Stocks Investing Trading Blog.com

So, with all the floods and hurricanes going around, I wonder if there are any businesses that can take advantage of these disasters, etc… are there any stocks that could be good plays in this type of environment ?

If someones home did have a flood, what would you do ? go to 24 HOUR Fire Water Damage - they (Adjusters Reference Manual) can give them a list of good Water Out company’s that should be able to respond night or day… and they should be able to help them with their problem…

Robert Mandrake

A person or body that provides another with a sum of money (loan) is called the creditor and the person borrowing the sum is called the debtor; normally finalized by a legal document as it is a binding arrangement between the two. Whilst just about anything, product or service can be lent out; the information below focuses on financial arrangements only. The period a loan will run generally depends on the financial circumstances of the borrower but normally the longer this period, the more it will cost; this is usually in regular monthly installments.

All monetary debts consist of two elements: the sum owed and the interest charge for the time during which it is payable over; this is added to the overall amount owed. It is not uncommon for a company to have a policy where the interest is front-loaded and paid first; then the capital sum is paid afterwards. However the normal way to repay a debt is to ensure that each monthly repayment combines part sum and part interest.

The primary use of a financial institution is to arrange finance but they do have many more functions. For both companies and individuals, arranging a loan is a way to increase their cash flow for a regular monthly outlay. whilst other ways to raise capital can be used, this is often the quickest method.

A mortgage on the other hand is designed for one purpose, that of purchasing property or land and is one of the most common types of long term debt individuals experience. However, in this situation a form of security is needed before the money is lent and the title to the property is the normal method for financial institutions to use; releasing them once the final installment is made. With this type of loan, should the borrower fail to make payments on the loan or default, then the bank or other financial institution has the right to sell the property; to recover sums owing to them, they may place it an auction.

Although not a regular method of security, the financing company may demand that the object of the loan also becomes the security for it; where the car becomes the security for the money lent to the borrower. In this instance the life of the loan will not exceed the useful life of the vehicle; in this case money lent for a car will have a relatively short repayment period.

Unsecured loans are available from financial institutions under many different guises or marketing packages; this can include the credit card, personal arrangements, bank overdrafts and other forms of credit. The interest rates vary with the lender and type of credit supplied but credit cards around the world have some of the highest rates of interest, whilst a bank overdraft will typically be much lower in comparison.

On occasion it is has been known for financial companies to apply direct and indirect pressure for someone to use one of their services so that the company will have a hold over the individual; this type of abuse is known as predatory lending. This is an area where credit card companies in some countries are also criticized as they supply cards at very high rates of interest and add on other spurious charges to the holder. You would be wise to be wary of financial arrangements that seem to good to be true because they probably are.

Does anyone have any thoughts on investing in Oil Stocks at this time ?

I know the oil companies are the evil corporations of the world today but from what I hear from the news media, the oil companies are making record profits and those profits eventually get to the shareholders.

Is it worth my time to invest in the evil oil comapnies ?

Any advice is appreciated.

Rawlin James

I was interested in the recent price history of Gold… so, I went to WIKI, and looked up GOLD…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_as_an_investment

As you can see, had you purchased GOLD in 1980, you would have spent $641 per ounce… now, here is the SHOCKER!!!

In 2005, that is 25 years later… all the Gold you purchased for $641 per ounce would be worth $513 per ounce… so, you would have lost money after holding on patiently for 25 years… 25 years… come on people… imagine what that would have done to your retirement savings…

Yes, I know that this is 2008, and  Gold is now worth around $1,000 per ounce… but, considering the rule of 7 (doubling investments every seven years), you would not have done very well investing in Gold, since after 28 years, you would not have even doubled your investment…

This investment (going from $641 per ounce in 1980 to $1,000 per ounce in 2008) is LESS than a 1% annual return on your investment…

Yes, I know that there are “other time frames” in which this would not have been the case… where instead you would have made vast sums of money… such as from 2005 - 2008… but, I would be very very wary of such investments.

Mandrake

In today’s crazy market, should one invest in gold ?

The answer of course is well maybe

A few years ago gold was at approx $400 an ounce and now it is traiding for approx $900 an ounce.  That is more than a doubling of the price in a few short years.

Will gold double again in another couple of years ? 

