Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with finance and stockmarket

Financial crisis blog recommendations?

vizsla — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 15:21:38 -0800

Recommend any financial crisis blogs written by people who are following all the relevant indicators, or by people involved in the finance industry, who are trying to make sense of the market and economy?

Difference between the Canadian and American Markets Relative to Their Economies.

Toto_tot — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 13:17:28 -0800

On the Financial crisis: If the Canadian economy is in a stronger state than the American economy then why is the TSX posting larger point and percentage losses than the Dow and Nasdaq? Is it about investor whim or the make-up of each individual index?

Credible returns on investment in virtual world finance?

vizsla — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 21:30:37 -0800

Anybody have experience in investing in virtual world banks/businesses/markets (such as those in SecondLife.com etc)? Do they provide a serious way of making a sensible risk/reward on five or six figure investments? I have found discussion of investing in virtual worlds in this article for example which concludes its very high risk but maybe someone has heard of a viable diversification strategy out there?

Resource for evaluating past stock recommendations?

ibmcginty — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 07:10:23 -0800

Is there anyone (especially online) who's collected reasonably well-informed stock picks from, say, 2, 5, or 15 years ago and explained why the recommendations did or did not work out? Is there a better way to track that stuff down than hunting around for old articles on financial websites? It seems like making the effort to learn from mistakes in the past would help guard against over-optimistic, irrationally exuberant picks today.

Liquidating an estate in the USA... in today's economy. Shouldn't we just wait a while?

Anonymous — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 07:33:00 -0800

How should we handle liquidating assets in an estate in the USA right now? Assets consist primarily of a stock portfolio and a house. My father recently passed away, leaving behind an investment portfolio worth about $650,000 and a house valued at $300,000. This will be split 6 ways; four of the inheritors have expressed a preference to liquidate everything straightaway and wash their hands of it.

Aside from the emotional issues the other 2 inheritors have with rushing into this, we are wondering financially what is the best way to handle this given today's market conditions. My understanding is that housing prices are very low, and we can all see what's happening with the stock market. My first reaction is that now is an extremely bad time to be liquidating any assets from a strictly economical perspective; this view is what I am asking for your feedback on.

None of us are very experienced in financial matters; we plan on searching for a financial advisor next business week, but in the meantime I would appreciate any informed advice about how we can best retain the value of these assets as we decide how to handle the estate.

Specifically:

1) Should we sell the house now and take what we can get, or is it likely that we could get more value from holding on to it for a year or so and possibly trying to rent it in the meantime? I think that there are two factors that would contribute to the house being sold under value: today's market conditions, and the desire on the part of the executor of the will to sell the house as quickly as possible regardless of any loss. At least one of these seems avoidable, but if the market is expected to worsen, it would be an advantage to sell it now. No one plans to live in the house, but there are local family members who have offered to help with its care and administration if needed.

2) Same as above for stocks; I have not yet seen the contents of the portfolio, but am inclined to believe that after the November elections, there is a good chance the economy will be positively affected. We also know that the portfolio consisted of low-risk stocks aimed more at stability and long-term returns. Should we wait and see, for this or any other reasons, or should we cash it in now in case things get even worse?

3) The biggest concern: what happens if the 6 beneficiaries disagree on the questions above? One of the four who wants to eat the whole cake now will have power of attorney by Monday. If the two of us strongly disagree with his opinions on how to handle the assets, what happens?

More important background: the 4 who want to take the money and run are all 40-something homeowners who are married with 2 or 3 kids apiece, have Masters degrees, are stably employed in long-term careers, and generally already have all the security they could ask for as far as I know. We (the other two) are in our early twenties, have bachelor's degrees, are employed but with very modest salaries, and are unmarried. I think these differences are serious and, without being selfish, I feel that given that they have so much more security, our needs for the near future should be prioritized. The people who left this inheritance were there to support them when they were our age, and we no longer have any sort of safety net. Side question: is this incredibly selfish of me? I realize that they are probably looking forward to using their share towards their children's college tuition and their retirement funds, but the fact is that a few thousand dollars lost by liquidating sooner than necessary could mean a lot more to the younger beneficiaries. We are not sure why they want to rush into liquidating everything immediately when none of them have any immediate need for large sums of cash that we know of, and certainly no one was anticipating this to happen now.

Again, we will look for a financial advisor and are going to speak with some attorneys in our local network as well, but appreciate your advice in the meantime.

Is an index fund really a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow?

reenum — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 07:34:08 -0800

InvestingFilter: Is there anything inherently flawed about investing in index funds? I recently opened up a Roth IRA, and have invested in an S&P 500 Index Fund. I'll also be investing in a bond index soon.

