If/when you buy, make sure to put in a limit order, not a market order. Especially on lower-priced stocks. It's just as easy, and it keeps you from getting screwed by market makers.

It seems like that Twx att merger is a pretty good bet. Currently, the way the transaction is structured, the market value when it goes through for Twx is a little over 108 a share, versus a current price of 98/share.the merger will not be subject to an fcc review and the DOJ review does not look like an obstacle. It's worth a shot, imo.

Anyone know any good Bitcoin/Crypto currency-related potential moon shots? HIGHLY speculative, but they could explode if things go the right way. I'm looking at $BITCF right now. Don't even know if it's a legit company yet. Trading at $0.06 OTC currently.

Portola trying to push through $40. Thanks for the tip, got 500 @ $37.88. Didn't buy Aclaris. Up over a thousand already. If/when it holds above $40, I'll get more, since next resistance is around $50.

And in terms of my previous post, about 10 minutes research into BITCF leads to not wanting to touch it with a 10 foot poll. I like the future of crypto currency, but not BITCF.

bumped another quarter point. It looks like pretty much everything reacted positively. Even interest sensitive things.. bonds, REITs, utilities all up in general

If you're looking to gamble check out BTCS:OTCQB

Oh I'm looking to gamble. Thanks, I'll check it out.

Big day for $PTLA. Blew right through $40. Up $1500 thanks to TigerUppercut.

Thinking of getting 50 shares today... Good buy and hold you think or look elsewhere?

This morning I took a little gamble in the options market that paid off nicely. Almost a two hour trade to the exact moment.

Bought $2000 worth of Tesla TSLA $265 calls (50) contracts at .40 that expire TODAY around 10:15 am and sold them all by 12:15 pm for between .67 and .75 netting a $1,470 profit or just over 70% return.

Nice way to start my sabbatical.

I'm now in Tulsa OK, a little more than halfway to Scottsdale. Going to be lounging by my longtime friends pool today.......

I'm trying like hell to understand that pic and how it made you money.

I defer to TigerUppercut, but here's what I've found out. They have 2 drugs currently in clinical trials with decisions expected this year on both, each could be the first drugs approved for the conditions they treat. I've heard that if one is approved, it should be a $60 stock, if both are approved, it could be an $80 stock. I heard this online from someone I have no track record on, so take it with a grain of salt obviously. The company is burning through cash pretty fast, so I presume they would need at least at least one of the drugs approved or they may have to issue more shares which could dilute the price. I haven't read through all their recent filings, so I don't know how much they have in terms of cash reserves.

Here's a recent article from Motley Fool. https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/...ady-up-an.aspx

My call would be to buy on dips, like now. Monday morning may be a good entry point.

I will explain it to you. Stock Option trading is not for unsophisticated investors. I recommend you read through this if you have any interest in options.
http://www.cboe.com/learncenter/pdf/understanding.pdf

At roughly 10:15 am on Friday morning, I entered a LIMIT order to buy 50 CALL OPTIONS to OPEN on Tesla for .40

Each contract controls 100 shares so I had control of 5,000 shares of stock. When you initiate a new position, it is called to OPEN and when you sell it's called to CLOSE. You can also SELL an option to OPEN a position but that is even more advanced on naked call selling. SUPER DANGEROUS!

The strike price was $265 and at the time I did the order, the stock was around $263, so I was still two dollars "out of the money", not counting the .40 per share I paid for the contracts. The option of .40 would be multiplied by 100 and equals $40 per single contract. It gives me the right to buy 100 shares of Tesla for each option contract.

At 10:17 the options order began getting filled in 3 blocks, 30 contracts at .40 ($40) for $1221, then 10 at .40 for $407 and then another 10 at .40 for $407 for a total of 50 contracts @ $2035, which INCLUDES commission.

Then as the stock began to rise close to the $265 strike price well before the end of the day, the options shot up to around .65-.80 around 12:10 pm.

