OT: Stock and Investment Talk

[rutgersdave]

I have financial advisors running my fixed income, tax-free income and 2 of my retirement accounts. I can live comfortably off the income without touching the principal. I have another retirement account that I do all the trading and for which I have my high risk/high reward trades. I have some GBTC in that account and some in a non qualified TD account. They're both fee based, no trade commissions.
I subscribe to a service that has greatly formed my thinking of businesses going forward and my stock trades (America 2.0). Since following their leads, I've literally tripled the accounts I personally run. They've also turned me on to bitcoin and educated me on crypto and blockchain in general. I've learned about SPAC's on my own.
I also look weekly for executives/insiders buying or selling shares in their companies, a pretty good indicator of where a stock is heading.

what % of your assets are managed by financial advisors and the % of assets that you trade? What type of returns do you expect from the advisors?

My sister has the financial advisors for over 20 years and it appear they give her suggestion for stocks and she aware of what‘s in her account. My sister in law just started using one 2 years ago but doesn’t know exactly what investments are in her account.

 

[Frida's Boss]

What‘s your feelings about wealth management advisors especially Fidelity? My sister in law put all their IRA into their hands and overall told them to invest it in conservative investments. I would have at least placed it with two different investment advisors, assets over $5 million. They just want to preserve the wealth for the kids. Are there better wealth management advisors? My sister also uses another one and I’m thinking about putting half of my assets under a wealth management advisor. I know they are familiar with different investment options other than stocks that might be safer.

It’s a hard question because it really comes down to the advisor. The best advisors aren’t necessarily the best investors. Generally, they are paid on assets under management, so the most successful are very good salespeople. To me, you’d need to trust the person. I don’t use one, but do have a person in mind if I were hit by the proverbial bus and my family needed someone to take over that part of their lives, as far as Fidelity, I couldn’t really comment as I’ve no view, I do think there is some value to firms that have access to strategies other than liquid stocks and bonds, provided the advisor can really assess them.

I would not expect an advisor to beat any index. It would insist they pursue strategies consistent with your goals. But it all comes down to trust, you absolutely must trust the person.

 

[T2Kplus20]

Their former head of research, Pat Dorsey, wrote one of those little books on investing focused on “moats.” It’s a good, concise summary. I like morningstar’s display of 10 years worth of historical spreads and ratios.. Good to see at a glance, can’t comment on their rating accuracy, but think there is merit to the qualitative assessment of sustainable advantages. I do look for their factors when assessing good businesses at fair prices.

Yes, Morningstar has some great charts and tables. It's all well organized. I have been researching what sectors, markets, and funds performed well during the 2000s. Just in case. :)

 

[miketd1]

I have financial advisors running my fixed income, tax-free income and 2 of my retirement accounts. I can live comfortably off the income without touching the principal. I have another retirement account that I do all the trading and for which I have my high risk/high reward trades. I have some GBTC in that account and some in a non qualified TD account. They're both fee based, no trade commissions.
I subscribe to a service that has greatly formed my thinking of businesses going forward and my stock trades (America 2.0). Since following their leads, I've literally tripled the accounts I personally run. They've also turned me on to bitcoin and educated me on crypto and blockchain in general. I've learned about SPAC's on my own.
I also look weekly for executives/insiders buying or selling shares in their companies, a pretty good indicator of where a stock is heading.

I'm against cryptos for investment.

I am, however, warming up to them as a form of gambling.

 

[T2Kplus20]

what % of your assets are managed by financial advisors and the % of assets that you trade? What type of returns do you expect from the advisors?

My sister has the financial advisors for over 20 years and it appear they give her suggestion for stocks and she aware of what‘s in her account. My sister in law just started using one 2 years ago but doesn’t know exactly what investments are in her account.

The only account that we use an advisor for is our Roth IRAs (mostly to help with the backdoor paperwork). This represents 16% of our retirement assets. Our E-Trade account, which is what I play with the most is 11%. The other 73% is in 5 401k/403bs accounts. I haven't rolled over anything yet. Each account has institutional fund classes that are less expense than what you can get with a rollover IRA. I do think about consolidating a few of them so I don't have to manage and monitor 7 accounts, but it's working fine, so whatever. I set-up a few watch lists on E-Trade so I can keep an eye on all accounts.

 

[T2Kplus20]

I'm against cryptos for investment.

I am, however, warming up to them as a form of gambling.

Between "investing" and "gambling" is "speculation". :)
Cryptos are definitely speculative, but fun. I started to dabble in ETHE (which I think has more utility in the long run). Right now, GBTC is too high.

