Hey DF, remember your thread about $100k?

[VRBeauty]

That was my strategy too, because I had some funds that had been sitting at the sidelines for too long. I have to admit though that I blinked when the market took that major dive in March. There was that little voice saying... what if...

 

[Phoenix]

Date: 6/29/2009 4:29:26 PM
Author: Abril

Date: 6/29/2009 3:00:24 PM
Author: lovegem
Abril, when did you enter the market? From What I know only those enter the market earlier this year were able to make money. Most people's stock are just like their houses, still under water.

The good news is that the market will eventually recover and most people's stocks will get back to even and probably enter positive territory, especially if a bull market is sustained.

We've been in the market for a while but in the present downturn had entered much more aggressively. We practiced a modified version of dollar cost averaging--if the market drops further, put in even more money. It wasn't easy to throw hard-earned cash into a declining market, but we checked our emotions at the door and kept the faith. It's paying off now.

Buy low, sell high: so easy to say, so hard to do.

This is the FIRST and FOREMOST principle of investing and it applies to ANY market you invest in, be it stocks, properties etc.

We've made 150% gain on our property in Singapore. In other words, our original investment has gone up 2.5 times since we bought it in early 2006. Another way to look at this is that the price of our house has gone up by approx 70% since we bought it, even taking into account the 20% drop in the overall market since the peak. As soon as SARS hit, we knew as tragic a time as it was, this was a good time to buy properties in Singapore, so we put most of our hard-earned savings into this purchase. It is also true that it's easier said than done, it took us about 8 months and 6 other offers before we managed to get this property.

Our investment property in London has gone up some 12 times too. Again, I'm talking about the increase in our original investment, not the purchase value. We also bought it not too long after the last recession in the UK. It's also true that it's so hard to actually sell high when in principle you know you should. Sometimes, you get a bit greedy and that's when it hurts you. You keep thinking: oh, let's just wait for it to go up a bit more, except that it may not. We only wish we'd sold this aprt about 2-3 yrs ago, as the price has dropped quite drastically since then and the pound has become a lot weaker too!

Our apartment in Melbourne, Australia has only gone up a modest 20% since we bought it. And it's only because we bought it half way through the last economic boom there.

Our stock market investments have generally gone up too, primarily because we bought a long time ago. The other principle about investing in the stock market, I find, is that you really have to be in it for the long term. Generally speaking, you shouldn't put money into the stock market if you need the funds within the next 3-5 yrs, even 10 yrs.

I wish we had a ton of moohlahs now. We'd love to invest more in properties in Asia and some in the US and Asian stock markets. Now is an EXCELLENT time to invest. What I've found really interesting is that, and this is only *my* perception anyway, that Asians tend to buy and sell properties as if they were stocks. During the last boom here, I actually know of some people who bought and sold within a year or so and made about USD1m per property! Seriously, it's true. Also, did you know that properties in Hong Kong have actually gone up during the past year despite the fact the around the rest of the world, property markets have dropped?! This is because HK is the place where a lot of rich mainland Chinese funnel their extra cash into (and we're talking a lot of extra cash here).

 

[Abril]

Date: 6/30/2009 6:40:58 AM
Author: Phoenix

Date: 6/29/2009 4:29:26 PM

Buy low, sell high: so easy to say, so hard to do.

This is the FIRST and FOREMOST principle of investing and it applies to ANY market you invest in, be it stocks, properties etc.


We've made 150% gain on our property in Singapore. In other words, our original investment has gone up 2.5 times since we bought it in early 2006. Another way to look at this is that the price of our house has gone up by approx 70% since we bought it, even taking into account the 20% drop in the overall market since the peak. As soon as SARS hit, we knew as tragic a time as it was, this was a good time to buy properties in Singapore, so we put most of our hard-earned savings into this purchase. It is also true that it's easier said than done, it took us about 8 months and 6 other offers before we managed to get this property.


Our investment property in London has gone up some 12 times too. Again, I'm talking about the increase in our original investment, not the purchase value. We also bought it not too long after the last recession in the UK. It's also true that it's so hard to actually sell high when in principle you know you should. Sometimes, you get a bit greedy and that's when it hurts you. You keep thinking: oh, let's just wait for it to go up a bit more, except that it may not. We only wish we'd sold this aprt about 2-3 yrs ago, as the price has dropped quite drastically since then and the pound has become a lot weaker too!

