'Safe' Money Investments

[florascent]

http://www.ccfa.org.cn/english/index.jsp

[DAVE_007]

LOL..Good'un Jack!..How you doing?..

Just back on computer..me and wife been out
of town on a little getaway for 3 days..

lots of catching up to do on posts and stuff..

[nitetrak]

Retirement Planning...

If you had purchased $1000.00 of Nortel stock one
year ago, it would now be worth $49.00.

With Enron, you would have had $16.50 left of the
original $1000.00.

With WorldCom, you would have had less than $5.00 left.

If you had purchased $1000 of Delta Air Lines
stock you would have $49.00 left.

But, if you had purchased $1,000.00 worth of beer
one year ago, drank all the beer, then turned in the cans for the
aluminum recycling REFUND, You would have had $214.00.

Based on the above, the best current investment
advice is to drink heavily and recycle.

It's called the 401-Keg Plan

[DAVE_007]

ah, just branching out a little..

and China..well, alot are poor but
still you 4.4X the population of the US..

https://cia.gov/cia//publications/factbook/rankorder/2119rank.html



BIDU

[nitetrak]

Morning Dave. Sounds like a sound strategy. I see Bidu hasn't traded that long and has maintained a nice uptrend. "The Google of China", I like that title. Looks like just the kind of stock you are searching for.
Good luck and let me know how things work out down the road.
The Best,
Jack

[DAVE_007]

re:BIDU..
January 14, 2007
Chinese Website Rankings 2006
Virtual China reports about the following Chinese Website rankings from 2006 as published by Internet Guide 2007 China Internet Survey Report.

3 top portals: Sina 55% of Chinese users, Netease: 51% followed by Tencent: 48% that kicked out Sohu from number 3.
Blogsites: Sina 33%, Qzone 19% and MSN 16%
IM: QQ 79%, MSN 34% and Sina UC 11%
Search: Baidu 81%, Google 34% and Yahoo 26%
Auto sites: Sina Auto 17%, Sohu Auto 12% and Pacific Auto 11%
Games: QQ37%, Liangun/Ourgame 20%, Shanda 20%
Podcast/video sharing: Toodou 10%, Yoqoo 9% and Mofile 9%
C2C Auction: Taobao 55%, eBay 37% Paipai 20%
Mapping services: Baidu 33% , China e-Map 19% and Go2Map 11%

[DAVE_007]

I missed CHTT..a LOCAL CHATTANOOGA drug company..
a place that I could go visit..
shoot the bull directly with IR..oh well..

[DAVE_007]

Jack..I think I'm going to add BIDU..
small amount a month..
on dips..for a retirement play..
and may do a flips on it this year too..on the side..

don't like staying glued to computer all the time
on bottle rocket stocks..

I know of at least one millionaire trader that's all
they do..buy sometimes and short sometimes GOOG..

BIDU..the GOOGLE of CHINA..
just now started getting rolling good..

BIDU article in Barrons this week-end..

if at Books-A-Million today or tomorrow,
I'll pick up a copy, take a few pictures..

[nitetrak]

Just a note Dave that these guys are volatile too. One year with them, within a given high risk system in 1998 I had a 100% return. Then again he did managed to break even in 2000, the first year of the the Nasdaq's decline. Like I said he's averaged me better than 15% these last 10 years.
Interesting, looking over his news letter....his leveraged bond system averaged 3% over the last 2 years but 122.9% over the last 4 years. I'm not in that system.... I have no idea how you can get a return on a bond fund/system like that but these are audited returns.
Like anything else he tells you to diversify between systems. I'm most heavily in his International sector system which invests in just about any given area. It has averaged 21.2% over 4 years but this year is struggling to beat the major indexes returns.
Like I said these are all after fee performances.

Recently I moved money into The Direxion Strategic Asset System, a new system. It's 3 diversified funds which he switches between along with a money market. They cover Bonds, Domestic and International. Ralph himself designed these Funds in conjunction with The Direxion Mutual Fund Company. They use to go by the name of Potomac Mutual Funds.
I've been in 18 months and average a 30% return, although this past YTD, as of October, he's doing 8%.

My opinion based on watching these guys:
In a bull market ...They will have excellent returns.
In a bear market...The better ones will hold their own.
In a sideways market...Most flounder.
nitetrak

[DAVE_007]

Thanks Jack..I sure appreciate the post..
as far as I'm concerned I'm just 'trying to build a pile'
right now..but I do know some 'financially comfortable' people
that I will pass along your suggestions too.

I hope to be able to use some of these relatively
'safe havens' if and when I get my head above water
really good..

Thanks again for your input!