 

[rutgersdave]

It’s a hard question because it really comes down to the advisor. The best advisors aren’t necessarily the best investors. Generally, they are paid on assets under management, so the most successful are very good salespeople. To me, you’d need to trust the person. I don’t use one, but do have a person in mind if I were hit by the proverbial bus and my family needed someone to take over that part of their lives, as far as Fidelity, I couldn’t really comment as I’ve no view, I do think there is some value to firms that have access to strategies other than liquid stocks and bonds, provided the advisor can really assess them.

I would not expect an advisor to beat any index. It would insist they pursue strategies consistent with your goals. But it all comes down to trust, you absolutely must trust the person.

Thanks. I have always managed my own investment but noticed that I tend to have too much cash in the account that never get invested. I would take a conservative approach and would be satisfied with 4-5% from the financial advisor and allow myself to invest the other half of my investment.

 

[ScarletNut]

what % of your assets are managed by financial advisors and the % of assets that you trade? What type of returns do you expect from the advisors?

My sister has the financial advisors for over 20 years and it appear they give her suggestion for stocks and she aware of what‘s in her account. My sister in law just started using one 2 years ago but doesn’t know exactly what investments are in her account.

My advisors manage 90-95% of my assets, diversification changing as I aged. I used to have a ton of callable muni bonds that were earning 5-8% tax-free. I didn't need the income at that time so the interest was reinvested in more callable munis, essentially earning me 5-8% compounded tax-free growth. Those bonds are few and far between now due to lower rates but they did set me up nicely.
Currently I expect 5+% returns (in my qualified accounts) since I am drawing 5% a year from them for my retirement income. The portfolios are essentially in 3 "buckets", labelled longterm, mid term (4-7 years) and short term (which covers my distributions for 3 years). The idea is that market cycles can be roughly evened out over 3 years so the short term bucket doesn't grow by 5% but also doesn't lose any principal. The other 2 buckets account for the growth necessary to maintain my retirement distributions without principal erosion.

 

[miketd1]

Between "investing" and "gambling" is "speculation". :)
Cryptos are definitely speculative, but fun. I started to dabble in ETHE (which I think has more utility in the long run). Right now, GBTC is too high.

Giving a hard look at Cardano and/or Polkadot.

Both lead by former ETHE members.
Both trying to create an "internet of blockchains" without some of the downfalls of Ethereum (mainly scalability).

I have no idea how that all works or if it can ever work, but I'm willing to make a purely speculative bet.

Upside is extremely high for a relatively small price of admission.

Feels similar to the PC and OS wars of the early 80s.

Not sure which is IBM and which is Apple, so I'm looking buy lottery tickets for both.

 

[rutgersdave]

My advisors manage 90-95% of my assets, diversification changing as I aged. I used to have a ton of callable muni bonds that were earning 5-8% tax-free. I didn't need the income at that time so the interest was reinvested in more callable munis, essentially earning me 5-8% compounded tax-free growth. Those bonds are few and far between now due to lower rates but they did set me up nicely.
Currently I expect 5+% returns (in my qualified accounts) since I am drawing 5% a year from them for my retirement income. The portfolios are essentially in 3 "buckets", labelled longterm, mid term (4-7 years) and short term (which covers my distributions for 3 years). The idea is that market cycles can be roughly evened out over 3 years so the short term bucket doesn't grow by 5% but also doesn't lose any principal. The other 2 buckets account for the growth necessary to maintain my retirement distributions without principal erosion.

Thanks.

 

[T2Kplus20]

Giving a hard look at Cardano and/or Polkadot.

Both lead by former ETHE members.
Both trying to create an "internet of blockchains" without some of the downfalls of Ethereum (mainly scalability).

I have no idea how that all works or if it can ever work, but I'm willing to make a purely speculative bet.

Upside is extremely high for a relatively small price of admission.

Feels similar to the PC and OS wars of the early 80s.

Not sure which is IBM and which is Apple, so I'm looking buy lottery tickets for both.

I believe if ETH 2.0 is rolled out fine, those ETH wannabes will be cut off at the knees.

 

[T2Kplus20]

My advisors manage 90-95% of my assets, diversification changing as I aged. I used to have a ton of callable muni bonds that were earning 5-8% tax-free. I didn't need the income at that time so the interest was reinvested in more callable munis, essentially earning me 5-8% compounded tax-free growth. Those bonds are few and far between now due to lower rates but they did set me up nicely.
Currently I expect 5+% returns (in my qualified accounts) since I am drawing 5% a year from them for my retirement income. The portfolios are essentially in 3 "buckets", labelled longterm, mid term (4-7 years) and short term (which covers my distributions for 3 years). The idea is that market cycles can be roughly evened out over 3 years so the short term bucket doesn't grow by 5% but also doesn't lose any principal. The other 2 buckets account for the growth necessary to maintain my retirement distributions without principal erosion.