Our apartment in Melbourne, Australia has only gone up a modest 20% since we bought it. And it's only because we bought it half way through the last economic boom there.


Our stock market investments have generally gone up too, primarily because we bought a long time ago. The other principle about investing in the stock market, I find, is that you really have to be in it for the long term. Generally speaking, you shouldn't put money into the stock market if you need the funds within the next 3-5 yrs, even 10 yrs.


I wish we had a ton of moohlahs now. We'd love to invest more in properties in Asia and some in the US and Asian stock markets. Now is an EXCELLENT time to invest. What I've found really interesting is that, and this is only *my* perception anyway, that Asians tend to buy and sell properties as if they were stocks. During the last boom here, I actually know of some people who bought and sold within a year or so and made about USD1m per property! Seriously, it's true. Also, did you know that properties in Hong Kong have actually gone up during the past year despite the fact the around the rest of the world, property markets have dropped?! This is because HK is the place where a lot of rich mainland Chinese funnel their extra cash into (and we're talking a lot of extra cash here).

Phoenix, now that's the way to do it!

To DF: I don't consider investing to be gambling because the odds are in your favor to make handsome amounts of money in the long run.

 

[Dancing Fire]

Date: 6/30/2009 6:40:58 AM
Author: Phoenix


I wish we had a ton of moohlahs now. We''d love to invest more in properties in Asia and some in the US and Asian stock markets. Now is an EXCELLENT time to invest. What I''ve found really interesting is that, and this is only *my* perception anyway, that Asians tend to buy and sell properties as if they were stocks. During the last boom here, I actually know of some people who bought and sold within a year or so and made about USD1m per property! Seriously, it''s true. Also, did you know that properties in Hong Kong have actually gone up during the past year despite the fact the around the rest of the world, property markets have dropped?! This is because HK is the place where a lot of rich mainland Chinese funnel their extra cash into (and we''re talking a lot of extra cash here).

Phoenix
there were two big opportunity to buy cheap properties in HK...

#1-when China first announced in the mid 80''s that they will take back HK,property owners got so nervous they started to dump properties at fire sale prices fearing a communist take over.

#2-when SARS hit Asia in 2005 ?

btw; the rich mainland cash = corruption money

 

[Dancing Fire]

Date: 6/30/2009 12:37:32 PM
Author: Abril




To DF: I don't consider investing to be gambling because the odds are in your favor to make handsome amounts of money in the long run.

Abril
timing is everything ...think of all those people whom bought their home in Ca b/t 2005-2006,some of these people will never see their home recover to that "housing bubble" level in their life time.

i sold all my wife's 401Ks in April of 07 when the Dow hit 13,090 and the S&P was 1495. the market kept on going up and i had to listen to my wife everyday saying...see,i told you not to sell all my 401k

till the market finally topped out at 14,000 which was about a month later then follow by the big crash.

 

[lovegem]

hindsight is 20/20. I wish we took out our retirement fund earlier.

 

[VRBeauty]

It's the 24th, time for the July 2009 Dancing Fire Index (DFI) update!

DJIA March 24, 2009: 7659.97
DJIA July 24, 2009: 9093.24
DIA DFI: +18.7%

S&P March 24, 2009: 806.12
S&P July 24, 2009: 979.26
S&P DFI: +21.5%

Gold March 24, 2009: 923.30
Gold July 24, 2009 951.20
Gold DFI: + 3 %

The median price of houses in Sacramento in March 2009: 243,292
The median price of houses in Sacramento July 2009 (5-wk average): 247,000
Sacramento housing DFI: +1.5%


But -- it's early in the game yet.

 

[Abril]

Thanks for looking that stuff up, VR.

A broad market index like the Wilshire 5000 did even better than the S&P 500:

Wilshire March 24, 2009: 8,170.10
Wilshire July 24, 2009: 10,061.50
Wilshire DFI: +23.2%

So the $100,000 would be $123,150.27 by now (not including reinvested dividends).

What kind of diamond can you get for $23,150?

 

[Dancing Fire]

Date: 7/25/2009 3:46:48 AM
Author: Abril
Thanks for looking that stuff up, VR.

A broad market index like the Wilshire 5000 did even better than the S&P 500:

Wilshire March 24, 2009: 8,170.10
Wilshire July 24, 2009: 10,061.50
Wilshire DFI: +23.2%

So the $100,000 would be $123,150.27 by now (not including reinvested dividends).

What kind of diamond can you get for $23,150?

a nice 2ct.