Why does this have to be red every dammed day?! When will we ever hit the bottom?

UGH - I have GE stock. Thought GE would ALWAYS be safe. Last I checked they in at $9.00. Down from $32.00 last summer. I've been too depressed about it to check it any further.

Posted by Debi UGH - I have GE stock. Thought GE would ALWAYS be safe. Last I checked they in at $9.00. Down from $32.00 last summer. I've been too depressed about it to check it any further.

I'm very sorry to hear that. I know exactly where you're coming from, because I have some too (actually blurred out above).

However I bought it for different reasons. I just bought mine last week because the price dropped so much. I'm starting to get in the marked more now just to pick up these huge stocks that dropped like $20-30

Lately I've been buying up things like Citi, GE, GM in hopes that they're so huge the price HAS to go back up and I just got a super-cheap discount. Though my 401(k) has decreased by at least 50% over the past year or two.

I'm lucky I'm young... If I was at retirement age right now I've be screwed.

Posted by trent Lately I've been buying up things like Citi, GE, GM in hopes that they're so huge the price HAS to go back up and I just got a super-cheap discount. Though my 401(k) has decreased by at least 50% over the past year or two.

Uh-oh! I wonder what would happen to the stock price in 60 days time...

I bought a few shares of Disney a few years ago, just to have the certificates for sentimental reasons. At that time, it was somewhere near 100 dollars a share, so I only bought 4 shares. I'm considering going back and buying some more right now. I paid something close to 90 or 95 a share, it's selling for 17 today. Entertainment stocks go fairly well even in bad periods. Right now, if you want a safe investment...according to what I've been reading anyway, stick money in cable TV companies, movie companies, anything that provides "cheap" entertainment. Because nobody is going for the big ticket stuff. Time Warner Cable is going for $25.10 a share and seems to be holding steady. Time Warner itself is going for $18.19 a share. Even Sony is holding at 20 a share today.

In the past week, my 401K has made something close to 400 dollars from some odd investments I got into.

Shael

Posted by Shael I bought a few shares of Disney a few years ago, just to have the certificates for sentimental reasons. At that time, it was somewhere near 100 dollars a share, so I only bought 4 shares. I'm considering going back and buying some more right now. I paid something close to 90 or 95 a share, it's selling for 17 today. Entertainment stocks go fairly well even in bad periods. Right now, if you want a safe investment...according to what I've been reading anyway, stick money in cable TV companies, movie companies, anything that provides "cheap" entertainment. Because nobody is going for the big ticket stuff. Time Warner Cable is going for $25.10 a share and seems to be holding steady. Time Warner itself is going for $18.19 a share. Even Sony is holding at 20 a share today. In the past week, my 401K has made something close to 400 dollars from some odd investments I got into. Shael

That's cool. Over the past two weeks my 401k is actually up, but its just due to the overall market going up. That's also cool that you can invest in specific stocks in yours. I'm stuck with pre-canned grouped funds. I've had to do the individual stock investing on my own.

Instead of opening a savings account like I was going to do, I've instead opened a trading account and just plan on investing in company's which really can't go much lower or are due for a big rebound.

Interesting thoughts about the entertainment industry. I'll keep that in mind. I don't like Sony on a personal level though. (T'm sure they're sound financially)

What is a 401K? Is that like a pension plan? Mine is simple, I think it is 75% of the average of my best 5 years wage wise. The only real problem with mine is that I don't get to retire until the 2030's and that is way too far away. I am ready to retire now.

I have never invested in stocks. Firstly, I just hate the corporate worlds morality so much I don't want to be more of a part of it than I already am. Secondly, I am not a huge gambler. My investments are simple RRSPs and Canada Savings Bonds. Not much interest, but no real risk or incredibly dirty feelings.

Posted by argonian What is a 401K? Is that like a pension plan? Mine is simple, I think it is 75% of the average of my best 5 years wage wise. The only real problem with mine is that I don't get to retire until the 2030's and that is way too far away. I am ready to retire now.

Yup. It's an American retirement plan that lets you invest pre-tax dollars from your pay check into the market as a retirement plan. Then it is also common for the employer to match what you put into the plan on your behalf once a year. Pensions have really gone away except for government and union workers.

BTW, 75% is a pretty pimp pension.

It is a good pension and I barely pay anything into it. The only problem is how very long I have to wait for it. Hopefully there will be a plan to buy out the oldies in the 2020's and I will be able to benefit from that.

Well, traditionally in economic slowdowns, companies that make motion pictures, television programs, things that are cheap entertainment do well or tend to hold their value.

If you look back at historical evidence, companies like Walt Disney, Warner Brothers, MGM/UA and others did well or held their value during the Great Depression and other economic downturns through the past 80 or 100 years. They did even better during war time when no one had any money and everybody wanted to get away from real life for a while.

My reason for Disney is that so many of my best memories have involved either Disney theme parks or motion pictures, so I chose them for sentimental reasons. That and that Michael Eisner is no longer involved in any of their decisions. He made a mess over his time and never listened to Roy Disney, who actually acted in best interests of the family, investors and the public and who never wanted to be in charge, even when he should have. He organized a huge "almost coup", called Save Disney. He managed to get the stockholders to clean house at the next board election. Bob Iger took over when Eisner stepped down, he was a former Imagineer for Disney and he managed to repair the Disney/Pixar mess that Eisner created and bring Pixar back into the fold. Steve Jobs is the largest stockholder with 7 percent of the stock with the Pixar deal. As he was CEO of Pixar.

Shael

My portfolio has lost almost 80%, at this point I am basically starting over after saving and investing for 14 years... *sigh* I am now never going to be able to retire.

All my savings were invested in shares until I liquidated the lot for a downpayment on a house. At the time, a mortgage was not really such a welcome addition to my life, but considering I'd otherwise have still had everything in shares, and would have lost most of it, the mortgage doesn't seem so bad.

My superannuation (like your 401k), invested by my superannuation provider mostly in the share market, is not doing well, however.

when International Paper stocks went in the shitter earlier this year, an entire crew in my department (that's 6 guys) went bananas and bought a shitload of stock, thousands of shares. When the stock started to rise earlier this week, they sold some and made thousands. Bastards! All of my 401k is in what is called the stable fund and company stock... no risk, no real mad profit either.

That's why any money I put in goes into IP stock. I own a few hundred shares. If it goes back up, we'll make a fortune. If it doesn't, the money's still safe because by the time we retire, we'll own so many shares that the company will be begging us to sell them back at a tidy profit.

Shael

Posted by Shael Well, traditionally in economic slowdowns, companies that make motion pictures, television programs, things that are cheap entertainment do well or tend to hold their value.

However, no one is in production right now and the whole industry is shot. SAG might as well have been on strike for the last year.

Posted by trent Why does this have to be red every dammed day?! When will we ever hit the bottom?

I meant to ask - wouldn't it have been better to buy stocks that were going to rise in value?

Just trying to help.

Posted by metawaffle I meant to ask - wouldn't it have been better to buy stocks that were going to rise in value? Just trying to help.

"It takes money to make money" ?? Nah, it's more like it takes the purchasing of a lot of depressed stocks now to make a lot of money 10-15 years from now.

This is one of the only things that ever made me happy I work around the corner from Wall Street.