I've been reading articles online and books such as 'The Lazy Person's Guide To Investing' by Paul Farrell. These books make it seem that investing in anything but index funds sets you up for a loss long term.

In my opinion, I'm a passive investor. I don't have the inclination to try and pick hot stocks. I'm fine getting a market average return. Farrell's book and some other sources such David Swenson make it seem that investing in anything but an index fund is lunacy. They harp on about load funds and how actively managed funds always underperform the market.

My question is: What's the catch about investing in index funds? It seems to good to be true. You keep putting money in and 30 years later, a nice pile is waiting for your retirement.

Some input from the more financial minded members of the Hive Mind would be much appreciated.

When do we abandon the stock market (for investing)?

raddevon — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 05:28:02 -0800

So, we're in a recession. At what point should we pull our investments out of the stock market? I know we're hearing from the media, analysts, and the powers that be that there is no problem and we will pull out of this. I've also heard the stories about how the same things were being said at the beginning of the great depression. I've got a Roth IRA that is entirely in the stock market. At what point do I move all that money to a safer investment and wait out the turmoil?

I've heard all the claims that this is the best time to invest because everything is cheaper, but I know that is only worthwhile if there is a rebound at some point. I'm not so sure anymore there will be a rebound.

My money is doing nothing more than 80% of the time!

tasty — Sun, 27 May 2007 20:53:06 -0800

Since the stock market is only active from 9:30-4 M-F, (less than 20% of the hours in the week, and even less of the year because of holidays), is it possible to sell at the end of the day and plop the money into a savings account, and then buy again on the beginning of the next day? If not, what prevents this from happening? Is it just fees? Would be an easy way to make an extra 4%/year from interest.

'Ethical' funds?

lindsey.nicole — Sun, 20 May 2007 16:49:26 -0800

How ethical are Ethical Funds? After meeting with an SRI adviser and perusing the literature, I'm not so sure. Recently I got interested in investing my money in something more profitable than a term deposit. I know nada about the stock market, but after reading up on Socially Responsible Investing, positive screening, etc, Ethical Funds seemed like a good fit. So I set up a meeting with an SRI specialist at my credit union to talk it over.

I'd thought SRI meant investing in only 'good' companies (told you I was new to this). Through the meeting I found out certain businesses I find rather reprehensible - and make a point of not frequenting - are on the list for most SRI funds. At least, that's how I understood it.

My adviser was pretty convincing - stakeholder activism, power to bring about change, and so on - but I'm still doubtful. Yeah, it's great that socially-minded stakeholders convinced Company X to finally produce a sustainability report - but if X still employs sweatshops, busts unions, and in general conducts itself in a way that I don't support, it seems like a moot point. I'm all for changing businesses from the inside, but it seems like any changes accomplished will be concessionary at best.

So I have a few questions. Feel free to answer any or all, in whichever way you see fit:

1) Do the benefits of ethical investing outweigh the negatives?
2) What have your experiences been with Ethical Funds, or related funds (Meritas, etc)?
3) Are there any other options? I know about local, microcredit initiatives, but I'm wondering if there are any super-ethical plans with very rigorous criteria (and whether they make any money at it).
4) How much knowledge/time would it take for me to be able to invest on my own, without a built-in plan? And would this be worthwhile, considering I'd be filtering out a lot of profitable companies? I should clarify that I mean "worthwhile" financially - I'm aware that supporting socially responsible companies is rewarding in non-monetary ways.

Good FREE websites/sources for comprehensive stock market research?

jruckman — Thu, 15 Sep 2005 14:21:35 -0800

What are good FREE websites/sources for comprehensive stock market information and research? I currently use Yahoo! Finance, Big Charts, and QuantumOnline -- but sometimes they don't have all the correct information. I'm looking for alternative, hopefully more thorough options for researching historical prices and corporate actions (splits, dividends, mergers, etc). I'm open to non-free options as well, assuming they are reasonably priced. But of course, not having to spend money is preferred.

stock classification (GICS)

jruckman — Fri, 06 May 2005 08:53:02 -0800

Does anyone know of a website where I can lookup a stock's GICS classification? There is plenty of information out there about GICS itself, but I have't been able to find anywhere I could simply enter a stock's symbol, and find it's classification.

Investing Online

adrober — Tue, 11 May 2004 22:39:53 -0800

I just graduated law school and have received a significant amount of money in graduation gifts. I'd like to "invest" the money in the market but I have no idea how to do that. I'd like to use online investment software that is very intuitive. Any suggestions?