Time to Time the Market?
February 23rd, 2009 | 8:37 pm | Posted in Current Events, Finance | 6 Comments »
Maybe?
MoneyMateKate pulled the trigger last week and picked up 1000 shares of AIG.
A risky move, no doubt, but an inexpensive one too.
She only paid 51.7 cents per share. Hard to argue with that.
And Trevor from the Financial Nut also made a move, though more conservative (if that’s even possible right now), tossing $1200 at an S&P Index Fund.
In the long run, that was probably a pretty wise investment even if he lost his shirt today.
For me, there’s this guy at work pushing me each and every morning to stop waiting around and pick up a bunch of GM stock — he claims that it’s a bargain — but, so far, I’m not having any of it.
It’s not that I’m afraid or even against attempting to time the market — I think that both Kate and Trevor made wise moves — it’s just that the Index Fund route doesn’t excite me enough and, well, with AIG and GM being the only two companies that I’ve even given some thought about, well, I don’t really think they’re for me either.
Honestly, I don’t think either company even deserves to be in business right now. That’s my opinion.
AIG is $0.53/share as of market close this afternoon. Their 52-week high was $52.25/share. I dunno, maybe it’s a bargain but to me that seems more like a company that’s run it’s course. They’re done.
GM, the big huge American car company, is $1.77/share as of market close this afternoon. That sounds like a bargain. I mean, everyone has heard of GM — and a piece of it can be yours for just a couple of bucks!
I already know, walking in tomorrow, exactly what my co-worker is going to say.
“GM for under $2/share!? They’re too big to fail! The government would never let them fail. It’s a sure thing…“
I think the only sure thing is that GM will fail and cease to exist in my lifetime. Chrysler is toast too.
Neither is too big to fail and both probably should fail.
Further, based on all of the outcry last week regarding all of this stimulus nonsense, the voice from my corner is growing louder.
Let them fail.
That’s what capitalism is all about.
Neither company was able to adapt to globalization and, well, other companies passed them by as a result.
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Hey, I just noticed that Ford is only $1.73/share… Interesting…
February 24th, 2009 at 9:42 am
Hey Brainy…my mom indirectly “persuaded” me to buy into AIG. She works for a state school, and AIG is in some capacity responsible for state pensions. The government has already proven their commitment to not letting AIG fail, and there’s more than a smidgen of self-interest there. It’s the self-interest angle that got me.
And I would totally buy Ford if I had funds in my trading account…hmm.
February 26th, 2009 at 6:09 pm
Stay with your hunch! GM will fail and AIG will too after their fun with the original bailout money.
February 26th, 2009 at 11:03 pm
I must think like that guy at your work. Earlier this week, I bought some Ford, Citigroup, JP Morgan & GE.
I’m a small potatoes investor though, (about $1000 total).
February 28th, 2009 at 9:42 am
DD — GE is a good call too… Not sure I can say the same for Citi and JP Morgan though I’m hardly an expert…
I’m basing 95% of this on a personal hunch.
February 28th, 2009 at 7:40 pm
I’m all for “the hunch”
My hunch is telling me that JP will be fine. But I have absolutely no grounds for that hunch
I only got some Citi because they are the biggest employer in my state and somehow even though up they are up s%@tcreek, they haven’t laid anybody off here yet.
Of course the timing of the gov’t switching their investment to common shares sure made me wish I not bought any. Or at least waited a week longer…But that’s how it goes when you try to time these things.
June 14th, 2009 at 11:18 pm
[...] time readers might remember that back in February, I decided to take my student loan and try to time the market by investing in a hand-full of well know companies whose stocks were very [...]