I then began to enter sell orders in blocks of 10 contracts at MARKET PRICE to ensure the options sold. Then at 12:12 pm the options started to sell; 3 at .72 then 3 at .72 then 2 at .73 then 2 at .74 then 20 at .67 then 20 at .75 for a total of 50 sold contracts at a total sales of $3,509.85 INCLUDING COMMISSIONS.


So the end results:
50 bought at $2,035
50 sold at $3,509.85
Profit $1,474.85 in two hours.

The times stamps are on each executed trade, hour:minute:seconds

$1,474.85 / $2,035 = 72.5% profit

How often does something like this happen for you?

And how often does it go the other way?

The main reasons i wouldn't get into this is because -- I think -- as fast it goes up, it could have gone down, and it's pretty damn tough to know which way it will go. Even if you think you know, in the short term MANY other factors could come into play, including alot of stuff that has nothing to do with the company specifically, but rather deal with the broader market.

Seems super dangerous, tbh. Think I'll stick to boring and safe (relatively speaking).

Sorry I haven't seen yours and JHS' posts til now. I'm big on these start up drug companies that have control over future profits of novel drugs that they want to bring to market.

Portola had a minor hiccup last Fall when they applied for approval but the indication from the FDA was 'hey we know your drug works but you're getting a little eager... So quit being rookies and see you again in 6 months'. PTLA already applied for FDA approval on their other drug, betrixaban. In second quarter they are expected to reapply for approval of andexanet Alfa which is expected to go thru. Their clinical studies so far have been compelling. Warfarin will be a thing of the past if this drug goes thru.

The one I'm kicking myself over is not buying more esperion therapeutics a few months ago. FDA approved their drug and they exploded 74 percent today

I have about a 34% win ratio. While that seems really low, in the options market you may put up $1,000 and get back $7,500.

If you keep you initial investment at the same level all the time, you can do pretty well.

Where people, including me get in trouble is that we risk $1,000 on a few trades, make a few thousand, feel cocky and then make a real risky bet with like $4,000 and lose it all.

Discipline is paramount

Since 2009 I'm in the hole about $12,000

Talked myself out of this one after reading their filings. Still don't know if $BITCF is a legit company, but the ****ing thing is up to $0.15 now. Could've made 150% in less than 2 weeks...

Now it's at $0.27 :banghead:

I must be reading this wrong, it seems essentially impossible to have lost money in the stock market going back to 2009. $10,000 put into the S&P average in 2009 is worth about $35,000 today.

No worries. You can buy it in a couple of weeks when it's back at $0.15.

MGM Resorts International (MGM)
Undervalued Trading at 9 times earnings
Catalysts -new casinos in D.C. and Macau China next month
Little 2% dividend
Best of breed and dominant in Vegas.

Have you ever heard of the word "gambling"? :D

I think it's pretty commendable admitting your down since 2009.
Those screenshots have that handy 2 roundtrips to PDT threshold warning message at the bottom for a reason :) and it's not because most people who try to day trade succeed.

In other news, Settlement is moving to T+2 in September so that's nice. Tonight is the House decision on Republicare or whatever the hell it is.. should cause some action

Personally, I play craps.

On a more serious note, though, you should really stop "gambling" on stocks and throwing your money away since you seem terrible at it. And you should definitely stop posting financial advice for others, and probably stop posting altogether.

Oh my. Have you ever traded options?

Oh boy!

That's terrible reasoning.

He has other investments and this is his "play" money. You won't always be a winner and I am sure he's learning from his mistakes. If you don't want the risk, don't do it, that's my choice. But I understand options stock trading (thanks Scho!) and why some do it.

Is it worth it for me to max out an IRA for the wife and I or could I get better returns elsewhere?

Depends on what your returns are. But if you're SE, a Roth is probably a better option. If there is a chance you might need the money I'd keep it out into some other mutual fund.

In terms of RETURNS, you can do basically the same thing with an IRA as you can with any other brokerage account, plus you get the tax benefits. So unless you're considering something outside of stocks and bonds, an IRA is pretty much always better than a brokerage account.

As Buehler said, the key is whether you need access to the money after you put it in. IRAs are meant to be a permanent deal, so you won't get to pull it out until you retire unless you want to pay penalties (though you can pull out Roth CONTRIBUTIONS early without penalty).

