useful for the good algos hooked up to a high speed trading pipeline and catching micro-variations in the price, but unless you have a setup like that just stay away.

If you actually want to do well picking stocks, you need to research the actual businesses. Read quarterly reports, analyze PE and PEG ratios, etc.

As a single example, I picked up Apple stock when it dipped, but I didn't do it because it dipped - I picked it up because it's PE and PEG ratios were stupid-low. The reasons why are pretty fascinating, and if you have an interest in business (outside of merely making money in the stock market) it's well worth reading why the fall occurred and continued so deeply.

Lol, no. I don't gamble with money.

I prefer safer investments like property or guaranteed savings bonds.

Would be nice to have some money to invest though.

Wearing a pair right now.

Yeah. I'm 25 and keep virtually all of my savings that aren't needed in the next few years in indices. Very hard to justify not taking the higher expected return. I haven't ever really tried picking stocks.

I've owned a few blue chips for over a decade. Reinvest whatever dividends I get. It's not enough to retire on but it could help for a rainy day. I also own bitcoin, which is a much bigger gamble IMO.

@Expane: That's nice. Where I live, the average cost of a home has almost tripled in the past two decades.

k. I don't live in AZ either, being lucky like us to have housing that is not underwater does not negate the point that real estate is not a safe investment, unless you are already wealthy and investing in the top 10% properties.

It's like "global warming, wut? It's cold outside my house"

@Expane: It's relatively safe compared to stocks. At least with real estate, there is still actual value for the property/building when it depreciates.

There is indeed value of an underwater mortgage... a NEGATIVE value

If we scope the property to Beverly Hills only, you'll do fine. But you need a $4mil nut to get started.

Unidac industries.

Did you hear: McDonald's is bringing back chicken selects and Burger King is breaking back the chicken fries.