Stock Market is the bottom in?

[bigboreblr]

What? No fancy Harley's?
Worked with a fella who robbed his 401K to pay for a brand new fancy Harley. My BIL didn't plan for retirement, claims he didn't think he'd live this long.

If I owned motorcycle, I'd definitely wouldn't need retirement. 10 grand bike does 10's in quarter mile. The only reason I am alive today is a roll cage. Sold a very nice 65 gto to pay for my engineering degree.

MY degree is in mechanical engineering with a specialty in thermal and fluids. Actually turned down a job working for Entergy Indian Point. Thought I would drown in paperwork. Would of been the systems engineer on the backup generators and emergency boron injection system.

Base load power is important. Nukes are great, but that 13% cycle efficiency kills me. The 1st Indian point reactor had a oil fired superheater. Units 2 and 3 closed 2022 or so. Now they're thinking of starting them back up. Hope they put a good nitrogen blanket on the stuff. Evaporators aren't that old.

Gas turbine with a nuclear boiler making superheated steam from the exhaust heat, that would be one effiicent cycle right there. Probably make the power of three reactor with the exhaust heat alone.

Modular's are a nice idea. But, with all the precaution, siting, and legal loopholes I think the big guys are still going to be the winner, maybe not the only player. Westinghouse is owned by cameco and brookfield corporation. At first I thought alstom bought westinghouse nuclear years back, but these guys might be a good one to watch. Folks want to build, plan to build, Westinghouse recently built, is building, and has a waitlist and physical inventory of parts waiting to go in. They're on the welding table, on the ath lathe, and then on the site being put in today.

I actually just put some money down on the sprott mining ETF. METL. Was going to do the circtical metals one, but this one looked like it had more room to grow. Has lithium, several nuclear stocks, precious metals. Didn't see copper under the top 10, but its probably in there. I wanted to put money down on all that stuff, so just doing it in one spot.

Still think xiamo might be an ace up my sleeve with ford if they build electric cars. Trump might of put a temporary block on their hopes, no electric car tax credit. Actually like driving the ford lightning at work. Feels alot like my old 78 trans am with a 455.

That ajinomoto thing...... I thought the day before it was AJINY. Now it;s called AJNMY. Merger? Rebrand? Cant find a peep about it. It's trading again today. Lost a bit, but still a profit if I sold it. Might be a firecracker.

Also, think south Korea has some good things besides from having lousy neighbors. Doosan, Hyundai, Samsumg. EWY took a 10% dive since I bought some, so bought some more.

 

[Tangler]

I'm sorry for being too 'prying' but I love these kind of stories, what decade of life are you in now? Did you start by investing direct through Vanguard or did you use another vehicle, have you changed investment account type over time or 'if it aint broke don't fix it' and just stayed with whomever you started with to place the funds? I'm just curious on the story. Great job on knowing 'back when' what to do, I wish I would have known something.

Not as exciting as nuclear reactors but here are your answers:
I am 52. not that old. not that young
Mostly invested directly with vanguard.
Have not changed much but over the years I have become more convinced you just need a simple portfolio with very few low cost index funds or ETFs (VTI & VXUS).
I am nothing special. Only reason I put a post was to help others realize it doesn’t need to be complicated. You just need time. Put money in and let it grow.

 

[Telemark]

Not as exciting as nuclear reactors but here are your answers:
I am 52. not that old. not that young
Mostly invested directly with vanguard.
Have not changed much but over the years I have become more convinced you just need a simple portfolio with very few low cost index funds or ETFs (VTI & VXUS).
I am nothing special. Only reason I put a post was to help others realize it doesn’t need to be complicated. You just need time. Put money in and let it grow.

It's a great investment plan for most people. Dollar cost averaging from a young age is a solid way to build your nest egg in the most reliable low-risk way.

Picking stocks can require a lot of time researching, and a lot of people just don't have time for that. The last stock I went big on was Palantir, and it took me a long time to just understand what they actually did. By then I had already missed out on a lot of gains, but I still felt good about it. I haven't found anything in several months that I feel really good about, and I do this every day.

I find every type of investing exciting, but I find the least exciting types of investing to be the best, because excitement can quickly turn into anxiety, which is no fun. You've got a great system going, and I'm confident it will work out well for you.

 

[Tangler]

It's a great investment plan for most people. Dollar cost averaging from a young age is a solid way to build your nest egg in the most reliable low-risk way.

Picking stocks can require a lot of time researching, and a lot of people just don't have time for that. The last stock I went big on was Palantir, and it took me a long time to just understand what they actually did. By then I had already missed out on a lot of gains, but I still felt good about it. I haven't found anything in several months that I feel really good about, and I do this every day.

I find every type of investing exciting, but I find the least exciting types of investing to be the best, because excitement can quickly turn into anxiety, which is no fun. You've got a great system going, and I'm confident it will work out well for you.