Don't have to worry about any of that yet. Our time horizon is 16 years with at least 10 years of full speed ahead. We have a number that we want to hit. If we hit it early, we will likely pull back the reins a bit.

 

[jtung230]

My advisors manage 90-95% of my assets, diversification changing as I aged. I used to have a ton of callable muni bonds that were earning 5-8% tax-free. I didn't need the income at that time so the interest was reinvested in more callable munis, essentially earning me 5-8% compounded tax-free growth. Those bonds are few and far between now due to lower rates but they did set me up nicely.
Currently I expect 5+% returns (in my qualified accounts) since I am drawing 5% a year from them for my retirement income. The portfolios are essentially in 3 "buckets", labelled longterm, mid term (4-7 years) and short term (which covers my distributions for 3 years). The idea is that market cycles can be roughly evened out over 3 years so the short term bucket doesn't grow by 5% but also doesn't lose any principal. The other 2 buckets account for the growth necessary to maintain my retirement distributions without principal erosion.

5-8% tax-free? How old are you?

 

[T2Kplus20]

5-8% tax-free? How old are you?

He is 102 years old. :)

 

[Frida's Boss]

5-8% tax-free? How old are you?

Not only investing at those rates but reinvesting at those rates. That’s sweet. Well done, @ScarletNut

 

[jtung230]

Not only investing at those rates but reinvesting at those rates. That’s sweet. Well done, @ScarletNut

Yeah, but his mortgage rate was 20%.

 

[ScarletNut]

5-8% tax-free? How old are you?

Recently turned 65. Have had callable munis in my non qualified portfolio since my early 40’s. I’ve been a tortoise and a hare simultaneously

 

[ScarletNut]

Yeah, but his mortgage rate was 20%.

My first mortgage, in 1990 was 12 3/8%. Steadily reduced over the years. Hasn’t been over 4% in a loonnng time

 

[Frida's Boss]

Yeah, but his mortgage rate was 20%.

The guy simultaneously has high yielding munis with crypto. He’s a player. I’m betting he had no credit card mortgages.

 

[ScarletNut]

The guy simultaneously has high yielding munis with crypto. He’s a player. I’m betting he had no credit card mortgages.

I’ve always paid my credit card bills in full. I’m dead money to credit card companies. My only interest paying debts have been mortgages and auto leases.

 

[jtung230]

Recently turned 65. Have had callable munis in my non qualified portfolio since my early 40’s. I’ve been a tortoise and a hare simultaneously

I’ve been buying callable munis since my early 40s, my avg yield is 4.25%. All redemptions are sitting in cash because I would be losing money if I reinvest in today’s rates.

 

[tom1944]

I have Treasuries in a range of mid 6 to high 7%. I wish I had more in hindsight.

 

[ScarletNut]

I’ve been buying callable munis since my early 40s, my avg yield is 4.25%. All redemptions are sitting in cash because I would be losing money if I reinvest in today’s rates.

That’s correct. I still have quite a few that are over 5% that haven’t been called. They’re not all NJ bonds. My advisor has found some nice callables all over the country. The interest sits in a NJ tax free “bond” that earns .5-.75% and is very liquid if a nice bond becomes available. He deals with high net worth individuals and breaks off some much smaller odd lots for me.

 

[jtung230]

I rotated into QDI preferred stocks. Avg yield is around 8%. Made a few great buys in March 2020. Not buying anything right now because yields are below 5%.

 

[RU in IM]

To all that have done nicely over the last 11 years, including the last year, it might be time to start raising some cash prior to what might be a sizable downturn. It would be nice to put some money in at a lower basis, when it corrects. And why should one be raising cash by selling stocks during what might be a bubble? Well, the current average P/E for the S&P 500 is 45%, yes FORTY-FIVE percent, above the 20 year average. So, it would take a 31% decline to get back to the average P/E. When will the correction come? Who knows...... but Warren Buffet didn’t get rich by buying high.

 

[T2Kplus20]

GS is doing well:

Goldman Sachs crushes analysts' estimates on stronger-than-expected stock trading, investment banking

Goldman equities traders produced a 40% bump in revenue from a year earlier to $2.39 billion, exceeding expectations by nearly half a billion dollars.

www.cnbc.com

 

[redking]

I subscribe to a service that has greatly formed my thinking of businesses going forward and my stock trades (America 2.0). Since following their leads, I've literally tripled the accounts I personally run.