If he's a dentist and his wife is working, I doubt he would qualify for the Roth based on income level.

Roth IRA Income Limits (for single filers) Phase-out starts at $118,000; ineligible at $133,000
Roth IRA Income Limits (for married filers) Phase-out starts at $186,000; ineligible at $196,000

On a serious note, you should bend over and shove your head up your ass because you don't know shit and maybe putting your head up your ass will help you discover some.

Do you think my only investment is playing options? No jackass it's my 10% play money so stop giving me advice when you have no idea of my situation.

I'm not telling ANYONE to buy options and all my posts warn how it is risky and I give links to the CBOE and other learning before anyone even thinks about options.

Lastly I just started taking six months off and don't have to work for the next year because of my "crappy" investments. I quit my job and moved to Scottsdale.

Shut your piehole and maybe you can learn something......:rolleyes:

It depends. I don't know their income, but if he and his wife both max out a 401k/403b/whatever, max out HSA if they have a HDHC plan, etc. they could bring their AGI low enough to contribute to a Roth.

If those are AGI numbers his might not be so bad with student loan interest. I'd have to look it up but I'm pretty sure it comes off in 1040 adjustments.

Not to be presumptive, O. It matters on my 1040, and I went to NOT-dental school.

Thanks guys. We can't do a Roth, and I can only write off so much interest on the student loans. It sucks and it's bullshit, but whatever.

I can set up a 401k thru my office and max it out, which is something I'm starting this year as well. I don't really think I will need or atleast hope I won't need the $ until retirement, but I wonder if I'd be better off paying that in my student loans instead. It's at 7% and I graduated with 301k a few years back. I've got it down under 200k, but I've been throwing alot at it just to get out from under it asap.

Not sure that's wise, but it makes me feel better.

On a side note, fwiw, it's interesting to see how pts view dentists. They seem to think I'm just rolling in cash. Don't get me wrong, I do well, but between having student loan debt, buying a practice and all the shit thay comes with that, I was about 650k in debt before I had a single pt in the chair.

It's not all sunshine and rainbows. Sure there are ways to go about getting into dentistry with less debt and I wish, with hindsight, I'd have done a military residency and gave the gov service for some debt repayment, but it is what it is. I lucked into a really good practice opp that's turned out well for me so I'm not upset, just tend to be tired.

This was an option I considered. I don't know much about the HSA, but we do have a hdhc plan for myself but the kids are a bit different as the wife feels they need good coverage.

Instead of the hsa, I tend to keep quite a bit of cash in my practice llc account for emergencies. Dunno if that's wise or not.

Oh hell, there are phase outs for student loan interests. Forgot that. My bad.

I'm with you on the money thing. My gross receipts are pretty damn high. My net income is far lower. My net cash flow to management is really pretty dang low. So I'm handling a shitload of money, and trying to hang onto a couple bills as they flow by.

Regarding your debt service, servicing your business debt is paramount. If

you have to borrow money for anything, you will be borrowing against the equity in the business. That's not to say, don't pay attention to your student loans, especially if those rates are higher, but you really need to mind the equity in your practice, especially since it is in an LLC.

If you're good with that, plowing out student loan debt is good, especially if they are at 7%.

I'm glad you're doing well though. I have a friend that graduated vet school a few years ago with somewhere near your numbers. Now she's looking for hardship exemptions and shit. :( I told her she's way tougher than me. If I wasn't able to service debt, I'd melt down. Like full on nuclear meltdown. That is probably my biggest fear.

I'm also with you on the tired bit. I'm not so much tired of the job. I've worked a metric ****ton of hours, which sucks and I'm trying to do better on, but my bullshit tolerance is used up. Anymore I'm criminally pragmatic, and if you can't help me, or you **** around and waste my time, I might cut your head off. I'm working on that too, but that's a tougher one.

All that being said, I wouldn't change it. I don't miss corporate life. Like at all. Even when I'm working a billion hours.

Cash on hand is a good idea IMO. You'd like to be able to get a return on it, but I try to keep as much cash as I can because it always spends and it's always there.

