The Exciting World of Stocks and Mutual Funds

[writer99025]

I haven’t been around much here on the forum in recent days, here’s what I’ve been doing - learning about investing in the stock market. I’ve been learning value investing, technical analysis, risk management and more, and I’ve been investing in mutual funds in a big way. Once I am more confident, I will be investing directly in stocks.

So far I have opened up an account in 8 different mutual funds, representing large cap, diversified, small cap, mid-cap, sector specific and tax saving funds. My only regret is that I started 3 years late. Indian markets have gone from 18k to 32k in 3 years - the time PM Modi has been around.

But I tried to play too safe these years and invested my Fiverr money in fixed deposits in big banks, missing out on amazing returns. So I am entering the market when it is already high. Anyway, 2017 is a good year for investing in the Indian markets. Just make sure to hold on to your investments for the next 10-15 years.

[writer99025]

Last 3 years, it was writing that excited me, now it’s investing 🙂

[misscrystal]

I haven’t been around much here on the forum in recent days, here’s what I’ve been doing - learning about investing in the stock market. I’ve been learning value investing, technical analysis, risk management and more, and I’ve been investing in mutual funds in a big way. Once I am more confident, I will be investing directly in stocks.

So far I have opened up an account in 8 different mutual funds, representing large cap, diversified, small cap, mid-cap, sector specific and tax saving funds. My only regret is that I started 3 years late. Indian markets have gone from 18k to 32k in 3 years - the time PM Modi has been around.

But I tried to play too safe these years and invested my Fiverr money in fixed deposits in big banks, missing out on amazing returns. So I am entering the market when it is already high. Anyway, 2017 is a good year for investing in the Indian markets. Just make sure to hold on to your investments for the next 10-15 years.

Just make sure to hold on to your investments for the next 10-15 years.

That is old thinking about stocks. New thinking is hold them until they go up then sell even it that’s only for a few months, or a few days. There are multiple reasons for this but the main one is that, in the past companies were stable and could be expected to grow steadily over time. Now we know they go out of business and have falling revenues just as often as the other way.

The stock market is called investing but it is actually gambling.

I’ve made money on IPO’s. That is the way I would do it now if I still bought stocks.

You can get a fast rise in the price of many or most IPO’s if you can get good ones.

I’ve continued buying over a period of minutes, making multiple buys of 100 or 200 shares at a time, in companies even as I watched a stock fall in price by the minute, then held the multiple buys I made as they all went up again in the next day or two, then sold them.

If you could afford to buy a stock in a company like Apple or Amazon in large quantities you could hold the stocks for a few years and do well but when each share is already so expensive your profit would still be limited.

I find gold stocks of all kinds as the most predictable and solid, maybe because I’ve studied gold extensively. As someone in India you might also have access to better information on the rise and fall of gold prices, since gold buying in India affects worldwide gold prices.

It’s fun and interesting to buy your stocks in a company like TDAmeritrade where you can watch your stock prices go up and down on the NY stock exchange in real time, but it can be nerve wracking. You probably have something like that for Indian stocks.

[writer99025]

Just make sure to hold on to your investments for the next 10-15 years.

That is old thinking about stocks. New thinking is hold them until they go up then sell even it that’s only for a few months, or a few days. There are multiple reasons for this but the main one is that, in the past companies were stable and could be expected to grow steadily over time. Now we know they go out of business and have falling revenues just as often as the other way.

The stock market is called investing but it is actually gambling.

I’ve made money on IPO’s. That is the way I would do it now if I still bought stocks.

You can get a fast rise in the price of many or most IPO’s if you can get good ones.

I’ve continued buying over a period of minutes, making multiple buys of 100 or 200 shares at a time, in companies even as I watched a stock fall in price by the minute, then held the multiple buys I made as they all went up again in the next day or two, then sold them.

If you could afford to buy a stock in a company like Apple or Amazon in large quantities you could hold the stocks for a few years and do well but when each share is already so expensive your profit would still be limited.

I find gold stocks of all kinds as the most predictable and solid, maybe because I’ve studied gold extensively. As someone in India you might also have access to better information on the rise and fall of gold prices, since gold buying in India affects worldwide gold prices.

It’s fun and interesting to buy your stocks in a company like TDAmeritrade where you can watch your stock prices go up and down on the NY stock exchange in real time, but it can be nerve wracking. You probably have something like that for Indian stocks.

