Anyone else thinking about finances-investments??

[nhpm510]

Curious if anyone knows of a good company or industry to invest in during these tumultuous times that has been unfairly been beaten down due to the market blood bath?

Or, what type of asset allocation model are you using?
eg - 60% stock, 30% fixed, 10% cash or :toilet:

Pls also advise your goal-
capital preservation,
cap appreciation,
income

What age group?
20-30
30-40
50-60
60+
or Retired

[DavidJames]

Curious if anyone knows of a good company or industry to invest in during these tumultuous times that has been unfairly been beaten down due to the market blood bath?

Or, what type of asset allocation model are you using?
eg - 60% stock, 30% fixed, 10% cash or :toilet:

Pls also advise your goal-
capital preservation,
cap appreciation,
income

What age group?
20-30
30-40
50-60
60+
or Retired

My wife had to contribute to an IRA to keep us in the black for 2008 taxes. We choose a 2% money market, we're in the 50-60 category. Risk, been there done that and it's sucked the past year. I'm going conservative for a while.

[dvenardos]

The asset allocation that says all my money is gone. :D

Seriously, I have been investing for twenty years and have never seen a market where every single asset class has been wiped out. The dot com bubble was easy to see and I barely took a hit on that, but this time even though the sub-prime mess was clear it was beyond me to see that it was going to take down everything with it. Bonds, value stocks, growth stocks, dividend stocks, prime mortgages, everything but cash. It will be a quite a bit longer than I expected before I can retire to teaching.

So, no specific recommendations since everything has taken a dump. Take your pick. :)

[nhpm510]

My BEST investment in 2007

We put money into a new IRA for the Mrs and forgot to invest/move out of cash.
One of my most savvy moves to date!!! Saved at least 45% percent and got 2% return--yahoo!

Being as all groups have been hammered, was thinking about dipping the toe in with a utility fund (tax-deffered/retirement account). The yields are pretty compelling w/current valuation and 10 years time horizon.

Holy crap-just realized I am in the..gulp..40-50 yr old group. Jeez, time flies..

[nhpm510]

Everything has been in a money market for the past 1.5 years. Sure, I'm earning a measly 3.5% a year in dividends - but, my investments didn't tank by 40 or 50% like they would have with the old formula of stocks. :dizzy:

Smart man!:clapper:

[django1]

I was just thinking about this today. Be forewarned I own these stocks and plan to pump them up. Invest in banks. Don't cringe, Canadian banks. Unlike the US we have five large banks that make up the lion's share of banking in Canada and they are fairly conservative. They've just reported earnings and they are doing quite well. The largest of the Canadian banks, Royal Bank, reported profit down 15 % from last year (contrast that with American banks), Scotia Banks profits are down 1% over last year. Also worthy of consideration are Bank of Montreal and Toronto Dominion Bank. CIBC is always the black sheep and not recommended. The shares are fairly badly beaten down (40 to 60% I'd say) and they all pay a quite decent dividend. If the economy picks up they should get a nice boost. Keep in mind that if you buy these shares in the US you are exposed to the risks of the Canadian $ rising which could wipe out some of your eventual profits.

[jschlesi]

I feel the move in this market is to think contrarian. I am currently looking at taking a bunch of stocks, all must be trading under 2.50/share and building a high risk portfolio of just them ( once I widdle it down to the 10 companies that best fit my criteria).
A few years ago you could call this a penny stock portfolio, but I am not looking at good companies that happen to have their stock beaten down.
Funny, since I decided to pull this together 3 weeks ago I have had more than twenty people want in.
I have been in the market for a while and have a finance degree so I have no illusions about the risk/reward.

[Fatawan]

I was just thinking about this today. Be forewarned I own these stocks and plan to pump them up. Invest in banks. Don't cringe, Canadian banks. Unlike the US we have five large banks that make up the lion's share of banking in Canada and they are fairly conservative. They've just reported earnings and they are doing quite well. The largest of the Canadian banks, Royal Bank, reported profit down 15 % from last year (contrast that with American banks), Scotia Banks profits are down 1% over last year. Also worthy of consideration are Bank of Montreal and Toronto Dominion Bank. CIBC is always the black sheep and not recommended. The shares are fairly badly beaten down (40 to 60% I'd say) and they all pay a quite decent dividend. If the economy picks up they should get a nice boost. Keep in mind that if you buy these shares in the US you are exposed to the risks of the Canadian $ rising which could wipe out some of your eventual profits.

Don't many of these banks have exposure to the US via subsidiaries? i.e. Bank of Montreal has Harris Bank.

[dvenardos]

Keep in mind that if you buy these shares in the US you are exposed to the risks of the Canadian $ rising which could wipe out some of your eventual profits.

If you buy Canadian shares then if the loonie rises against the dollar you will make more money. Of course, the converse is also true.

[edward]

how about
Coca cola
walmart
an insurance co or two
unless there is a big natural disaster they have the priemiums comming in steady.
or robotics the military is using robotics big time in the war zone and contracts for the unmaned critters are on.
how about buying gold
or a treasury bond or 2, while companies may come and go the USA will be around a long long time.
do the research and good luck

[django1]

If you buy Canadian shares then if the loonie rises against the dollar you will make more money. Of course, the converse is also true.

:whs:
I stand corrected

[django1]

Don't many of these banks have exposure to the US via subsidiaries? i.e. Bank of Montreal has Harris Bank.

I'm not sure of exposure, but they are generally conservative. Here is part of a news article:"Bank of Montreal, the No. 5 lender, reported a 12 percent fall in net income, hurt by charges tied to volatile capital markets and an 86 percent jump in provisions for credit losses.

"Although the core results are doing fine, we have a continued deterioration of credit quality, which is going to be the focus of the market going forward. This is only going to get worse before it gets better," said John Aiken, an analyst at Dundee Capital Markets.

"(Earnings) more than likely are going to stay positive, but they're going to be lower than where we stand today because of credit losses."

Canadian banks, routinely ranked as the world's soundest, have remained profitable despite a crisis that has pushed many U.S. and European institutions to the brink of insolvency.

Experts credit conservative lending practices for helping Canadian banks avoid the massive writedowns and losses seen in other countries."

There is some risk involved in buying these stocks but you do get a nice dividend and if the economy gets going these stocks will rise and so will the loonie ( the loonie rises with demand for natural resources).