TSP Center

crondanet5 wrote:Have you come to the realization that the TSP Program does not give you the best avenue to create retirement wealth and thus you have a brokerage account? If yes, I would like to bounce my investment program off you. So far this year Fidelity says I am up +20%. Not satisfied with that, working on it. Do you have a brokerage account?

cswift01 wrote:You're doing better than I am, but then again I'm new to the game. I'm also with Fidelity (I really like some of their ETFs and the free ADR reinvestments. I really wish, however, that they offered more index fund options. Even if their fees are lower than Vanguard (for the most part) with the indexes, I think they could offer more options. Oh well, still a great company.

I do not have a brokerage account. However, I do have about 20% of my retirement saving ina roll-over IRA with Vanguard. I like being able to move money in/out of any individaul fund incrementally, to cost average if desired. I don't mind the prohibition against reinvesting in a fund you've just sold in full or part, as there is usually another one which follows a similar trend.

Vanguard is a waste. You can't make daily trades in it. To get rich you need to get out of the set and forget investing and take charge of your account. Find a stock with good Beta and buy and sell it. Right now I use AMD. Fidelity says I'm up ytd 20%. Is there a Fantasy Gamer who can say that about their Fantasy Account?

Think outside the box. Think a thousand shares trade every day. I do. And in actual investment terms, that's chump trades. Mt mentor buys and sells a million dollars in stock trades a day. I'll never get there, but a hundred dollar daily gain means $2,000 increase in the account a month and my money is under the mattress every night. Everyone with me on this? Think outside the box, like imagining infinity is a circle that comes back to zero. Or it is a series of diamonds all attached to zero. Think how you can make your non-TSP Account grow. Good luck to all.

Vanguard has helped a lot of people who are not as informed as you nor inclined to be a day trader. They run a good business with some of the cheapest funds in the market. I would not say they are a waste. I hope you make all the money in the world. Good luck.

Vanguard is not a waste. I have been a Vanguard investor since 2013 and have made good money with them. And as John316 pointed out, they have some of the best expense ratios in the business.

My mutual fund (VFIAX) has earned 5.88% YTD, 17.13% 1-year and 13.26 3-year.

Some of my Vanguard ETF's are VBR, 22.95% 1-year, VV, 17.37% 1-year.

My overall rate of return with Vanguard since early 2013 is 10.6%.

Vanguard is a great outside investment in my opinion. I opened the account when I started contributing my maximum TSP regular and catch up contributions as a way to keep my money working. I basically have not allowed myself a take home salary increase in 4 years as I invest every pay raise I get back into my portfolio.

Cron, do you also trade ETFs? I got clobbered in a few bad stock trades, but had a few really good trades too. I like to focus on sector ETFs because they spread out the risk since they comprise a basket of stocks, but trade like a stock. And with all the day traders and high speed trading algorithms, I feel like I'm at a huge disadvantage.

I don't care for ETFs because they spread out the risk and that means your money does not make as much return if you invested in one stock. I also got hurt by VIX when it reverse split and I was the only one all Wall Street unaware it was going to happen.

Using Nasdaq.com, I study stocks to find those that drop between 0900-1000 and then rise. If they normally rise at least 10 cents and I sell, I'm done for the day and work on other things. If not, I compare what the stock is doing on the 5 day chart, the one month chart and so on to determine if it would be wise to exit the stock or do I hold it longer.

One thing I would explain is my account transacts stocks that I have the money to buy and sell that stock for four business days (a thousand shares a day) and then the first day's sale has settled and I can buy the stock again on day 5. I was using AMD. There is chatter chips need a drop so I am considering using MEET or ETSY in place of AMD.

It's a very conservative approach to investing. The goal is to be out of the stock with a hundred dollar gain that day so anything that happens overnight does not reduce your account balance.

crondanet5 wrote:I don't care for ETFs because they spread out the risk and that means your money does not make as much return if you invested in one stock. I also got hurt by VIX when it reverse split and I was the only one all Wall Street unaware it was going to happen.

Using Nasdaq.com, I study stocks to find those that drop between 0900-1000 and then rise. If they normally rise at least 10 cents and I sell, I'm done for the day and work on other things. If not, I compare what the stock is doing on the 5 day chart, the one month chart and so on to determine if it would be wise to exit the stock or do I hold it longer.

One thing I would explain is my account transacts stocks that I have the money to buy and sell that stock for four business days (a thousand shares a day) and then the first day's sale has settled and I can buy the stock again on day 5. I was using AMD. There is chatter chips need a drop so I am considering using MEET or ETSY in place of AMD.

It's a very conservative approach to investing. The goal is to be out of the stock with a hundred dollar gain that day so anything that happens overnight does not reduce your account balance.

What are your capital gains?

I'm doing this in a rollover IRA. I don't follow the capital gains because there is no capital gain tax on it.

crondanet5 wrote:I'm doing this in a rollover IRA. I don't follow the capital gains because there is no capital gain tax on it.

I've indentified some stocks i like too. Unfortunately im waiting for the earnings season, but then I'll do something similar.

Me

May the transactions be with you.

Hey Cron, congrats on 20% YTD. I am sure that your creative strategy is the reason for it, because AMD has only returned 28% YTD. You have buy and hold beat by a mile.

crondanet5 wrote:May the transactions be with you.

Ha! Same here although my Roth is quite small so my playing room is more narrow.

Best

Me

Consider trading WTI. Buy at $2.66, sell at $2.83. See how your Roth grows. Study WTI on Nasdaq.com, the 5 day and the 1 month. You can see how it oscillates.

crondanet5 wrote:Consider trading WTI. Buy at $2.66, sell at $2.83. See how your Roth grows. Study WTI on Nasdaq.com, the 5 day and the 1 month. You can see how it oscillates.

Cron, day trades cost a lot of money on commission. Not everyone here are working full-time and be able to trade like you.

Consider selling PUT spread (5 points) to collect credit anywhere from 25% to +100% on the margin. So most of the risk are from $250 to $400 per contract (100 shares) or $2,500 to $4,000 for 1,000 shares on any solid company. It took about 5 minutes to 30 minutes per week to place all the trades.

This is the actual returned from 1 to 3 months on PUT CREDIT SPREAD expired on 03/17/2017

Position Return %

AZO 48.15
MO 38.89
DPZ 35.14
VNQ 33.69
BWLD 31.58

Winner, I sell puts as well, but a little more conservatively than you I think. I'll sell puts on the general indexes and on individual stocks I wish to purchase. For instance, if I want to own KO at 35 dollars, I'll sell puts at 35 dollars. If the price goes to 35 dollars, I'll just buy the stock since I wanted to buy the stock at 35 dollars in the first place.