Yeah, there are many advanced tracking tools we have for measuring the latest value of our investments. Thing is - I have a large stock portfolio from my father’s days, never sold any of the investments he made. Some of the stocks I have are 30-35 years old and they are still doing great, phenomenal in fact. [i have made as much money on them last 3 years as I have on Fiverr in that time.] I think India is like the US was in the 1950s to 1980s when it was just taking off. We have not yet hit the dot-com boom/bust years which you speak of. Good companies here will do well and will not disappear.

As for gold, it doesn’t really excite me…Gold was worth 30k/10g Rs here 3 years ago and now 26k/10g Rs. Gold does well when the economy is in a mess and inflation is high. When our economy is doing well and inflation is at its lowest in 30 years - just 1.54% - gold is not a good investment.

[misscrystal]

Yeah, there are many advanced tracking tools we have for measuring the latest value of our investments. Thing is - I have a large stock portfolio from my father’s days, never sold any of the investments he made. Some of the stocks I have are 30-35 years old and they are still doing great, phenomenal in fact. [i have made as much money on them last 3 years as I have on Fiverr in that time.] I think India is like the US was in the 1950s to 1980s when it was just taking off. We have not yet hit the dot-com boom/bust years which you speak of. Good companies here will do well and will not disappear.

As for gold, it doesn’t really excite me…Gold was worth 30k/10g Rs here 3 years ago and now 26k/10g Rs. Gold does well when the economy is in a mess and inflation is high. When our economy is doing well and inflation is at its lowest in 30 years - just 1.54% - gold is not a good investment.

When our economy is doing well and inflation is at its lowest in 30 years - just 1.54% - gold is not a good investment.

Now is a good time to buy then lol.

Give it time, things will change.

[writer99025]

When our economy is doing well and inflation is at its lowest in 30 years - just 1.54% - gold is not a good investment.

Now is a good time to buy then lol.

Give it time, things will change.

Haha…nah, think my stock portfolio will give me a much higher return than gold in 10-15 years, quite sure of that. And gold is something women buy here, not men. My mom’s got a plenty of investment in gold, I would feel weird about buying it myself. If I had a wife, I would buy gold, I suppose.

[misscrystal]

Haha…nah, think my stock portfolio will give me a much higher return than gold in 10-15 years, quite sure of that. And gold is something women buy here, not men. My mom’s got a plenty of investment in gold, I would feel weird about buying it myself. If I had a wife, I would buy gold, I suppose.

Well you don’t actually take possession of the gold when you buy gold stocks.

You buy shares of a company that has tons of gold in a vault.

Then you wait for the next financial crises to hit and sell when gold prices soar.

I like the predictability of it. It’s going up and down in inverse relationship to the worldwide economy.

[writer99025]

Well you don’t actually take possession of the gold when you buy gold stocks.

You buy shares of a company that has tons of gold in a vault.

Then you wait for the next financial crises to hit and sell when gold prices soar.

I like the predictability of it. It’s going up and down in inverse relationship to the worldwide economy.

I know what you mean. We have gold bonds, gold funds or gold ETFs here as well. But if I buy gold, I will want physical possession of my investment.

[misscrystal]

I know what you mean. We have gold bonds, gold funds or gold ETFs here as well. But if I buy gold, I will want physical possession of my investment.

No you don’t. It’s heavy. It’s subject to theft. It costs a lot to transport. I’m not talking about a few dozen coins but a couple of hundred thousands dollars worth that cannot be easily liquidated at a moment’s notice like shares in a stock can.

[writer99025]

No you don’t. It’s heavy. It’s subject to theft. It costs a lot to transport. I’m not talking about a few dozen coins but a couple of hundred thousands dollars worth that cannot be easily liquidated at a moment’s notice like shares in a stock can.

If I had a couple of hundred thousand dollars to invest right now I would put the money into real estate, not gold. I think every one has their own style of investing, no rights or wrongs here.

[bigvee]

Indian stock market will reach around 50-60K by 2022-24, as per current situations, growth & analysis. So, still you can start investing. I’ll suggest to go with SIP in lieu of direct stock trading.

[johnwangui]

mmmmhh…I see. I don’t know much about stocks and mutual funds. But its a great conversation between you and Misscrystal