Beauty seeks Brain….

[Priceless_PrincessNYC]

I appreciate everyone’s advice and will take it all into consideration.. I guess picking and trading stocks came into view as adventurous. I thought it would be exciting making a few thousand dollars here and there… I have already done the real estate/rental property thing with my ex/ he liked “flipping” the properties ( like an idiot) I rented out mine tons of problems and bad tenants. I am playing with my half of the equity from the last property..
I thought I could take like $8,000-$10,000 pick a couple of companies and ride the wave... is that possible? Is that too risky ? If I want an immediate loss or gain… is day trading the best idea .. or am I better off going to the casino like the other guy said…LOL

[specialk]

I appreciate everyone’s advice and will take it all into consideration.. I guess picking and trading stocks came into view as adventurous. I thought it would be exciting making a few thousand dollars here and there… I have already done the real estate/rental property thing with my ex/ he liked “flipping” the properties ( like an idiot) I rented out mine tons of problems and bad tenants. I am playing with my half of the equity from the last property..
I thought I could take like $8,000-$10,000 pick a couple of companies and ride the wave... is that possible? Is that too risky ? If I want an immediate loss or gain… is day trading the best idea .. or am I better off going to the casino like the other guy said…LOL

I'd follow Quinn's advice on day trading, it's a good way to lose it all fast, unless your experienced. Sounds like from you and your ex's dabble in real estate, some profit was realized. Although not over night it was better than losing everything. If you need excitement and adventure, perhaps you might want to give Texas Holdem Poker a whirl. You can learn online, play online, lose it all online or..........get lucky and get rich Bottom line Priceless....your on your own baby!!

[Quinn]

Though the "experts" – most of whom are worthless – differ as to the degree of correction they are expecting, I believe we shall see a correction of from 25-45% over the next four years in those markets. As such, anyone making an initial purchase in either market – at this time – will likely be left holding a mortgage that, in not too many years, will be more than their house is worth.

Quinn, this happened to me in the overvalued Boston market some 15+ years back. In 1987 I bought a condo for what at the time seemed a very reasonable price, but 2 or 3 years later, the bubble burst, and the condo value fell to half its purchase value. Instead of moving on in five years as originally planned, my wife and I were stuck there for 12 years, owing more than the condo was worth and lacking the fiscal means to extricate ourselves. We finally sold in '99, technically for a 15k loss over the original price, but with sufficient money for a down payment on a house which has since more than doubled in value.

Now the Boston market is once again overvalued (though not -- depending upon which "experts" you ask -- as much as the So CA or FL markets, and they are expecting a 20% correction in the next couple of years. We're 40 miles west of the city, and the correction here (since this area didn't inflate as much as the metro Boston area) is expected to be more in the 5%-10% range. In any event, we can weather this coming "correction" a whole lot better, still retain far more value than cost, and the house will be paid for in 8 years. But I certainly wouldn't advise anyone to buy into the Boston market these days. From what I've read, the same holds true for NYC, DC, LV, SF, Sac, and several other areas. One plus for Boston and NYC however is that property values have been historically high compared with the rest of the nation for decades, so the coming correction shouldn't be as sharp as in areas which have experienced tremendous market inflation over the past 10 years.

Ecstatic, your story is not unique and has happened to many people -- including my mother when I was kid. It makes it very hard for the average homeowner to effectively plan for their retirement and can set people back years. I agree with your assessment of the likely market conditions in Boston and NYC. I think the extreme high-end market in those cities may take a slightly disproportionate hit, but the mid-range and low-end markets will probably fair pretty well. On the other side of the coin, I believe places like the Jersey Shore are going to fair very poorly.

-Quinn

[HeHateMe]

My quick advise:

Move to Dallas. The weather is great (a little hot in the summer, but so what). The economy is booming!

Regarding investing, buy Valero (VLO). This is an oil and gas company. The stock continues to rise exponentially. If you are going to pay out the ass at the pump, you might as well profit as a result! I certainly have with this stock.

[Ecstatic]

Ecstatic, your story is not unique and has happened to many people -- including my mother when I was kid. It makes it very hard for the average homeowner to effectively plan for their retirement and can set people back years. I agree with your assessment of the likely market conditions in Boston and NYC. I think the extreme high-end market in those cities may take a slightly disproportionate hit, but the mid-range and low-end markets will probably fair pretty well. On the other side of the coin, I believe places like the Jersey Shore are going to fair very poorly.

-Quinn

Thanks, Quinn. I respect your opinion in these matters. I would not want to be holding property in some of Boston's immediate MetroWest communities, like Newton, Weston, Needham right now as they are apt to get hit hard. There's always an element of gambling involved (as I found out 18 years ago), but I think we're well situated here, right off I-495 just north of the Mass Pike in a developing but still under-realized part of the state. But the exodus of people from Mass (and RI: the only two states to be losing population at the moment) is a little worrisome. But I don't think our property value will ever fall to even within 100K of what it was when we bought, and with the mortgage paid off in 8 years, we should be ok.

Now a good Thai friend of mine suggests moving to Thailand and investing in the condo market there...I dunno....

Priceless Princess, it must feel good to have 10k to risk (I assume that you're in a position that you can afford to risk it all, and 10k of itself isn't that much money, but it's good money to invest). Good luck in picking a venture. I'd be tempted to play it safe with 9k and do something wild with the remaining thou....

[twowaybro]

let me chime in here....i say 4get trading stocks right now and invest in hard assets like gold(not paper gold but 1oz and more preferably 1/2 oz coins)....in hard economic times like these gold is always a safe and profitable bet. Gold is selling at an all-time high and is only going to go up...now is a good time 2 buy.....just my 2 cents sexy....

[Ecstatic]

Pennies just might be a good investment, too: currently it costs the Federal Mint 1.4 cents to produce each penny. There's talk of going to steel pennies, as they did during WWII (there's little copper in a penny now, but a good deal of zinc). Of course, monetarily a penny is worth a penny, but some people are hoarding them and holding onto them for the metal value.

[thx1138]

Sell dollars. Buy euros. The US gov't is technically bankrupt.

[El_hefe]

If daytrading was an easy way to make $ this board would be full of millionaires. Both Valero & gold are good suggestions, buy the ETF "GLD". That may actually be a good longer term investment since the dollar is tanking & most people feel the market will probably cool off in the next couple of years.
If you want to make a faster buck try investing in funds specializing in Brazil, Russia, India or China, just keep an eye on them & be prepared to pull quick when their market tanks. I've done very well this year with a wireless telecom in China, but that market will dive soon, but I think wireless in developing countries is a good bet.

Best suggestion: find someone who is really smart & watch what they do, There are several webpages that display the investing moves of Warren Buffet & that's the best.