Anyone here invest/trade stocks?

[Table 5]

So, every year or so I get into an investing type of mood, and this time its no different. I have a pretty decent 401k going (an RSP-like plan) but would like to play around with some discretionary money, instead of having to wait till I'm in my 60's to reap the benefits. I'm in my 20's so I feel like I can be somewhat aggresive still, but I always seem to get stuck with where to start however, as I am overwhelmed by information (which i tend to overload on myself).

Does anyone here have suggestions/tips one where one should start if they want to get involved in investing/trading stocks? Ive started reading a few websites like motleyfool.com, but not really sure what else.

Any good books? Websites? Tv shows? Is Mad Money legit, or just over-hyped?

[Fuzzy McGillicuddy]

Here's some consistent advice I keep getting from different investors. Take it for what it's worth.

Investments usually do better over a long-term period. The market is always going to go up, even if it drops temporarily. Stock values will be higher in 10 years than they are today. If you want to gamble on short-term investments, you might hit a home run one time but lose ten other times.

I've resisted short-term investments because I don't know much about the markets. I think I'd be throwing my money away. I've hired professionals to invest my money. So far they seem to be getting the job done.

If you are younger, long-term investments probably have a greater payoff for you down the road.

Even if you are in your 20's, you can still cash in on some long term investments 20 or 30 years from now. That's pretty long-term.

[smith12]

Here's a tip: I have made a ton of money from investing in junior oil and gas companies that operate in the North Sea.

I had a company called Oilexco (oil) at 3.30. Been killed lately, but reached 17.

I have had Antrim Energy (aen) at 2. It made it up to 8, again hit hard lately.

2 others that are just getting going are Ithica (IAE-x) and Sterling Resources (slg-x). Both are currently exploring the North Sea right now. Sterling might be the best bet right now becuase they have a few more blocks to drill in the next year and if any of those find economic oil then the share price could do 50% over night. It's currently hovering around 2 bucks and is very cheap imo.

Remember, do your research and know what you're investing in before you put your money there. I could tell you almost anything about the 4 companies listed above.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy McGillicuddy

If you are younger, long-term investments probably have a greater payoff for you down the road.

Even if you are in your 20's, you can still cash in on some long term investments 20 or 30 years from now. That's pretty long-term.

Oh believe me, I agree that long-term investment is the way to go, and I think the majority of what I want to do is geared towards that. HOWEVER, the young fool in me still wants to try to play the higher risk game for sh*ts and giggles....

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by smith12

Remember, do your research and know what you're investing in before you put your money there. I could tell you almost anything about the 4 companies listed above.

Thanks for the heads up Smith12. I guess my question is, where do you do your research? I know that paying attention to the news is important, but is there any online resource for these types of things? Im willing to put in the work...just need to know where to do it!

[Delthefunky]

Lot's of people hit hard lately... I think there's lots of good buy's out right now, lot's of unvervalued stuff. I'm young too and just had a little extra money to play with, I got hit, but just staying in it for the long term and hoping it pays off.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by fotze

I am curious about the research angle because the only thing I can imagine researching is company annual reports and news releases. Unless you look deeply the finances I can't imagine just using the releases from the company because they are almost universally always extremely optimistic.

Yep, that's what Im trying to find out about too. I'm sure a good part of it has to do with being lucky, but there must be ways out there to highten your chances with these things.

I guess there is a reason why trading individual stocks is such a high risk/high reward type of game. If it was a sure thing, we'd all be driving Ferraris. I have a little bit of money Ive saved up to throw around (or possibly, throw out), so I'm willing to try.

[SeeGeeWhy]

Be afraid when people are greedy, and be greedy when people are afraid.

Buffetology is a decent read, and is a good start to get you thinking about what kind of things to look for when investing in the stock market.

[smith12]

First thing that I do is watch BNN every night (dorky, I know but it's worth it). I look for the analysts that cover stocks in oil and gas. Since I have had so much luck with the North Sea (stable governments etc) I have stayed there.

Often these guys will give you a few of their top picks and then I start researching the companies and try to figure out what's going on with them.

My research obviously starts with checking all their press releases on Sedar. Then, I try to find out what makes a company successful when exploring in the North Sea. An example of how I did this was when I was getting my MBA, I actually did a study on Oilexco (a valuation to be exact) and was able to interview many big wigs. They basically told me all the critical success factors for juniors exploring in the North Sea. With that information, I was able to create an 80 page report to predict what their sp would be.

For those of you wondering, there are many analysts that cover companies and you can get their price targets and how they come up with them from emailing the company they work for. Usually it's a receptionist that will email you a copy of their report. An excellent analyst that I have followed for a long time is Fred Kozak from Cannacord (btw, his target for Oilexco is currently 24 by the end of 08). Another really good one is Josef Schachter...his top pick right now is Sterling Resources, followed closely behind by Oilexco.

Oh, and to the comment about the price of oil being the reason for these companies high sp is not valid. A major reason why oil has jumped so much recently is due to the deflation of the US dollar. Also, if you compare the returns of those four companies against the energy index on the tsx you will see that they have out performed almost all energy stocks.

I do a lot of research, but keep in mind that at least 50% of it is luck. You can't expect too many stocks to double over the course of a year.