I don't pick single stocks but I love the company Palantir. I heard a podcast where the founder was discussing it and it sounds awesome. I think they are an important part of our defense system. We need companies like them to compete with China and I hope they succeed!
Anyway, thanks for your kind words. Lots of ways to skin the investing cat. I hope you win big time!

 

[Brian662]

I'm not sure that will last. A bunch of oil storage got hit in Iran, and I think that caused some panic. So far, it doesn't look like production facilities got hit, and Kharg Island is still untouched. If Kharg gets hit, Iran's oil goes offline for probably a few years at least.

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

Good move. Didn’t touch oil infrastructure. Warned them it would only get worse if they didnt stop. This has been pretty well orchestrated war, or whatever it is

 

[SD51555]

Well, two weeks into the war, and no clear sign of who's winning, who's losing, or what's been blown up. The straight is open, it's closed, it's open, it's closed. I'm not making any moves until there is some clarity. In the meantime, the big barometer has crept up. I should get a "$200" cake made for next week.

 

[SD51555]

Metals look to be hitting that trough in the chart again. I'll keep an eye on that going into monday trading. If platinum goes below $2000, that might attract some $$ from me. Gold and silver are also off quite a bit. No huge entry point, but I'd stuff some dollar bills there if no other ideas present themselves.

Here's a YTD view of what's on my watchlist. GIS now yielding over 6%, should probably find a way to buy some more of that. Not overly worried about PRU. If they take massive losses due to private credit going bad, they have a bailout already approved. During the rona, PRU got into the $60's and ended up being huge win for whomever had the guts to ride it out. I wasn't one of them.

 

[SD51555]

I lost my PLTR at $148 today in the options market. That's ok. If it opens at least flat on monday, I'm gonna sell a two-week $148 put. Those are going off around $4.80 as of today. 3% for two weeks and price improvement is a huge payoff for that one.

 

[farmlegend]

You sound like a Buffet/Bogle disciple!!! That's the way to get secure ...... start EARLY, invest on a regular basis, don't touch it, let the interest/dividends/capital gains compound over 40+ years. But - some folks have to keep up with the "Jones's" and buy all sorts of things. If one plays their cards right, they can buy new vehicles just off the interest, and not touch the principle.

Yeah, I’ve had an account with Vanguard since ‘81, back when it and the great John Bogle weren’t household names. Bogle had this shit figured out long ago.

I still hold 10-12 individual stocks and have played around with them for nearly 50 years and it’s been fun, but I’ll readily acknowledge today’s pile would be a bigger one had I been 100% in index mutual funds and gone fishing instead of doing stock research.

 

[farmlegend]

And who is pushing for those Social Security cuts? Millions will suffer greatly losing money they ARE entitled to. Most of us have paid into it over our work careers, so we are entitled to it. It didn't happen by $$$ falling from magic clouds. Stealing rightfully earned money by pen-stroke.

News flash: SS has already been bigly cut. Ever heard of IRMA? A great big backdoor tax theft courtesy of that marxist POS Obama. A bigass tax increase run through medicare that gets sucked directly off of SS benefits.

Worked and paid into medicare for 50 years and now get to pay over $8k a year for my medicare. An equal insult is federal income tax is applied to the gross amount of SS income, much of which I never see. My effective tax rate on SS income, on which I pay federal, state income tax plus the IRMA BS, is over 50%.

I personally loathe both SS and medicare. Our national wealth would be far greater had they never existed.

 

[Telemark]

My effective tax rate on SS income, on which I pay federal, state income tax plus the IRMA BS, is over 50%.

Where do you live?

I personally loathe both SS and medicare. Our national wealth would be far greater had they never existed.

It would have worked fine if it were structured like a normal retirement fund instead of a pyramid scheme.

 

[bwoods11]

I lost my PLTR at $148 today in the options market. That's ok. If it opens at least flat on monday, I'm gonna sell a two-week $148 put. Those are going off around $4.80 as of today. 3% for two weeks and price improvement is a huge payoff for that one.

An analyst on Fox said Palantir was his top stock pick and he won’t sell any of his shares . He predicted Palantir would hit $500 by 2030 ?

I was like … that’s a bold call ! I’m not selling any of my shares! It seems to be an ideal fit for today’s world.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

We should be addressing the future of social security now… a new program for kids that are
18 yrs old now…get it up and running?

The old system does not work.

Is there an actual fund that has money in it ? I’ve read articles that it’s already gone, borrowed against ?

How about a retirement program whose rules do not change with each successive administration? (Stop moving the target/means to get there!!!) For all the yapping lips that say they want people to be financially secure in their retirement years - how about constructing a system that does not penalize folks for investing for their futures? Once such a system is written - - - make it permanent, so rules cannot be altered going forward by lobbyists, which might then benefit brokerages, banks, etc. Get the financial benefits to the people who worked for them - not the leeches preying on those folks with sales pitches & BS.

