Investment Thread - For all your money needs

[WRS]

I have a wachovia Way 2 Save account that I opened a few years ago. I don't really keep that much money in there because I'll invest it when it accumlates enough money. Anyway last month I had $619 in there at the start of the month. I earned $.02 interest. I don't really care about the interest but that's laughably low... $.24 on $619 per year...that's .038% interest. How are banks not just rolling in dough right now, especially with all the BS fees and whatnot they are charging.

Why would they pay higher levels of interest when they can't make jack shit off deposits? We are trying to put $2B to work right now and there's just no place to put it with any prospects for decent yield.

[Baconwfu]

Why would they pay higher levels of interest when they can't make jack shit off deposits? We are trying to put $2B to work right now and there's just no place to put it with any prospects for decent yield.

I would hope a bank could squeeze at least some reasonably safe return, but I guess since treasuries are negative yields they probably don't have any where to go unless they want to invest in t-bills near maturity (i.e mature before the "low interest rate window" the fed has "promised" expires)
Or maybe they should grow a pair an make loans...idk just seems really ridiculous to see that $.02 interest payment and i thought I'd comment on it.

[WRS]

I would hope a bank could squeeze at least some reasonably safe return, but I guess since treasuries are negative yields they probably don't have any where to go unless they want to invest in t-bills near maturity (i.e mature before the "low interest rate window" the fed has "promised" expires)
Or maybe they should grow a pair an make loans...idk just seems really ridiculous to see that $.02 interest payment and i thought I'd comment on it.

It is ridiculous and as someone on both sides of the equation it really sucks. We've increased the size of our loan portfolio 35% this year but are getting tons of pressure to move deposits out of checking/money market accounts because we have absolutely no opportunity to make money there.

[TWDeac]

Damn, my OPTT stock is making some major moves this week. Up fro $2.33 last week.

[rogrant84]

If I were you, I would invest on Physical Gold or other precious metals (PMs) with the aid of local refiners in the area.


Robert Grant

[WFFaithful]

gold is taxed at a higher rate

[TWDeac]

He was a troll for a website, please don't take his gold advice.

[cookoutdeac]

He was a troll for a website, please don't take his gold advice.

Fuuu, I just put all of my savings into gold!

[seventwofour]

Read The Black Swan a few weeks back and Taleb promotes his barbell strategy pretty heavily. Seems pretty reasonable to me. What are the Pit's thoughts?

[CarlSpackler88]

If I were you, I would invest on Physical Gold or other precious metals (PMs) with the aid of local refiners in the area.


Robert Grant

I'm loading up Robert! What do I do now besides wait?

[SkyDivingDeacon]

Read The Black Swan a few weeks back and Taleb promotes his barbell strategy pretty heavily. Seems pretty reasonable to me. What are the Pit's thoughts?

I personally agree with it.

I also agree with tail-hedging strategies. PIMCO started doing it in a couple of their funds sub-advised by Rob Arnott and then of course El-Erian does it as well. It's a pretty smart thing to do for a relatively low cost of 'insurance' on a portfolio, and if you can get it done by someone like El-Erian or Arnott for a couple open-end funds, it can easily complement some other things going on for someone's account.

The Black Swan is great, but it will go over pretty much everybody's head unless they're interested in this stuff. I think Freefall by Stiglitz is far better, but that's just my opinion.

Kenneth Rogoff is my favorite, though. IMHO, he's the smartest and most qualified voice on modern day bubble capitalism before it actually happens. Dude knows what he's talking about. So does another guy named Simon Hunt who analyzes Copper and some other metal trends based on global consumption and distribution. Good luck getting your hands on his quarterly reports, though. Some of them only cost $6,000 a pop, but to become a regular subscriber you'll just need a cool $500K.......a year.

[IAppreciateIt]

Hello groupon. Don't see this ending well.

[Deacon923]

1. Give all your money to me
2. ?
3. Profit

[bojanglefunk]

I personally agree with it.

I also agree with tail-hedging strategies. PIMCO started doing it in a couple of their funds sub-advised by Rob Arnott and then of course El-Erian does it as well. It's a pretty smart thing to do for a relatively low cost of 'insurance' on a portfolio, and if you can get it done by someone like El-Erian or Arnott for a couple open-end funds, it can easily complement some other things going on for someone's account.

The Black Swan is great, but it will go over pretty much everybody's head unless they're interested in this stuff. I think Freefall by Stiglitz is far better, but that's just my opinion.

Kenneth Rogoff is my favorite, though. IMHO, he's the smartest and most qualified voice on modern day bubble capitalism before it actually happens. Dude knows what he's talking about. So does another guy named Simon Hunt who analyzes Copper and some other metal trends based on global consumption and distribution. Good luck getting your hands on his quarterly reports, though. Some of them only cost $6,000 a pop, but to become a regular subscriber you'll just need a cool $500K.......a year.

My wife's former roommate comes from a loaded family. They are awesome. They make almost all of their money in oil and copper.

[SkyDivingDeacon]

Very easy to make money in Copper if you have a strong understanding of the technicals.

I would also argue that it's incredibly difficult to make money in oil regardless of your analytical/technical/fundamental/valuation skills. The only way you can make money in gas and oil is to be a limited partner in some kick ass MLP with a huge account minimum (which the parents probably had). Traded MLP's are good, but they've merely become an open-end natural resources fund with a larger yield, to a certain degree.

...

For those that know what they are doing and have no (or very small) trading costs, this up/down market is heaven sent.

I honestly hope that it continues to be range bound, and I think it will unless we have upbeat data over the next two weeks, (which I don't think we will)...

[seventwofour]

Hello groupon. Don't see this ending well.

They laid off 10% of their staff last week.

[bojanglefunk]

Very easy to make money in Copper if you have a strong understanding of the technicals.

I would also argue that it's incredibly difficult to make money in oil regardless of your analytical/technical/fundamental/valuation skills. The only way you can make money in gas and oil is to be a limited partner in some kick ass MLP with a huge account minimum (which the parents probably had). Traded MLP's are good, but they've merely become an open-end natural resources fund with a larger yield, to a certain degree.

...

For those that know what they are doing and have no (or very small) trading costs, this up/down market is heaven sent.

I honestly hope that it continues to be range bound, and I think it will unless we have upbeat data over the next two weeks, (which I don't think we will)...

Yeah they made their money in oil because they live in south texas and ran an oil drilling company.

[TuffaloDeac10]

For mint.com purposes, are Burke St Pizza and Mario's fast food or restaurants???

[TuffaloDeac10]

Am I best off creating a separate pizza budget???

[cookoutdeac]

they're restaurants I think.