[smith12]

If you're interested, that Josef Schachter analyst that I am talking about is going to be on BNN tomorrow. He will probably mention Oilexco since they have been hit so hard in the last week.

[firebug]

Looking for well regarded analysts?

Starmine provides annual rankings of analysts. www.starmine.com

From their homepage select Awards>Analysts>Canada

The energy analyst I work with was ranked in their top three for 2006.

~firebug

[Top Shelf]

http://investopedia.com/ has a lot of good information.

[jam26]

http://www.globeinvestor.com/

Several people I know who invest in stocks use this site for research.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by fotze

I have found the only way to do really well investing is to do one of the following:

1) Know someone who has insider knowledge
2) Be someone with insider knowledge
3) Get lucky
4) Do it for a living. (i.e. be a stockbroker)

###: Professional advice is worth it!!

[Phanuthier]

The best advice I've learned so far about stocks:

a) if someone suggests you a stock, don't buy it. If you already own the stock, sell it. Hype is scary.

b) The market isn't as "technical" as you think - know who are manipulating the stocks of they are.

c) invest alot of time before you invest alot of money

Some books / audiobooks I'd suggest:

Beating the Street - Peter Lynch
A random walk down Wall Street - Burton Malkeil
(Forgot name) - Peter Navaras

All would be pretty good books to get you started on stocks if that is your choice "investment vehicle". I started stocks midway through this past year, but learned it really wasn't my thing - I have a couple stocks here and there, but I've found other "investment vehicles" in limited business partnerships and real estate, so if you did want to consider that T5, those might be 2 other options (if you are interested in other options as well as stocks).

[DuffMan]

buy low, sell high.
know when to cut your losses.

[Cowperson]

"When the blood is running in the streets, that's the time to buy" - Old Wall Street saying.

"You need long-term strategies to reach long-term goals, and paying attention to short-term fluctuations in the stock market is one of the most destructive things you can do for your long-term financial health." - Jim O'Shaughnessy.

Cowperson

[Eric Vail]

Originally Posted by Phanuthier

All would be pretty good books to get you started on stocks if that is your choice "investment vehicle". I started stocks midway through this past year, but learned it really wasn't my thing - I have a couple stocks here and there, but I've found other "investment vehicles" in limited business partnerships and real estate, so if you did want to consider that T5, those might be 2 other options (if you are interested in other options as well as stocks).

I, too, have found the stock market to be quite volatile. You can hit a home run, but much more easily you can lose 50% of your money in a day. I have a little money in stocks which has not done very well and so I stopped putting my money there. I have some mutual funds, but they don't seem to be great either. They are more consevative, but the gains are not very good either.

My best investment luck has been through real estate. My own primary residence has done extremely well, along with a revenue property I bought back in 2001. However, it doesn't make sense to buy a revenue property anymore, because you simply cannot make the numbers work. By the time you have collected your rent and then paid your condo fees, mortgage, taxes, and any maintenance, you are $400 or $500 in the hole. It doesn't make sense sustaining those losses on a month to month basis. In addition, a revenue property can be an absolute pain, dealing with bad tenants and market fluctuations can be very stressful.

There are real estate investments that do not require the risk of owning your own property. I invested in a limited partnership land pool last summer that projects over 2-6 years my money will increase by two to four times. I'd rather trust in the continued growth of Calgary than the volatile stock market. If you want more information about this limited partnership, PM me and I will pass it on to you.

[MoneyGuy]

Originally Posted by Slava

###: Professional advice is worth it!!

That's not what he was saying (he was actually dissing stock brokers, saying they're the ones who get rich), but you are right.

Most people are not cut out to be stock investors, unless it's putting a bit of money into a few blue chips and leaving it there forever. Clients of mine decide they're going to get rich with individual stocks and it usually backfires. Take the emotions out of your stock decisions. Buy quality companies, look for dividend-paying stocks, hold them for the long term, ignore fluctuations and if they go down in value (assuming they're still good companies), buy more. That's how you make money in stocks. Unfortunately, most people don't do that. Buy a couple of banks, some utility companies and a few others and forget about them for 20 years and you'll likely do very well. However, most people let their emotions rule their decisions or buy on advice from some brother-in-law and it screws them up.

One of my clients lost 150K on one stock. He worked for the (tech) company and absolutely believed they would change the world. The company went out of business and his shares were worthless. There are many examples of this but that's the biggest horror story I have.

Most people are not cut out for this. BE VERY CAREFUL!

[The Fonz]

BUMP

I'm thinking now would be a good time to buy some stocks, but I'm not sure where to begin. Should I be doing this using CIBC Investor's Edge? Over the last year we saw Oil get as high as $140, and now it's sitting at $67, wouldn't this be worth looking into?

Oh and I found this interesting:

Originally Posted by smith12

An excellent analyst that I have followed for a long time is Fred Kozak from Cannacord (btw, his target for Oilexco is currently 24 by the end of 08). Another really good one is Josef Schachter...his top pick right now is Sterling Resources, followed closely behind by Oilexco.

Sorry to bring this up smith12, well not really because I don't think you will see this, but it's nearing the end of 08 and Oilexco is a long way from 24, they're currently at $5.60. As for Sterling Resources, they're at $.75