That being said, if you have a personal emergency, make sure you talk to an accountant and review your operating agreement before you pull your money out and spend it on a non-business expense. Most guys don't give a shit, but I work very hard not to pierce the corporate veil.

Again, I'm really glad you're doing well. I felt overwhelmed with the $35K I graduated with.

You should definitely look into a HSA. I'm not exactly sure how it works for an llc but at least as an employee it lowers your taxable AGI and let's you pay for healthcare items with untaxed dollars. I remember the list of things you can use it to pay for being pretty broad too, such as contact lens solution, glasses, cough syrup. It definitely wasn't just the stuff you'd use your insurance card on

It's also the best retirement vehicle offered to Americans so if you can afford your healthcare deductible then you should invest the HSA in the stock market as it is triple tax deferred unlike a 401k or IRA you never pay taxes on funds going into or coming out of a HSA as long as they're approved healthcare expenditures. Until your 65, after that you can use it for hookers and blow or a boat if you want

If he took his "play" money and put it in a broad market index fund he'd have $41,000 more today than he does. Losing money on stocks over the past 8 years is beyond embarrassing.

If you want to gamble, go to Las Vegas, throw your money away, but don't act like you're doing something half-intelligent or that you have advice others could learn from.

I am the owner of the office, the way I understand it, I can do what I need to with that money, if worst comes to worst. It's not ideal from a tax standpoint though.

Yeah, the debt sucks. It is what it is it was about my only option to becoming a dentist. My parents couldn't foot that bill and frankly, I didn't expect them to. I had a golf Scholie for undergrad and with academic stuff, that got me thru undergrad.

We really lucked out in that my wife got into her business at the right time and is doing well, so I'm throwing as much $ at debt as I can. I figure I can be debt free by 35ish, no student loan and no practice debt. If I can do that, I'll flip all that to my retirement and kids stuff.

Or atleast that's the plan

When this post was made, MU closed at 22.34 on 1/09/17

Today it closed at 28.43. Wish I would have followed my advice and bought option contracts of it a long time ago. Could have retired! I kid. Maybe take a damn nice trip.

On another note, as far as buying MJ stocks that are cheap, I like CNAB the best. I don't have much money in them and wouldn't advise to buy a bunch either. I just like what I see from them at this point.

For the record, he clearly helped many of us understand options trading in his scenarios. He stated multiple times there was a lot of risk involved. He never once said, this is a "must investment" or pedaled his ideas on anyone. There's no hurt in learning about something in the market and deciding for yourself if you are ok with the risk. That in a nutshell, is investing.

If the Queen had balls she would be the King

If I didn't spend $500,000-600,000 eating and drinking these past 20-25 years I would be retired

If I shorted the market the day before 1987 Black Monday I would be rich

If I bought Microsoft or Apple when they first came out I would be rich

If I exercised more I wouldn't be fat

You said you play craps.....I guess that gambling is ok but mine is not.

My 401K did very well and so did some of my other stocks.

By the way, I made another nearly $4,000 the last two days in BABA options, both CALLS and PUTS.

I am sure I am the only numb nuts that does this. I got a car loan with zero interest because I got good credit. I pay 2 dollars every month when I pay online for a convince fee. So what's the point of zero interest if you still pay money. I finally just got in the habit of mailing in a check to avoid the fee.

I don't get the max out 401k Roth or Roth IRA. Also money is about feeling good or secure. If you can find a reason to not shoot yourself by Gambling in the market go for it. Not everyone finds boring investing interesting. I gamble at the boat but want something stable to retire on.

I'm not very optimistic that this will work, but I think it's worth a try. I'm going to say this one last time and hope it sinks in: you are bad at what you do and you should stop doing it.

For anyone else reading this who has "learned" from this guy, he is not someone you want to learn from. If a significant part of your knowledge about options trading comes from a guy on a football message board, you should not be doing options trading. It is a bad idea.

Show me where I tell one single person in this thread they should trade options? I haven't

I've spent years as a broker in a prior life.

