Knight
Well-known Member
Financial and the fear that congress will pass legislation that makes Soc. Sec. obsolete in it's present form of funding is real for seniors that fear the stock market. Easy to understand that fear if for whatever reason investing has not been a part of a retirement plan. With 40 plus years of investing I don't share that fear & neither does my wife.
Easy for me to say that because 40 plus years of investing & uderstanding that stock market declines mean buying opportunities instead of panic. Beginning back in the early 70's when things got ugly we began by buying a utility stock that was if I remember right was about $13.00 a share. Learning about dividend reinvestment then we thought that as a way to build was genius. That utility had that plan so we let that one build and still do. We did sell some from our separate accounts when the price went way up. Funny thing about having a favorite it drops and can be bought again for a lot less. A nice feeling to have as much again for 1/2 the price and have cash to build our portfolios even more. Combined we have 32,776.083 shares built back up. Todays stats. Average volume 4.66M P/E ratio 12.79 EPS 2.70 Dividend 0.38 Div yield 4.40%. That dividend will be reinvested and continue to be reinvested since we don't need that for income. That .38 is a quarterly dividend translating to $1.52 a year as of now with an expectation of a 4% increase over the next few years. Slow and steady isn't exciting but it is nice to know our kids will not have to fear what might happen to Soc. Sec. as a way to live when they retire.
Setting up a self directed IRA with the cash was probably the best thing we did. Somewhere someone said don't do like previous investors did and fall in love with a stock. OK but we did love our original utility so the flexibility this offered was apart from that. Buying opportunity like in 2009 when portfolios went down the drain saw G E at a little over $6.00 a share leaving some cash buying 9000 shares was risky at our age but G E is a good company. Pretty static at around $30.00 a share long term capital gains we sold in Dec. of 2015. That boosted the cash account enough to risk again in late Jan. 2016 to buy 10,000 shares of a startup called TLN at a little over $6.00 a share. No dividend so capital gain is where we are on that one. That is pretty static now at about $14.00 a share so looks like Jan. 2017 will be time to sell and wait out the rise in the stock market. We both have diversified portfolios and both have survivor transfer of accounts to each other. Then when both of us are gone equal distribution of whatever remains to our sons. That should be smooth since they too have accounts set up with the same financial institution. Using real stock examples isn't my way of promoting anything. It's so that real examples can be looked at and researched to see how that can work. And yes we are old school and don't waste money on trying to impress people.
This is a seniors board so I suspect a lot are past being able to begin now with a long term outlook. But if having children and being concerned for their future is real. Then maybe knowing that beginning early and not fearing the stock market as a way to fund retirement when soc. sec. may not be enough is possible for the average everyday high school graduate. Of couse they would have to spend some time doing quality research instead of spending time on facebook or any other social media source of bad info.
Easy for me to say that because 40 plus years of investing & uderstanding that stock market declines mean buying opportunities instead of panic. Beginning back in the early 70's when things got ugly we began by buying a utility stock that was if I remember right was about $13.00 a share. Learning about dividend reinvestment then we thought that as a way to build was genius. That utility had that plan so we let that one build and still do. We did sell some from our separate accounts when the price went way up. Funny thing about having a favorite it drops and can be bought again for a lot less. A nice feeling to have as much again for 1/2 the price and have cash to build our portfolios even more. Combined we have 32,776.083 shares built back up. Todays stats. Average volume 4.66M P/E ratio 12.79 EPS 2.70 Dividend 0.38 Div yield 4.40%. That dividend will be reinvested and continue to be reinvested since we don't need that for income. That .38 is a quarterly dividend translating to $1.52 a year as of now with an expectation of a 4% increase over the next few years. Slow and steady isn't exciting but it is nice to know our kids will not have to fear what might happen to Soc. Sec. as a way to live when they retire.
Setting up a self directed IRA with the cash was probably the best thing we did. Somewhere someone said don't do like previous investors did and fall in love with a stock. OK but we did love our original utility so the flexibility this offered was apart from that. Buying opportunity like in 2009 when portfolios went down the drain saw G E at a little over $6.00 a share leaving some cash buying 9000 shares was risky at our age but G E is a good company. Pretty static at around $30.00 a share long term capital gains we sold in Dec. of 2015. That boosted the cash account enough to risk again in late Jan. 2016 to buy 10,000 shares of a startup called TLN at a little over $6.00 a share. No dividend so capital gain is where we are on that one. That is pretty static now at about $14.00 a share so looks like Jan. 2017 will be time to sell and wait out the rise in the stock market. We both have diversified portfolios and both have survivor transfer of accounts to each other. Then when both of us are gone equal distribution of whatever remains to our sons. That should be smooth since they too have accounts set up with the same financial institution. Using real stock examples isn't my way of promoting anything. It's so that real examples can be looked at and researched to see how that can work. And yes we are old school and don't waste money on trying to impress people.
This is a seniors board so I suspect a lot are past being able to begin now with a long term outlook. But if having children and being concerned for their future is real. Then maybe knowing that beginning early and not fearing the stock market as a way to fund retirement when soc. sec. may not be enough is possible for the average everyday high school graduate. Of couse they would have to spend some time doing quality research instead of spending time on facebook or any other social media source of bad info.
