A question (or two) for Ted...

Old_Joe

Hey there Ted-

I got to thinking about you while in the shower this morning (no, not that way!), as I was mentally reviewing your general style with respect to market investing. To the best of my recent recollection at least, my impression is that you tend to be nearly fully invested, aggressively so if you don't mind, and pretty optimistic with respect to the market potential as a whole. And that perspective seems to be working just fine for you.

The reason that I happened to single you out, in addition to your perspective, is that we are pretty close in age- only a couple of years apart, if I remember correctly. Also, I can't ever recall you being at all negative about staying fully invested. So that led me to wondering...

Would you describe your approach as perhaps a "modified buy-and-hold", in the respect that while you may from time-to-time sell some stuff and replace it with other stuff, by and large you are always pretty much fully invested? How exactly do you see your market approach?

Taking that question a little further, I would think that such an approach could be very rewarding over a long time-frame of investing, such as someone in their 30s/50s might be looking at. But at our age, with the markets "scheduled" to take a significant dive "sometime" in the future (who knows when?) is that a good position, given that we are getting up there and that the next major market down/up cycle could take 4,5, or 6 years to play out?

I'd be very curious to know if in your lifetime of experience you have ever attempted to "get out" before something really bad happened, or have you just let the thing roll no matter what?

I hope that you don't interpret this as being too personal- I'm always trying to learn, and you can only do that by listening to folks with ideas and experiences different that one's own.

Regards- OJ

ValueSeeker

Great question. For what it's worth, it seems sometimes people forget that bear markets can last more than a decade and on an inflation adjusted basis even longer. For example, the NASDAQ is till below it's all time high reached in 2000, even without taking account of inflation.

hank

OJ - You're just trying to see if "Ted's" a computer program or a real live person!

Seriously, I think he has a lot to teach us all about investing and look forward to his response.
Regards

Old_Joe

Hank- Yes, hard to argue with success.

Take care- OJ

Ted

@Old_Joe: I wish I could say I have a majic formula for successful investing, but that would be dishonest. Generally speaking, I'm, a very aggressive investor and am always looking for investments opportunities especially when there is blood in the water, ie.; investments no one else wants. Two examples are EIX Preferred Stock who's dividend was suspended for eight quarters the share price dropped below ten dollars,(par $25) and GMAC Bonds that no one expect Marty Whitman and a few other were buying at 40 cents on the dollar.

Investing is not a one sided game, never make an investment with the idea of not losing money, invest to make money even though there at times when that will not happen. You cannot walk away from risk, if you can't stand the heat, volatility, don't invest in the first place. If you make a mistake, cut your losses, never get emotionally attached to any investment. Always, run with you winners, Big Mo, two examples NI bought at $8.40
a share and still holding, PFF bought at $16.00 and still holding.

I don't believe in owning too many stocks or mutual funds. You can attain success with the motto 'few is better". Never invest in something you know nothing about.
Regards,
Ted