I talk all the time about risk, risk, and risk. Not for the average or unsophisticated investor. I haven't even gotten into covered call writing or naked put selling, which is a whole other level of crazy that I don't participate in.

I link to the CBOE and other investor based explanations on options. I explain some basics

Show me one time I gave false information about options? You can't!

You have a deeper issue going on......
Maybe you lost money on options and are bitter?
Maybe you invested in penny stocks from a newsletter and cost you money?
Maybe you are reformed gambler?
Something more is going on with you.......:hmmm:

I'm just a guy who knows a lot about money management and hopes there aren't people on here reading this thread and making terrible decisions with their money like you.

You didn't answer a single question I asked. :rolleyes:

So playing craps is the good money management skills you speak off?

I'm not risking my rent or car payment money.

I'm enjoying 6-9 months off in the sunshine in Scottsdale AZ without working a single day at 54 years old so I think I've done a few things right.

But that's OK, I'm sure you are the money manager to the stars in Hollywood.

He's telling us what he does. He hasn't advocated his style as far as I know.

And it's a fantastic freaking day. There's not a better Margarita day is known to man. Well, maybe yesterday, or Friday, or...

THIS is why we move here. Enjoy the fruits of your labor man.

Blockchain. Blockchain is a technological breakthrough that even the programmers are still learning new use cases for on a daily basis.

You see execs from Goldman, JP Morgan, Merrill, Microsoft, etc. (and the government), leaving lucrative careers to run start ups or invest in blockchain.

It's projected that the blockchain will make 30-60% of ALL global jobs redundant and unnecessary.

Invest now. Blockchain will be bigger than the internet. Already valued in tens of billions, it will soon be measured in the trillions.

Top Blockchain Growth opportunities:

Ethereum (smart contracts, the Ethereum Enterprise Alliance is composed of Microsoft, JP Morgan, BNY Melon, Santander, Intel, etc) up 700% this year
PIVX (HUUUUUGE growth potential) up 650 in a WEEK
NEM (south east Asia's ethereum) up 400% so far this year
BitBay (homerun potential but could also strike out) up 330% this year
Ark is a small market cap play that's brand new that could really explode too

Obviously Bitcoin is the most reknowned/widespread blockchain, but it's currently undergoing a big scalability civil war between it's bitcoin core and bitcoin unlimited dev teams.

Learn about it, get involved, make smart decisions and you WILL be rich. Soon.

Still can't post links but add the youtube prefix and this heavenly blessed beauty Jewess (also an MSc from Oxford and runs a Silicon Valley think-tank and VC firm) will explain the blockchain:

watch?v=RplnSVTzvnU

Anyone know much about Pure Energy Minerals (PEMIF)? I read about an agreement with Tesla awhile ago for sourcing lithium. I honestly can't find a good source that this deal is even true. I can't find how much Tesla uses this company's source and why exactly this stock has been almost cut in half in the past year? Seems a bit risky but also possibly a good time to buy. I just can't locate much information outside of a few articles spaced out over a few years. Is this just another penny stock?

Since this post, PIVX, NEM and BitBay all up AT LEAST another 50% :old:

I've been tracking this like you said. They hit close to a 52 week low just now and will probably buy a good chunk of it. Hard to decipher where their efforts/research have come along to this point.

I just brought them up but see you aren't quoting me.

Did someone else here mention them? I'm finding it difficult to find good information on them.

JH brought them up a month ago. They're a very small startup with what looks like a couple different area projects now trying to extract lithium. Their success hinges upon whether they can use this theoretical process to become a player in the industry. In comparison, the biggest supplier is getting Tesla about 1/3 of their lithium and are 40x the valuation of PEMIF

I'm twiddling my thumbs waiting for portola to file their application to the fda for their drug reversal agent. It's supposed to be filed this quarter and I assume the fda will make a decision by this Fall. Two novel drugs on the market for a small start-up would be an awesome feat

I was thinking the same thing, but it never came back down. Now it's (BITCF) at $0.83. Up over 1000% since I mentioned it about a month ago. Even the measly 20K shares I tried to buy for $1200 would be worth over $15k now. :banghead:

Is there a ticker? My daughter just gave me her $200 bday money to throw at something for her. would like to take a chance at that

Maybe put something small in that if you must, but I seriously disagree with "go big or go home" investing strategies.

