Investing

No-Brainer High Risk Apple Trade Coming Up

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apple event stock trade

Apple has announced an event on September 12. Traditionally, Apple announces new iPhones and other “gadgets” in September, and expectations are high. So, what is an investor to do? If you are a long-term investor, nothing. Absolutely nothing. The event will generate some noise in Apple’s stock price, but the actual effects will take place over the months and years as Apple executes on its strategy, and how well the new phones are received. Short-Term Apple Trade What about a short-term investor looking for a little trade on Apple’s big event? In that case, it’s time to look into options and start pricing volatility plays. No matter what Apple announces there will be a reaction. In fact, there is a very good chance that there will be an OVER-reaction. That reaction will show up in a quick rising, or falling stock price. Check out our Zelle review. Now, if you don’t understand options, and don’t already have an options enabled account, this move is not for you, but if you’ve been to this rodeo once or twice before, there is money to be made here in a good volatility trade, coupled with the usual leverage of stock options. Buy Apple …

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What Is After Hours Trading

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stock market price down facebook

Facebook reported some garish earnings guidance after the market closed today and the reaction was pretty big. In fact, it was so big, that news outlets and other investment analysts started publishing stories about how far down Facebook stock was trading “after hours.” When this happens, people have questions, mostly, What is After Hours Trading. After Hours Markets Although it never really matters to most people, the reality is that isn’t just one stock market. There are actually several different exchanges. A couple of decades ago, accessing these other exchanges wasn’t really the kind of thing that your average trader had much ability to do. Of course, times change. These days, with the advent of electronic trading, and online brokerages, it’s actually pretty easy to access the other exchanges, even if you don’t know you are doing it. After the standard trading markets — NYSE, NASDAQ, and AMEX – close at 4:00 PM Eastern, those other markets fire up offering After Hours Trading, sometimes referred to as Extended Hours trading. Most major brokerages offer their clients the ability to access those extra trading hours, although you usually have to sign some forms saying that you understand the risks. Basically, the …

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Contribute a PERCENTAGE to Your 401k

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Sometimes, it’s easy to let the small (but BIG) stuff get lost among all of the other information and knowledge out there. I’m just as guilty as anyone else, and that’s why I’m ashamed that there are already hundreds of other articles on my personal finance advice blog before I got around to writing this one. It comes from a friend who was “running some things by me” who showed me that his 401k contribution is $750. “Why isn’t a percentage instead of fixed amount,” I said. “What difference does it make,” he said. Oh boy. Have you seen my Credit Karma reviews?  Set a Percentage to Save Into Your 401k You’ve already heard it a million times before. There are fancy names for it, like “paying yourself first,” or whatever you like. But, in order to save, to really save you need to get money out of your hand, before it ever gets into your hands. It’s just human nature. We spend what we make. That’s why, no matter how old you are, and no matter how many times you’ve said it before, it still seems like just another hundred, or thousand, dollars a month is all you would need …

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Stock Market Correction

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After Monday’s stock market fall, there was a run up yesterday on Tuesday, then a little drop on Wednesday, and now a 1000+ point market drop again today. So, let’s get a headcount before we proceed. Stock Market Results Last Few Days Monday: -1175 Tuesday: +567 Wednesday: -19 Thursday: -1033 Add it all up, and you get -1,660 for the week. Oh, and by the way, the market was down 666 points last Friday. From the market’s high point, this equates to a drop of a little over 10% putting us into correction territory. (A correction is usually defined as a drop of 10%.) Do We Panic Now? Take a look at what I wrote about Monday’s big stock market drop. Although the market has dipped even further, the result remains the same. For long-term investors with a well diversified portfolio, the best course of action is to ignore all short-term market moves. Even if this is the beginning of a recession (We are totally due for one) the long-term scenario is still the same. The ever higher march of inflation, plus a U.S. economy that always comes back eventually means that holding on, and continuing to invest is the best solution for long-term investing …

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Stock Market Plunges – Shall We Panic?

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2018 crash stock market

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell almost 1,200 points. The headlines scream “Largest 1-Day Point Drop in History.” — They say “point drop,” because as a percentage, this declines isn’t even close to the worst. As the Dow increases in value, the percentage of a point becomes a smaller number. This 1,200 points is equal to 4.6%. That’s nothing to sneeze at, but it is not anywhere near as bad on a percentage basis as the 508 point Black Monday crash, which at the time was a drop of 22%. (Could a Black Monday type crash happen again?) Perspective is fun! The 2018 Crash Before we decide to panic, let’s look into our crystal ball and see what will happen in the next few days. First, don’t expect any of the politicians who were taking credit for the stock market rising to come out and accept any blame for the market falling, even though, if one is true, the other must be true as well. The reality is that politicians are never responsible for short-term market moves, no matter how much they try and take the credit. So, this crash isn’t their fault, but the runup wasn’t to their credit …

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Is FAANG a Good Investment?