Nobody knows for sure but GOLD is the only investment that has never been worth nothing.  Gold is an actual asset that used to be what our money system was based on.  If the entire monetary system of the entire world collapsed, only gold would still be worth something.

Gold is probably something you should have in your diversified portfollio.  You can also buy gold coins or gold bars that you can actually put your hands on.  There is nothing like holding and looking at a piece of gold in your own hands

Rawlin James

What I am currently searching desperately for is a list of bear market stocks.

A list of stocks that could and will do well in a bear market, in a recession… even in a depression. 

The way I see it, there has to be a set of companies that will do very well during times like this… companies that perhaps have huge government contracts, that will only grow as more and more people are in need of government services… or just very simple solid money making utilities like electric and gas companies ?

I definitely feel that we are only at the tip of the iceburg… bank stocks bad ideas ? oh yeah… and I am speaking from experience… I own two of them… CFC and C and both are down HUGE, and I have basically resolved that they will either be worthless eventually or they may make some money within the next 10-15 years… so, yeah, unlike some of the pundits out there who are already calling a bottom in the bank stocks… I am not joining them… in fact, I think these are the same people who called a bottom in real estate and real estate stocks in 2006… yea, they were a little off on that one…

so, hit me with the bear market stock picks please…

Mandrake

With the current status of the US economy and the supposed credit crisis, you better watch yourself when investing in any bank stocks.  The meltdown of Bear Sterns and all the bad news that all the US banks have been publicizing will only get worse in the short term.

Most of the big banks and lendors in the US made a lot of bad loans to a lot of people who could not afford them.  It will just take a while for the market to work out the bad debt.  So be careful

Also, if the government gets too involved trying to “save the banks” then it will only make the crisis last even longer.

Rawlin James

Yes, of course I did it again… for the thousandth time… I had winning trade (20 points or more on the YM) after winning trade today, but, on three of the four trades, I didn’t take my profit at 20 or more… instead, I got greedy, I wanted more… and all three times, I ended up stopping out break even, after being up plus 40 twice, and plus 30… then on my final trade, I was up plus 30 and finally settled on plus 20.

I think this is why so many people fail in trading… exiting winning trades is always the hardest thing when you are not a pro… I just try and try to get this under control… but so far, I have not been able to right the ship… and so, days like today get chalked up over and over… where I either make a little, nothing, or even lose money… and then I reflect on the trading day and realize that wow… I could have had a HUGE day or even a great day or even an ok day… instead of an ok day, or a break even day, or a losing day…

ManDrake

If you are going to Trade markets, you have to accept one thing… LOSING TRADES are going to happen to you.

The professional traders do not bat 1000. They do not win on every trade. But, what they do know how to do is manage risk. Managing your losing trades and managing risk is probably the best thing you can ever learn in trading.

It is vital to your trading account that you manage risk, that you accept losses, that you exit trades when they hit your stops… do not use MENTAL STOPS. Use actual hard STOPS. Otherwise, you will find yourself second guessing yourself, and moving your mental stop… and keep moving it over and over and over, until you have blown up your account…

You will LOSE MONEY trading. It doesnt mean that you cannot end up at the end of some time frame profitable… but, in small time frames you will have to take losses, you will have to accept losing money. A lot of small losses is ok… what you want to do is have lots of small losses, and then have BIG GAINS when you do make money. If you have only small gains, but big losses… you will blow up your account.

MANDRAKE

So, imagine a day where you make really good calls all day long, but, every single call you make, you hesitate just long enough to miss the play… and every one of those plays turns out to be a winner… but, guess what ? You missed every single one.

Well, that was my day today… I made great call after call, but I was hesitant all day and I would wait for the trade to start running away from me before I would put in my order… thus, after 3 hours of trading, where I would have made my daily limit, instead, I had nothing to show for it…

and I am sure you can guess what came next yep, I started chasing… and so I went from a potential great day to almost a maxed out loss day… turning my great week into a loser week, and just drepressing the crap out of me.

Moral of the story is: Have a trading plan and trade your plan. Don’t hesitate. Don’t be afraid to be wrong. You are going to be wrong. But, if you hesitate and stop trading your plan, you are bound to have days like this, where you just misfire over and over, and then, once you are finally ready to not hesitate, it can all go to crap.

So, don’t do that

ManDrake