Buy a REIT that pays a 7% dividend yield, or another steady, stable, growth stock, or perhaps an Index Fund tracking ETF.

She presumably has decades. Start investing, and watch the magic of compounding and growth over many years work for her.

Yep. This thread has kind of turned into the equivalent of a gambling thread lately. Interesting to hear about, but not exactly sound financial advice.

Your best best would be to start a Roth IRA for your child if they are of "age" to have some earned income. Here's the lose definition of earned income from the IRS.

It’s up to you (or the child) to document that she had income earned from work. The money can’t be an allowance or a gift. (You can find more about the IRS’s definition here). It’s up to the account custodian to document the service rendered, when it was done, and the payment. It also has to be a reasonable rate. You can’t pay $1,000 for a night of babysitting.

http://www.rothira.com/roth-iras-for-kids

No mortgage and no dependents anymore means we're getting ****ing killed with income taxes. The Mrs is getting bought out of her pension soon, she just wants to dump it in her 401k, which already has a substantial amount of money in it. I was thinking maybe we should buy a rental house. Hell it probably wouldn't really make any money until we sold it, and it will likely lose money the first few years. Smart idea or not?

Buying a home is a nice swing in the right direction financially. It can literally take you from "not being ahead" to being ahead with one investment.

We already own one home free and clear, so we're already ahead. I'd just like to find some tax breaks, and her answer is to put more money in the 401k. Guess I'd like to diversify a bit from that, and maybe even claim some losses for a few years. I have no idea how that works. Suppose I need to talk to an accountant.

how do yo ubuy this stuff securely?

Home mortgage interest only affects you if you itemize, meaning your medical insurance, LTC Insurance and expenses (after they exempt 10% of your gross income. Why? Because they're dicks that's why), Real Estate and Personal Property tax, Sales tax or state income tax, home mortgage interest and contributions are more than your standard deduction, which is 12,600 for married filing joint. There are some other weird ass deductions like un-reimbursed employee expenses and shit, but there are limits on those.

Accordingly, only monies spent OVER 12,600 does you any good.

Where you're getting smoked is the extra exemption for 4050. Also, if you haven't filled out a new W-4 form and whatever Nebraska's witholding form is, do it now. You're probably underwithheld, which is why you're getting smoked on the taxes.

RE: Rental

Rentals CAN be a good deal if you manage them properly. First, they need to make you money or you just as well pay tax and go invest in retirement. Renting here is a ****ING RACKET so everyone is doing it.

Basic management things, like bulletproof leases covering everything that can cost you piles of money, knowing the process for evicting mother****ers, and knowing the rent market so as to NOT be the cheapest place to rent, as well as finding a house to buy that will net you a good return will be the difference between a sound investment and a ****ing albatross that will make you want to pick a fight in a mexican bar just to end the agony.

As far as taxation, there are no withholdings, so make estimates, or at least save up whatever your tax bracket is for taxes. They're coming. There is no SE tax (which equates to both the employee and employer portions of social security and medicare, or to put a number on the ****ing 15.3%) So that's a major benefit.

Show a profit. Don't take a loss over and over or you'll get audited. On that note, save receipts. KEEP TRACK OF EVERYTHING. Every tool you buy to fix something, every mile you drive for any business regarding the rental (Keep a log, the money is good enough it is worth your time) It's a good idea to have a separate checking account for the rental and ONLY for the rental so it is easy to keep straight. Just record it as owner's draw if you pull money out for personal.

Don't pay yourself a wage, (essentially charging yourself SE), but make sure it is paying your time or you need to get rid of it.

And what nobody will say out loud is it is a good place to commit tax fraud. If you need a new door handle at the house - deduct it on the rental. You can do that with small stuff, but putting a 50,000 kitchen in your house won't fly. But tools you need for other stuff can be deducted over the rental. Supplies for the house, vacuum cleaners, light bulbs, whatever. It can be done. If you're comfortable with it. Some guys are, some aren't. Just make damn sure you have a receipt and a justification if you get called on it.