Can you share the name of this service?

 

[bob-loblaw]

Giving a hard look at Cardano and/or Polkadot.

Both lead by former ETHE members.
Both trying to create an "internet of blockchains" without some of the downfalls of Ethereum (mainly scalability).

I have no idea how that all works or if it can ever work, but I'm willing to make a purely speculative bet.

Upside is extremely high for a relatively small price of admission.

Feels similar to the PC and OS wars of the early 80s.

Not sure which is IBM and which is Apple, so I'm looking buy lottery tickets for both.

Im glad to hear youre looking into alts. Alt coins are still at a steep discount right now. They were all on clearance back in Oct/Nov. Now we're looking at a good sale on them.

In regards to your 2 coins listed. I dont know if theyre the right lottery tickets. I'll dig in more on them, but on the surface the issue I have is a lack of scarcity. Youre looking at a lifetime max circulation of 1 Billion or 45 billion on those two. That will perpetually limited their longterm price.

The proof of stake on Cardano is used on a lot of other alts.

Polkadot's age also worries me. It was launched in Aug/Sept of last year and quickly flooded the market with coins. The rapid influx of coins quickly put it in the top coins on Coinmarketcap by market cap. That is suspect to me. I hope they pop and you do well with them, but I personally see them as red flags.

My two lottery tickets are Elastos & Decred.
Elastos has F U money potential in it due to it's current price of $2.55. You're looking at a hard cap of 28.2 mill coins lifetime. When this coin launched in 2018 its all time high was $93. It was fueled the hype of what Elastos was trying to build, which is a decentralized web 3.0. Since then, the alt coin market collapsed, and Elastos quietly built their framework.

Fast forward to now, and ElastOS is launched on iOS & Android. It is a fully decentralized internet where your data is not stored on central servers. It uses the hash power of bitcoin to decentralize data. It's a privacy lovers dream come true. Fully private internet. a secure private chat and more.

Decred, is a proof of work and proof of stake version of Bitcoin. It is essentially a fork proof more decentralized version of BTC. Its max circulation is 21 million. 6 million of the coins are currently tied up in staking, while another 600,000 coins are in the reserve treasury to fund future development. The fundamentals of this coin are spot on and expansive. Its currently around $55 a coin. It's been steadily increasing in price the last few months. I liken this to the period from late summer through Oct, where BTC hovered around 10k, and those in the know, knew the bull market was coming soon. I feel like we're in the same period w DCR right now.

Anyway, I realize Ive been talking about crypto a lot on this thread. Would you guys prefer if I started a separate thread on crypto took keep this thread more stock/ traditional focused?

 

[ScarletNut]

Can you share the name of this service?

I subscribe to a couple of the newsletters/videos from Banyan Hill, specifically Paul Mampilly, Ian King, and Ian Dyer. They can be a bit hyperbolic but their message and rationale is solid.

 

[patk89]

It’s a hard question because it really comes down to the advisor. The best advisors aren’t necessarily the best investors. Generally, they are paid on assets under management, so the most successful are very good salespeople. To me, you’d need to trust the person. I don’t use one, but do have a person in mind if I were hit by the proverbial bus and my family needed someone to take over that part of their lives, as far as Fidelity, I couldn’t really comment as I’ve no view, I do think there is some value to firms that have access to strategies other than liquid stocks and bonds, provided the advisor can really assess them.

I do the same and have a fee based guy who will take over if I were to meet my demise suddenly. He handles one of my sisters' assets. Trust him completely (went to high school together). Value oriented investor. Based in Yardley.

 

[T2Kplus20]

Im glad to hear youre looking into alts. Alt coins are still at a steep discount right now. They were all on clearance back in Oct/Nov. Now we're looking at a good sale on them.

In regards to your 2 coins listed. I dont know if theyre the right lottery tickets. I'll dig in more on them, but on the surface the issue I have is a lack of scarcity. Youre looking at a lifetime max circulation of 1 Billion or 45 billion on those two. That will perpetually limited their longterm price.

The proof of stake on Cardano is used on a lot of other alts.

Polkadot's age also worries me. It was launched in Aug/Sept of last year and quickly flooded the market with coins. The rapid influx of coins quickly put it in the top coins on Coinmarketcap by market cap. That is suspect to me. I hope they pop and you do well with them, but I personally see them as red flags.