Dave

[nitetrak]

Hi Dave. I caught your board and thought I might suggest a money manager I use. The gentleman who owns the company is Ralph Doudara. He's a Registered Investment Advisor (an RIA)licensed with limited power of attorney to invest your money as he sees fit within the guidelines you establish among the number of systems he has developed.
All his investments are in mutual funds and most are high leveraged funds(1 1/2x, 2x, 2 1/2x)that play a given index, sector, commodity. Many of these funds are found within Profunds, Rydex, and Direxion Mutual Funds, although they trade a host of funds from Mutual Funds which are short term friendly. These funds cater to short term traders and he can be in or out within a day and at times does just that. In essence, he's a market timer.
When my union closed and merged statewide, I was left to decide where to invest my money. Through the Internet I found MoniRearch Reports. They receive and rank over 100 Money Managers and Mr Doudara's company, Spectrum Financial, was always in the top 10 year after year. Spectrum's done fine by me these past 8-10 years or so and has averaged me about 15%/year after fees. These guys do charge fees...about 2%plus/year depending on the system, whether you make money or not.

Here's MoniResearch's website. You will have to pay for his research of Money Managers.
http://www.moniresearch.com/
I highly recommend his newsletter!

These money managers of which he supplies audited returns are not Hedge Funds but similar for those of us who are less than rich. Each system you invest in usually requires between 50k-100k minimum with these RIA's, although some require less.
Here's the outfit I use which is located in Virginia.
http://www.spectrumfin.com/

Let me know if you decide to call them. It would be best if you could receive from them their past 4 quarters of newsletters to see their performance. Each newsletter supplies results for past quarter, YTD, 1yr., 2yr., 3yr., and 4 years besides the usual take on the market. I'm sure they can supply you with results further back to see how they held up during the Dasdaq Crash.
Best of luck Dave,
Jack

[DAVE_007]

ECSTX chart..been decent last 6 months..

[DAVE_007]

Thanks guys for your recomendations...
I'll research those too..

A elderly friend of mine who has 8000 shares of Walmart
recently told me of a place he uses..
I've made a call or two..
and I am presently going to try and get a group
together of elderly investors and retireees together
and have a dinner
meeting with Mike Wechsler (pronounced 'Wexler')
of West Park Capital..1.561.353.1303..

it is no fly-by-nite outfit...
http://www.wpcapital.com/


if I can get enough people together,
including my parents and others whose money is being stolen
by banks paying mickey mouse rates on CD's,
he's going to fly up from FLA and show us how he
can GUARANTEE 7~8%+ a year on their retirement money.

If you get a chance, give him a call..and see if he can
help you..
or offer something better than what you have..
tell him 007 sent you..and NO..
I'm not getting any kind of kickback
or anything..LOL..don't even mention me if you prefer..

He's very knowledgeable about longterm investments
and has multitudes of FLA retirees as clients.

I gurantee you if I ever see some daylight on
some reitirement money to tuck away safely,
I'm probably going to be doing business with him.

A very nice guy.

Getting off here for now..my computer is on crutches..
taking it to the shop..

Have a good one!

[faust357]

Too bad the Cali cartel doesnt have an IPO-dope never seems to loose its value(unless stolen,confiscated or consumed)

[ThanksLouie]

i like eaton vance large cap value - ecstx

[skinsmoney]

Dave, there is no "safe" place for your money unless you are willing to buy government bonds and ride them to maturity, every other investment carries a level of risk and possibility that you will take a haircut in principal. I am sure you know this as you state that you are trying to move into trading full time but seriously, why risk your principal on some mutual fund joker who statistically speaking is unlikely to match the market returns when you can "safely" ladder invest bonds? Investing in bonds is far far from what I do but it is safe.

Are you into TA? Long term trend trading the blue chips is fairly safe and may net you better than market return if you do your homework. Perhaps long term trend trading the indexes such as the QQQQ and others is better for you, certainly won't beat the market but you may outpace bonds. I just find it hard to hand over my hard earned money to some guy in New York City and let him have at it. Yes, from time to time people do get lucky and get their money in when with a young fund manager who nets great returns but these fund managers, seeking their own increase in wealth and fame, eventually accept more funds than their respective trading system can handle and their returns come back to the rest of the pack.

Just thought I would throw out some thoughts over a cup of coffee and be your first "outsider" to post.

[DAVE_007]

Welcome! feel free to contribute your ideas..

I feel 2007 may be a great year for Dave007..LOL..

maybe I'll hit the lottery or something..(I wish!)..

and would like to have some groundwork ideas on hand where

to make the most 'bang for the buck' on retirement money.

Tax advantages, etc.

My rather 'comfortable' Uncle...and even my parents really
have their lip stuck out on the returns they are getting
on CD's lately.

Any info appreciated.