Like Tree24Likes

Investment advice for a happy 30 year old woman

Closed Thread
Page 3 of 7 FirstFirst 1 2 3 4 5 6 ... LastLast
  1. #21

    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    Back in California (finally!).
    Posts
    2,079
    Quote Originally Posted by cookie09:
    coming originally from another part of the world, I always find it amazing how the locals here think that a 10%+ return is normal and can be achieved with minimal intervention. . . no wonder people gamble so much more here than in europe/US
    There is a definitely a Chinese casino mentality here. It is very unhealthy and unhelpful. As with the OP, they think a consistent 10%+ risk free return is somehow possible, and that passive investing is how billiionaires accumulated their wealth.

    OP, with all due respect, it doesn't work like that. Billionaires get rich by being in the right place at the right time, well connected, being already rich and being willing to risk absolutely everything. You don't want to do that, you just want to earn a decent return with as little risk as possible.

    Invest your savings in a mixture of cash, bonds, and international shares. The exact mix will depend on your risk/reward preferences (higher risk, more shares). Continue to save and invest for the rest of your working life. Pay off your mortgage. And for God's sake, don't do anything as stupid as borrowing money to buy shares. That's it; with any luck you should achieve your reasonable financial goals.

  2. #22

    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    Back in California (finally!).
    Posts
    2,079
    Quote Originally Posted by virago:
    I am interested to know more about the gold price and why it's so high. Looking at prices over the last 30 years, 25 of those years prices averaged around $400USD an ounce. Since 2005 to now it's gone from around $400 to $1700.

    Outside the fact that it's a precious metal there is no return except the capital gain. Production hasn't really increased since 1998 and there doesn't seem to be a huge investment in production to reap the rewards of the high prices.
    People run to gold as a store of value when they lose faith in currencies and markets. Unfortunately, if you look at the inflation adjusted price of gold over the past 50 years, gold peaks, like it is now, in uncertain times, and collapses later. Gold was about the same price as it is now toward the end of the last serious bit of economic chaos, in 1980. As you note, gold has no intrinsic value, and no government stands behind it. It is a speculative investment at the best of times; buying gold right now is the worst thing you could do.
    limepickle and virago like this.

  3. #23

    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Posts
    6

    Thank you for your replies. I believe that there are many investment savvy and open people here, as demonstrated by your posts I will not buy gold Freetrader.

    I have taken a look at the thread suggested by Morrison "How to retire early in HK" (http://hongkong.geoexpat.com/forum/53/thread171085.html) and have found a lot of references and suggestions as to how to go about learning about investment. Thank you Morrison, and also for your take that now is not yet the time to buy.

    I must admit that I wish that laziness were possible in the money department, because there are so many other things in life that inherently deserve time than making money, including rewarding but non-lucrative work. After all, isn't money what makes us slaves, and aren't the complaints of some of you like one slave complaining about another slave not working hard enough? But actually most of us are on the same boat, slaves, and the idea is not to complain about each other but to free ourselves. It was not our fault that we were born slaves i.e. not having born in wealthy families.

    Well, it does seem that there is no way around it, to work hard to free myself from being a slave. Do check out that thread for some ideas on investments.

    For those of you who are investment experts, how many of you have found that your investment strategies from reading books such as Graham's Intelligent Investor have worked? And how confident are you that they will keep working? That book has been on my bookshelf for several years, but it is 600 pages long and looks daunting.


  4. #24

    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    Hong Kong
    Posts
    194

    There are so many ways to play gold on the upside with limited risk. Long gold Call options or short some Put spreads, etc. If it continues to explode, it's possible to even enjoy greater returns than simply owning the underlying. Downside up to a certain level receives strike protection.


  5. #25

    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    Back in California (finally!).
    Posts
    2,079
    Quote Originally Posted by zymu:
    There are so many ways to play gold on the upside with limited risk. Long gold Call options or short some Put spreads, etc. If it continues to explode, it's possible to even enjoy greater returns than simply owning the underlying. Downside up to a certain level receives strike protection.
    Normally I'd say, 'sure, go ahead on speculate', but are you seriously suggesting that people go long on gold now when it is trading at historically high levels?

    If you want to gamble your money away try going over to Macau and putting all your money on red; it's simpler, easier, and more fun.

  6. #26

    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    Hong Kong
    Posts
    194
    Quote Originally Posted by Freetrader:
    Normally I'd say, 'sure, go ahead on speculate', but are you seriously suggesting that people go long on gold now when it is trading at historically high levels?

    If you want to gamble your money away try going over to Macau and putting all your money on red; it's simpler, easier, and more fun.

    i don't know if you understand what an option is. maybe you are very new to trading and not too experienced. shorting a put spread is not same as longing the underlying.

    you probably think the only way to participate is to long the underlying, and that is just so naive. you only assume the profit/loss is linear because you don't even have any idea how to allocate risk to shift towards different levels of reward.

    nonetheless, you made a pretty dumb analogy to macau casino. because that's 1:1. you don't have any idea how spreads work.

  7. #27

    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Posts
    4,905

    Gee that sounds like such simple advice to someone who is obviously not well versed in these matter and who doesn't want to allocate much time in her investments...

    Morrison and limepickle like this.

  8. #28

    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Posts
    6,745
    Quote Originally Posted by zymu:
    i don't know if you understand what an option is. maybe you are very new to trading and not too experienced. shorting a put spread is not same as longing the underlying.

    you probably think the only way to participate is to long the underlying, and that is just so naive. you only assume the profit/loss is linear because you don't even have any idea how to allocate risk to shift towards different levels of reward.

    nonetheless, you made a pretty dumb analogy to macau casino. because that's 1:1. you don't have any idea how spreads work.
    what zymu writes actually demonstrates that market participants are not yet devastated enough.
    watch out for such expert talk / signs.
    when it stops then go and buy
    Last edited by Morrison; 13-08-2011 at 07:39 PM.
    luckycat and Freetrader like this.

  9. #29

    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Location
    Hong Kong
    Posts
    23,205
    Quote Originally Posted by zymu:
    i don't know if you understand what an option is. maybe you are very new to trading and not too experienced. shorting a put spread is not same as longing the underlying.

    you probably think the only way to participate is to long the underlying, and that is just so naive. you only assume the profit/loss is linear because you don't even have any idea how to allocate risk to shift towards different levels of reward.

    nonetheless, you made a pretty dumb analogy to macau casino. because that's 1:1. you don't have any idea how spreads work.
    Sounds like a pretty good analogy to me. It's all gambling, however much you dress it up in fancy financial terms.
    luckycat likes this.

  10. #30

    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    Hong Kong
    Posts
    194
    Quote Originally Posted by PDLM:
    Sounds like a pretty good analogy to me. It's all gambling, however much you dress it up in fancy financial terms.
    to a confused person, it might be akin to betting on red or black, but betting on that is 1:1.

    a spread is not 1:1. it's a hedge bet and has many possible outcomes. you are operating under the assumption that the risk-profile is in linear form when it's not.

Closed Thread
Page 3 of 7 FirstFirst 1 2 3 4 5 6 ... LastLast