Rentals have to be depreciated (which is taking a portion of the cost as expense for the year). I can't remember the treatment, but it is quite a while. So what that does, is when you sell it, the basis in the sale is less whatever you depreciated. And sale price-basis=gain (taxable income but IIRC it is limited at 20%)

Say you bought it for 10,000, depreciated 2,000 and sold it for 10,000. Since you depreciated 2,000, you got a break of 2,000 on taxes, so now you get to pay the taxes. Boom. You owe $400 tax. And the numbers get pretty serious as they get big, so gain can change the game pretty significantly so if you sell something, hang onto the cash until your taxes are filed.

On the depreciation note, it is kind of a cash flow crunch because you spend ALL the money up front and only get the tax break spread over however many years. If you have the money saved up now, it shouldn't be a big deal because you've already paid the tax on it. But it can throw a wrench in things if you spend all your cash or borrow money to do it.

If you borrow money, the principle is not deductible, but interest is. So factor that into your cashflow. Some people get a mortgage on their primary residence to buy the rental. If you're itemizing without home mortgage interest and will be for perpetuity, that's fine. If you don't itemize, then you can't deduct the interest. And typically home mortgages are better rates, but you'll have to do the math on the tax impact of the interest vs rate savings.

Good luck man. Some guys love rentals, some guys hate them.

If you have any specific questions, feel free to shoot me a smoke.

Oh, and congratulations on paying off your house. That's a huge deal. I'm jealous.

Buy a decent home in a good neighborhood in a good school district, and you won't lose any money. With a home like that, you can be picky about your tenants.

People who care enough to live in a house like that tend to take care of the property. People like nice things for their kids.

We have a couple of rental properties, and while we see them as investments, we also see them as an opportunity to provide nice homes to folks who, for whatever reason, may not have the desire or means to purchase a home.

So here's a question. I got a spam email Monday night telling me that a certain company had developed a "miracle drug" and to "buy their stock immediately". This is obviously spam and, after searching around about the email and ticker symbol (and researching the company itself), it learned about "pump and dump" scams. My question is, if you are confident that you know of a pump and dump scam about to start, what is stopping you from jumping on the wagon with the scammers? You'd have to time your sell to beat theirs, but that's about it, right? I ended up buying 30 shares for fun and it went up almost 40% yesterday.

BITCF is the ticker symbol. It's crashing today. If it's a real company with a future and not just a pump & dump, which I couldn't determine because of my limited crypto-currency knowledge, it might be a good time to take a flier. If not, which is a very real possibility, she might want to take that $200 to Vegas and put it on the Chiefs winning the next 5 consecutive Super Bowls.

There's nothing stopping you aside from the fact that you can't really know if it's about to climb or if it's already climbed and about to crash. Like a lot of these "make 50% in a day" ideas in the last few pages of this thread, it's basically gambling.

Yep, getting past that $12,600 mark is the problem. I'm hoping a rental could help with that. And as far as the fraud part...let's just say I have experience with that from when I was running my painting business. :)

We caught a huge break that unfortunately involved the death of family member. But yeah, it's nice, and it opens the door to a lot of other possibilities for us. Right now we're basically just blowing the extra money, we need to be more smart with it.

We have the Air Force base in Bellevue that is a gold mine for rentals, but unfortunately it's not close enough in proximity to where we live to be practical. We do live in a very desirable part of town so I don't think finding a decent renter will be an issue, however we are going to pay a lot more for the house initially. I really don't care about making money month to month, I'm just thinking it would be nice to have it to sell eventually to pad our retirement.

I think I'm going to expand my portfolio a little in a different direction.
I invest, but don't do individual stocks, just funds.

My latest bad idea is I'm going against what I've always said and buying a couple of rental properties.

Reach out to Hog Farmer on this too, I think. I believe he did some very smart things in building a rental portfolio.

Ditto. Hog Farmer probably has good advice for you.