Vegas seems so much better then investing
Bear
Posts: 18,953 ✭✭✭
At least in Vegas, you know the house odds and how much money
you will lose on average. There is always the mini micro chance
that you might actually win something. In investing lately, I have no
idea why stocks go up or why stocks go down. If the talking heads
knew anything, they would be doing instead of talking on TV. I always
thought that shorts were some kind of underwear.
you will lose on average. There is always the mini micro chance
that you might actually win something. In investing lately, I have no
idea why stocks go up or why stocks go down. If the talking heads
knew anything, they would be doing instead of talking on TV. I always
thought that shorts were some kind of underwear.
There once was a place called
Camelot
Camelot
0
Comments
Buffett outlined it one sentence: in the short term, the stock market is a voting machine, in the long run, it is a weighing machine. Meaning, that in the short term, fashion and what is trendy is what goes up, in the long term, companies of substance with sound management, excellent franchises, tend to be the ones that go up.
and see nice big fake bobs, some for a price
When you gamble in Vegas a beautiful waitress in a skimpy outfit gives you free booze, and if you gamble enough you also get free meals, free show tickets and a free hotel room -- even a limo to pick you up at the airport.
When you gamble in the metals market you drive yourself to the restaurant for dinner and pay for your own food and drinks, and if you decide on take-out food your wife may be the server.
www.AlanBestBuys.com
www.VegasBestBuys.com
Gold $1,020.70 $1,021.70 15.40
Silver $17.31 $17.36 0.35
Platinum $1,329.00 $1,339.00 17.70
Palladium $295.30 $300.30 3.00
Updated:9/16/2009 4:52:24 AM CST
(x2,Meltdown),cajun,Swampboy,SeaEagleCoins,InYHWHWeTrust, bstat1020,Spooly,timrutnat,oilstates200, vpr, guitarwes,
mariner67, and Mikes coins
<< <i>The difference between gambling in Vegas and gambling in the metals market:
When you gamble in Vegas a beautiful waitress in a skimpy outfit gives you free booze, and if you gamble enough you also get free meals, free show tickets and a free hotel room -- even a limo to pick you up at the airport.
When you gamble in the metals market you drive yourself to the restaurant for dinner and pay for your own food and drinks, and if you decide on take-out food your wife may be the server. >>
and what would it be in the stock market just to compare !!!
Proud recipient of two "You Suck" awards
<< <i>Stocks go up because there are more buyers than sellers. They go down then the opposite occurs. Buyers and sellers are motivated by a thousand factors, some logical, some emotional, some nonsensical, some out right foolish.
Buffett outlined it one sentence: in the short term, the stock market is a voting machine, in the long run, it is a weighing machine. Meaning, that in the short term, fashion and what is trendy is what goes up, in the long term, companies of substance with sound management, excellent franchises, tend to be the ones that go up. >>
Couldn't have put it better myself
pushing profits or loses from one year to another. with holding information from
stock holders as well as misleading statements spoken to empty financial air
heads on TV. Buying stock in today's market, is in some ways worse then placing
a bet on the roulette wheel.
Camelot
> Buying stock in today's market, is in some ways worse then placing a bet on the roulette wheel.
Spoken as if you may have lost more than any amount you've gained? I sense a very bearish aura of defeat, resignation, hibernation, mouldering honey do pots, empty jelly donut boxes. Life definitely knows how to play some very tough learn it now games
big deal, you can do that in a few years in traditional investments, and who says it's going up 50%? And then will you sell it or wait for it to double? I think the person that benefits the most from a gold saver or hoarder is his heirs. If you want to play in the market, fine, but I would never dream of betting the ranch on one thing.
You mean a traditional investment like stocks from 1929-1954, 1966-1982, 1999-2009? Never mind going nowhere for a few years, those went nowhere for up to 25 years. I think a lot of people out there would be exceedingly happy with a mere 50% gain over the past 10 years rather than the 30-40% drubbing most of them have taken. And factoring inflation, the drubbing becomes 40-55% in real dollars. J6P pretty much bet the ranch on one investment over the past 10 years and is decidedly poorer for it. Sure, he diversified 20% into bonds but his 80% stock load was "diversified" into small cap, mid cap, large cap. Way too many caps going on there imo.
Those that got into gold in the 1999-2003 era will eventually see gains of 10X or more by the next decade. They won't need to pass it along to heirs if they don't want to. Being in gold is actually more about not losing that 50% by being in stocks "for a few years" at precisely the wrong time (ie 1999 to 201X). Sometimes it's ok to standstill in net worth while everyone else is back tracking 10% per year.
roadrunner
the dollar will fall lower. It's about as sure a bet one could make
And that is exactly why I still believe PM's are--at this time--still for trading only. What I have learned from watching thousands of investors is that their "sure bet" is surely a losing trade. If this commodity cycle is to play out as others have in the past, the glory days for gold are still a ways off.
Sometimes it's ok to standstill in net worth while everyone else is back tracking 10% per year.
While on a relative preformance you are doing well, it is totally UNACCEPTABLE to me to standstill. And I think it should be unacceptabe to J6P as well. But it is the demand of J6P to strive for mediocrity and this is why the vast majority of money managers are only average. They are delivering exactly what the customer wants. Diversification is average, and average is where everyone feels comfortable. Remember, the average investing lifespan of most people is only 30-40 years. So if you wait for 6 years of something to happen, that is 15-20% of your entire investing lifetime. Thats a lot to give, yet no one ever thinks about it.
Knowledge is the enemy of fear
I have little more( if any) in my 401K than if I'd put the same $$ in a savings account /piggy bank.
Joe Six Pack = ME needs to know what to do with his 401K!!!
Seriously debating pulling out and putting what little I have left into PM's
50/50 odds in Vegas
Sometimes it's ok to standstill in net worth while everyone else is back tracking 10% per year.
Standing still is of course relative to inflation or deflation. One could say that many assets now up 30-40% over the past few years. But in my mind they have stood still in relation to a declining dollar. In this case, standing still to buy more dollars down the road with your current assets is not a bad thing. In reality you have gained purchasing power while most are losing it. Making positive gains after removing inflation or deflation from the equation is a tricky thing to do especially now that the housing bubble has burst.
roadrunner
For example from 1989 -1991 the dollar index dropped from 105 to 80--a huge drop by anyones standards, yet gold was down slightly.
From 1994 to 1995 the dollar dropped from 98 to 80--another huge drop yet gold was flat.
So yes, gold may have been able to retain its value, it did not rip higher as one may have thought given a 20-25% drop in the dollar index.
Over the longer term.....
In 1985 the dollar index reached its high at 165 it then lost 1/2 its value over the next 10 years. Gold made a major bottom at $281 in 1985 and rallied to 500, but bascially traded sideways around the $400 level during this time. Keep in mind that gold was coming off a major top and the rally in gold to 400-500 needs to be kep in context as it has dropped 60% over the preceeding 4 years. In other words, while the dollar lost 1/2 its value and gold rallied, gold was coming up from a very low price. Today gold is at a historically high price. As they say, past performance is no guarantee of future performance.
Knowledge is the enemy of fear