And ---- put an unquestioned, irrevocable, non-negotiable 5-year prison term on ANY legislator - of any party - who proposes weakening that retirement program.

In a word .......... fairness.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

No one will ever get all of the money back from what they paid into social security(oxymoron). Whatever isn't collected by the person who paid in should be passed on to living relatives or who/whatever they choose to leave it to. Not a donation given to the wasteful government who keeps raising the age so they pay you back the bare minimum of your own money that was taken from you your entire working life. jmho

No argument there on the 100% back - but what kind of slimy trash/maggot would propose cutting even the amounts American workers are due as current law now provides????????? Making up for multi-billionaires' tax breaks on the backs of "regular" working Americans by slashing their Social Security payments is theft by pen-stroke any way you slice it. I can't understand why any American would buy that line of BS, let alone roll over for that sh**. If we're to cut the deficit .......... then multi-billionaires should NOT get huge tax breaks to the tune of 4.3 trillion dollars over the next 10 years ----- while "regular" American workers have their Social Security payments slashed to make up for that 4.3 trillion the multi-billionaires won't be paying in!!!!!! How's that for a wealth-transfer???? The U.S. loses income that could/should be used on necessary infrastructure --- while the multi-billionaires walk away with train-loads of money. What % of American workers would say that's a fair shake???

About folks' 401-K's / IRA's - - - many, many financial experts and economists have called attention to the linear charts showing growth trends of multiple sectors. Those financial experts are calling the trends "the great flattening". Linear charts that would normally (under most administrations) be trending upward - even slightly - but those charts have now gone into a flattened pattern. I look at most of those charts every day - and have for years. They are not following the normal trends - and I'm not speaking of the usual daily up & down movements. The trends have flattened, or gone down in many instances. When any of us can see Buffet/Berkshire, and other heavy-hitters pulling $$$ out of stocks & hedging, that's not a positive sign. Even some guys on here have said they're comfortable sitting with big positions in cash for a while until they see a discernible change in trend direction. How many folks are happy with the direction their 401-K's are going in?? Slash their Social Security & Medicare on top of that, while multi-billionaires walk away with 4.3 $$$$$$$ trillion??

 

[Telemark]

but what kind of slimy trash/maggot would propose cutting even the amounts American workers are due as current law now provides????????? Making up for multi-billionaires' tax breaks on the backs of "regular" working Americans by slashing their Social Security payments is theft by pen-stroke any way you slice it. I can't understand why any American would buy that line of BS, let alone roll over for that sh**

It's politics.

Some slimy politicians figure out how to spend the money, then the money's gone. Then you wait til the other party is in power and start complaining about how there's no money left, and it's the other guy's fault.

Then you print more money, give it away, and take credit for giving people money. When the inflation inevitably hits, you blame the other guy.

Rinse and repeat.

Both sides do it. Most people don't understand politics, economics, or even simple accounting, so they just believe the guy from their own party. Both sides keep pointing the finger at each other, and the politicians keep doing their thing.

It's unlikely to ever change, so it's important to take care of yourself and your family.

 

[Jerry-B-WI]

News flash: SS has already been bigly cut. Ever heard of IRMA? A great big backdoor tax theft courtesy of that marxist POS Obama. A bigass tax increase run through medicare that gets sucked directly off of SS benefits.

Worked and paid into medicare for 50 years and now get to pay over $8k a year for my medicare. An equal insult is federal income tax is applied to the gross amount of SS income, much of which I never see. My effective tax rate on SS income, on which I pay federal, state income tax plus the IRMA BS, is over 50%.

I personally loathe both SS and medicare. Our national wealth would be far greater had they never existed.

Are you hitting IRMMA limits because of RMD's or possibly asset sales (land, equipment etc.)
I thought the limits for IRMMA were fairly high.

 

[Jerry-B-WI]

How about a retirement program whose rules do not change with each successive administration? (Stop moving the target/means to get there!!!) For all the yapping lips that say they want people to be financially secure in their retirement years - how about constructing a system that does not penalize folks for investing for their futures? Once such a system is written - - - make it permanent, so rules cannot be altered going forward by lobbyists, which might then benefit brokerages, banks, etc. Get the financial benefits to the people who worked for them - not the leeches preying on those folks with sales pitches & BS.

And ---- put an unquestioned, irrevocable, non-negotiable 5-year prison term on ANY legislator - of any party - who proposes weakening that retirement program.

In a word .......... fairness.

More importantly would be to not let anyone rob their retirement account for toys.
And most importantly would be financial education. I have a niece that teaches 5th grade math and doesn't understand compound interest. Either you own it or it owns you.

 

[Westwind]

compound interest. Either you own it or it owns you.

Love that line. I’m stealing it.

 

[Jerry-B-WI]

Love that line. I’m stealing it.

Gonna cost you a finders fee