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faang microsoft

Even if you’ve never heard of FAANG, chances are you have heard of all the stock components and maybe even contemplated an investment in one or more members, but is FAANG a good investment or bad investment? What Is FAANG? Let’s start from the beginning. FAANG stands for Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google. As you can probably tell, these are very big, very well known, technology stocks. They are also frequent investments among investors who only invest in a few individual stocks, people often called Main Street investors (as opposed to Wall Street investors). One omission from the list is Microsoft, which is also a very large, very well known, technology company. Unlike the others, however, Microsoft’s stock is not well loved by Wall Street investors and analysts, in large part due to its sideways performance from 2002 to 2013. While its stock has recently done well, it still doesn’t have the same shine, or flair as the others. Perhaps this makes it a less “noisy” investment with fewer fair-weather, amateur, investors? That’s an article for another day. For professional stock analysts and investors, FAANG represents a quick look at the “new” titans of American business. Each of these …

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Stock Market Rising More

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stock market economy business

Anyone out there with their “the stock market is doomed” predictions acknowledging how much money they would have cost you if you had listened to them and gotten out of the markets in the last several months, or even the last year or two? No? Didn’t think so. It looks like the doomsdayers will have to wait a little bit longer as U.S. companies such as Caterpillar and 3M both reported pretty solid earnings this week driving up the stock market further. It’s a little hard to claim that there is no basis for increasing stock prices when stocks are actually doing well. Give it a week or two. Once earnings season has passed they’ll be back to tell you about how overbought, overvalued, and over-hyped the market is. How Long Will Stocks Keep Rising I don’t know how much longer the stock market will keep going up, and neither does anyone else. That’s why money mangers are always careful to compare themselves to the stock market, and not to their own predictions or track record of being right. Imagine how much more responsible financial analysis might be if you had to publish not only your trading record versus a …

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Worried About Another Black Monday?

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black monday chart

30 years ago, the stock market “crashed” on a single day. It was called Black Monday. At the time, I was in high school. I put aside the newspaper from that day thinking it would be a major collectors item in years to come. It hasn’t, but not because it wasn’t a big event. Black Monday was the name given to the biggest one day drop in the stock market. On October 19, 1987, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 22.6% in one day. Back then, the Dow was still everything. The NASDAQ was the stock market where also-ran stocks that couldn’t qualify for the NYSE traded. The S&P 500 was known to savvy investors, but your average American still didn’t know much about the stock market beyond what showed up in 45 seconds on the nightly newscast. In fact, many of them didn’t own any stocks, unless they had a 401k account at work. Online trading was still in the future, and discount brokers took orders on the telephone. Unlike previous crashes, Black Monday did not start a panic. It did not lead to a depression. The drop was serious, and real. For the rest of 1987, the market …

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Apple Watch Overreaction Buying Opportunity?

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apple watch 3 problems

I don’t like giving short-term stock trading advice, because all of the wrong people end up taking it. Let’s start from the beginning. If you don’t have $100,000 of investable assets in a trading account (not counting 401k, IRA, or other long-term savings accounts), you have no business buying individual stocks of any kind. The ability to make a profit with small stock buys is severely limited. Buy Apple Stock on Watch News Apple recently announced the Apple Watch 3. The big deal for the Apple Watch 3 is that it can connect directly to cellular networks on its own without you having to have an iPhone to connect it to. This is another step in the direction of the watch itself replacing your phone, but for now, it’s mostly a novelty that appeals to Apple technology enthusiasts. Recent reviews have indicated that there are some issues with the Apple Watch connectivity. As a result, Apple stock is down over 2% today. This is a major overreaction, and a buying opportunity if you are looking to invest in Apple shares. The problem, is that the watch connects to Wi-Fi networks that do not have internet connectivity. This is the communication …

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Why You Shouldn’t Worry About a Market Top

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market top plan

Worried about whether or not the market is overvalued? Did the markets set ANOTHER record? You aren’t alone. Seemingly every day, a major financial website or magazine publishes an article about how the stock market is overvalued, how this is a top, and that you should feel very, very scared. But, should you even bother worrying about a market top? Not if you aren’t talking about short-term investments. If you are talking about a 401k , an IRA, or any other form of long-term investing, you should ignore all the market top talk. What To Do For a Market Top The biggest problem with a market top is knowing WHEN it is going to happen. Remember, the stock market does not move based upon absolute truth. Rather, the stock market is a popularity contest where people vote for companies, or their shares, by buying them, and vote against companies, or their shares, by selling them. It is driven entirely by people (and computer programs made to anticipate people’s reactions, but that is another article). What that means, is even  if the market really is truly overvalued, right now, today, it still does not mean that the sell off will begin …

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