Wednesday, March 01, 2006

A sucker's game?

If you buy it, it will go down. This seems to be my own murphy's law of investing. I know the stock market is like one big casino, but since there's no "house", you would think you could have better luck than in Vegas. For me this is not true. Back in the 90's I invested ten grand over 3 years into a mutual fund that today is worth five grand. I once owned ebay stock (mistake, mistake) and in January, I was convinced that google could not lose so I bought a hundred shares.
Turns out, I bought at the peak, and have lost 25 percent in a month. Ugh.

The only good investments I have made have been in real property.

Let this be a lesson to you. (and me)

By the way, I'm definitely on the mend, despite my tossing and turning night last night. I feel bad for my students with a wheezy, sickly professor germifying the classroom. I will be sympathetic when they catch what I've got. Poor dears.

10 comments:

Chunks said...

The only sure investment is mattress style...you know, where you shove all your money in your mattress? You won't gain any but you won't lose any either.

Glad to hear that you are on the mend! Glad to know that I am so far away from your germs!

St. Dickeybird said...

My RRSP (my only investment) is accumulating interest at almost the same rate as inflation. With luck, my pittance will still be as pathetic when I retire/eatbullet.

Glad you're feeling better. More sextalk with your students should help.

dantallion said...

Glad you're feeling better.

I've done well in real estate, and I used to also do my own investing in the stock mkt. I didn't do that badly either - when the market collapsed a few years ago, I lost less than the average (In large part thanks to Nortel - BIG mistake). Recently, I handed my investments over to a guy that I trust, and I've posted net gains of 27% over 12 months. There's a lot to be said for giving the reigns to a real professional in a bear market, I think.

The Wisdom of Wislon said...

Poor dears and poor you ;-)

sniff sniff

GayProf said...

Sorry to hear you are not well and poorer. Hopefully both will change soon.

Patricia said...

the only investing i do is through my workplace, which has a nifty matching program. i get the quarterly statements and it's just a bunch of gobbledy-gook. but i know enough to know that when our economy was great a decade ago, i had lots more gobbledy. now i just have a bunch o' gook :(

popfizz said...

i keep all my money in a box under my bed guarded by a rattlesnake and a dozen scorpions. Its a difficult feat to get some quick cash out for my morning coffee but it keeps me in shape.

Anonymous said...

LOL, I had 80K invested in stocks. Borrowed 60 of it for another investment,then the stock market crashed, So I owed 60k on my 40k account

So I think your ahead...

epicurist said...

markets, stocks, investments...it's all Chinese to me.


I have just started an investment account in the last year and have someone doing it. I'm clueless otherwise.

madamerouge said...

I bought into Nortel at $8.90 (it can't go much lower than that, can it?). Duh. I bought Air Canada (a Liberal government won't ever let a Quebec-based airline go under!). Duh.

Just remember to claim your capital losses. I think you can carry them forward indefinitely and use them against any future capital gains. ("Capital gains? What are those?")