My two lottery tickets are Elastos & Decred.
Elastos has F U money potential in it due to it's current price of $2.55. You're looking at a hard cap of 28.2 mill coins lifetime. When this coin launched in 2018 its all time high was $93. It was fueled the hype of what Elastos was trying to build, which is a decentralized web 3.0. Since then, the alt coin market collapsed, and Elastos quietly built their framework.

Fast forward to now, and ElastOS is launched on iOS & Android. It is a fully decentralized internet where your data is not stored on central servers. It uses the hash power of bitcoin to decentralize data. It's a privacy lovers dream come true. Fully private internet. a secure private chat and more.

Decred, is a proof of work and proof of stake version of Bitcoin. It is essentially a fork proof more decentralized version of BTC. Its max circulation is 21 million. 6 million of the coins are currently tied up in staking, while another 600,000 coins are in the reserve treasury to fund future development. The fundamentals of this coin are spot on and expansive. Its currently around $55 a coin. It's been steadily increasing in price the last few months. I liken this to the period from late summer through Oct, where BTC hovered around 10k, and those in the know, knew the bull market was coming soon. I feel like we're in the same period w DCR right now.

Anyway, I realize Ive been talking about crypto a lot on this thread. Would you guys prefer if I started a separate thread on crypto took keep this thread more stock/ traditional focused?

How does Elastos and Decred compare to ETH? Competition or complimentary?

 

[jtung230]

I do the same and have a fee based guy who will take over if I were to meet my demise suddenly. He handles one of my sisters' assets. Trust him completely (went to high school together). Value oriented investor. Based in Yardley.

Trust is the key word. Most important factor in selecting an financial advisor.

 

[bob-loblaw]

How does Elastos and Decred compare to ETH? Competition or complimentary?

It's not a real comparison. Elastos uses an ETH sidechain for things like smart contracts.
DCR is another chain, but its not a utility blockchain in theory like Ethereum is.

Here's the easiest way I can describe both:

Decred is a cryptocurrency that expands upon some of the flaws of BTC.
Here's a very detailed overview of DCR https://blockgeeks.com/guides/decred/

Elastos is a decentralized internet founded by one of the inventors of the internet, Rong Chen. It utilizes elements of bitcoin and Ethereum to operate. Here's a simple video outlining what its trying to accomplish. It's from two years ago, and just recently launched what is being talked about in the video

 

[ScarletNut]

It's not a real comparison. Elastos uses an ETH sidechain for things like smart contracts.
DCR is another chain, but its not a utility blockchain in theory like Ethereum is.

Here's the easiest way I can describe both:

Decred is a cryptocurrency that expands upon some of the flaws of BTC.
Here's a very detailed overview of DCR https://blockgeeks.com/guides/decred/

Elastos is a decentralized internet founded by one of the inventors of the internet, Rong Chen. It utilizes elements of bitcoin and Ethereum to operate. Here's a simple video outlining what its trying to accomplish. It's from two years ago, and just recently launched what is being talked about in the video

View embedded media

You mean Al Gore didn’t invent the Internet?!?!

 

[T2Kplus20]

It's not a real comparison. Elastos uses an ETH sidechain for things like smart contracts.
DCR is another chain, but its not a utility blockchain in theory like Ethereum is.

Here's the easiest way I can describe both:

Decred is a cryptocurrency that expands upon some of the flaws of BTC.
Here's a very detailed overview of DCR https://blockgeeks.com/guides/decred/

Elastos is a decentralized internet founded by one of the inventors of the internet, Rong Chen. It utilizes elements of bitcoin and Ethereum to operate. Here's a simple video outlining what its trying to accomplish. It's from two years ago, and just recently launched what is being talked about in the video

View embedded media

Good stuff, so Decred is trying to be a better version of BTC. As for Elastos, if ETH goes boom perhaps Elastos will go up as well?

 

[bob-loblaw]

Good stuff, so Decred is trying to be a better version of BTC. As for Elastos, if ETH goes boom perhaps Elastos will go up as well?

Not really. Theyre not really correlated.

 

[RU-05]

Thought ETH was ready for a clean break out, but it pulled back since this morning.

 

[RU-05]

Microsoft and GM partner on driverless cars.

Big pop for GM. Up 9%.
MSFT up 1.5%.

 

[RU-05]

TELL which has been on fire lately, up 27% today, pushing towards a 100% total gain for me, and amongst the biggest positions in my portolio.

Think there is room to run, but I'll prob trim soon. Might rotate towards REI, another oil and gas play, and a pretty similar trajectory to TELL, just a little earlier in it's timeline.

 

[T2Kplus20]

Not really. Theyre not really correlated.

Got it, thanks!