Korean Job Discussion Forums

hagwonnewbie · Joined: 09 Feb 2007 Location: Asia

I'm just curious about other people's stock trades. I started buying soon after the bottom, so I have no horror stories. I have couple nice dividend stocks that have yielded steady results as well as some solar and techs that did really well.

Believe me, I've still got a couple stinkers on my ticker, but my best plays were probably buying APPL at 180 and VHC at 3.30. VHC has since paid a dividend and gone up to 38$ in the past 18 months.

I'm sure you guys have some stinkers, too, but what were some of your best plays since the bottom?

yawarakaijin · Joined: 08 Aug 2006

USAT was my best performer of the year, it was a risk though. Bought in at 1.37 sold at 3.40. A short term investment that doubled my investment in less than six months.

Udo · Joined: 22 May 2011 Location: Seoul

A 2X leveraged silver ETF AGQ.

Sergio Stefanuto · Joined: 14 May 2009 Location: UK

I sold silver at 280% of what I paid for it.

I also became a minority shareholder in a start-up, which is starting to pay off.

PRagic · Joined: 24 Feb 2006

Over the past 1-2 years...

ETF DBA (lay low for now...got in when the gettin was good)

OPPENHEIMER DEV MARKETS FD CLASS C (up about 40+% since purchased - pulled back in correction as it was up nearly 50%)

AMERICAN CAPITAL WORLD GROWTH & INC B (Up about 20+ percent since purchased - pulled back in correction as it was up more)

Korean IPOs: pulled in over 20K so far this year alone.

Land purchased in 1999...whoa! Happy PRagic! Smile and say nest egg. Up about 7-8X initial investment.

madoka · Joined: 27 Mar 2008

You guys are a bunch of investment noobs.

I once dropped a quarter under my couch. While retrieving it, I found two dollars and some old peanut M&Ms. Boom! 800% profit. And a snack.

PRagic · Joined: 24 Feb 2006

LOL...Unfortunately, I can't retire early and in style on two bucks and a couple of crusty M&Ms! I'll stick with the 2 million, thanks.

meangradin · Joined: 10 Mar 2006

When I read these threads, it makes me feel inadequate and nervous. I make pretty good money but don't know what to do with it other than let other people invest it for me. I really want to learn more about investing, so could anyone recommend a good book or website from where to start?

PRagic · Joined: 24 Feb 2006

No reason to feel off about it. Investing is like anything else: you get to know about it if you study it.

Read the Wall Street Journal every day and subscribe to the Economist (another cover to cover must read).

Mutual funds are a great way to get started with investing. ETFs are becoming more popular as well. Either of these help to spread your risk around.

If you're younger, you'll want a portfolio with some risk worked into it, and you'll want to be fairly diversified. The general rule is that the older you get, the less risk you want to be exposed to.

Don't be in a hurry to through a lump sum of savings straight down on some investment, especially these days. Get some sound advice face to face before you start and have a stop loss (pain threshold) in mind when you set up a buy order. 10% is time for most people to bail on a stock or fund.