Who has made money this year from their investments?

BradMajors · Post by **BradMajors** » Wed Dec 31, 2008 11:15 am

Who has made money from their investments this year and how did you do it?

I suppose a lot of market timers will respond, but my intention is to find if it was possible to have been fully invested and to have made money. While I have lost a huge amount of money this year my largest holding is an individual stock which has appreciated 20% this year.

bozo · Post by **bozo** » Wed Dec 31, 2008 12:28 pm

If you take your "investments" as a bunch of chunks, you can always register a gain (or a loss), depending on whichever "chunk" you consider.

OK, My fixed investments in the CD pool were great. My mother's fixed investments in her CD pool were less great. Our real estate was so-so, California was down, Maui less so. Balanced funds were crappy, unbalanced funds were more crappy.

The best deal I put together was the IRA CD ladder over two years ago. Yields 5.45% as of now. Goes out ten years. Nice.

Bozo

So, I guess the answer to the question "who has made money" depends on how you count.

Ron · Post by **Ron** » Wed Dec 31, 2008 12:40 pm

BradMajors wrote:Who has made money from their investments this year and how did you do it?

For me, the real question is did you loose any money that affected your lifestyle?

In my case, being retired and not on SS, my retirement portfolio "carries the load".

Did I sell last year (2007 - to reap profits and add to my cash for retirement income?) - Yes.

Did I sell this year (2008 - to reap profits and add to my cash for retirement income?) - No.

So for a year on year view (as it affects your personal life) did 2008 make a difference?

No :lol:

Just another view....

- Ron

chaz · Post by **chaz** » Wed Dec 31, 2008 12:56 pm

From the title, I thought this was a humorous post.

Dan Kohn · Post by **Dan Kohn** » Wed Dec 31, 2008 1:09 pm

I'm happy to tell you how to have made money in 2008. On January 1, 2008 simply have put all of your money into Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (NYSE:EBS). You would have made over a 400% return, the highest of all stocks (even higher than an ultra bear ETF).

Now, picking a winning investment for 2009 is quite a bit more difficult. If you ask me in a year, I'll be happy to tell you. In the meantime, I would instead recommend a well-diversified asset allocation of stocks and bonds, held through low-cost index funds.

G12 · Post by **G12** » Wed Dec 31, 2008 1:10 pm

I made some money on a few singular holdings, but it made no dent in the overall portfolio loss. Just glad the loss has declined from a high of 34% to 25% at year end. The dividends keep rolling in.

Happy New Year.

DiscoBunny1979 · Post by **DiscoBunny1979** » Wed Dec 31, 2008 1:39 pm

In terms of gains versus losses that I have to report to the IRS, I made a gain in COP this year by selling at about $94. I had dripped the stock for 2 years and sold at the top. Total overall gain for the stock was 26%.

My losses are paper losses in my ROTH and since I can't deduct or report those "losses" they really aren't realized losses. Therefore, the question for this thread becomes who has over-all realized gains for this year. In that case, I do from my individual stock sale.

AttilaTheHun · Post by **AttilaTheHun** » Wed Dec 31, 2008 3:53 pm

I'm proud to say that all of my investments made positive returns in 2008 (except for equity and fixed income components).

neoattila

DavidA · Post by **DavidA** » Wed Dec 31, 2008 10:20 pm

The only place I made money this year: TIAA Traditional (in my 403B); Prime Money Market funds (2.7%); and my I-bonds (thanks Mel). Equity and bond funds all down

pwesben · Post by **pwesben** » Wed Dec 31, 2008 11:08 pm

Any positives in this year I owe to my wife. She is not an investor type. However in Spring of 2007, she said, " THIS IS CRAZY--GET OUT OF THE MARKET" In Nov 2007 I finally listened to her to the tune of 35% of my portfolio which went to Vang Intermed Treasuries (VFIUX).

AND, of course, this was the only positive in my portfolio.

Thank you, Dear.

Paul

cato · Post by **cato** » Thu Jan 01, 2009 12:21 am

Not me, but my brother-in-law scored a major windfall when his high-tech company was bought by a Fortune 500 company in Fall '07.

He completely disregarded all my advice to get in index funds and hold for the long haul at S&P levels of 1200, 1100, 1000, 900, and 800. Instead he put all his money in CDs -- $100k at each FDIC insured bank.

So he has proven the time-worn rule: Never, EVER, take investment advice from your brother-in-law!!

seugene · Post by **seugene** » Thu Jan 01, 2009 10:33 am

BradMajors wrote:Who has made money from their investments this year?

Bernie Madoff

BradMajors wrote:... and how did you do it?

Made off with other people's money.

ronr · Post by **ronr** » Thu Jan 01, 2009 2:42 pm

BradMajors wrote:Who has made money from their investments this year and how did you do it?

It's always possible to have made money over one year in some portion of one's investment portfolio. For example, my Volkswagon ADR's were up 53% for the year. My stock portfolios were still down 47% for the year, though.

But one years performance, whether positive or negative, is not particularly relevant in evaluating an investment strategy. My Long-term Cumulative Annualized Total Returns 1995 to 2008 are 7.5% ±19.8% That's about 5% better than inflation over that time period, using the BLS CPI calculator at http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl

dumbmoney · Post by **dumbmoney** » Thu Jan 01, 2009 4:56 pm

Dan Kohn wrote:I'm happy to tell you how to have made money in 2008. On January 1, 2008 simply have put all of your money into Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (NYSE:EBS). You would have made over a 400% return, the highest of all stocks (even higher than an ultra bear ETF).

This was clear to sensible investors who employ the Templeton-Buffett Moving Average to time entry points into obviously undervalued securities with a large margin of safety.

Trev H · Post by **Trev H** » Thu Jan 01, 2009 5:18 pm

.
My Emergency Fund - Prime Money Market made a bit of profit this year.

That is about it.

But then again, I am not investing for this year - about 17 more to go.

I did buy 100% Equity all year this year, and at super low prices, expecting that to pay off in the future nicely.

And I do own 230 acres of Timber Land here in Tennessee and several hundred thousand Oak Trees put on another 1/2" or so in in girth

Not sure how to calculate the exact gains there.

Happy New Year !

Trev H

Dan Kohn · Post by **Dan Kohn** » Thu Jan 01, 2009 8:33 pm

dumbmoney wrote:
Dan Kohn wrote:I'm happy to tell you how to have made money in 2008. On January 1, 2008 simply have put all of your money into Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (NYSE:EBS). You would have made over a 400% return, the highest of all stocks (even higher than an ultra bear ETF).
This was clear to sensible investors who employ the Templeton-Buffett Moving Average to time entry points into obviously undervalued securities with a large margin of safety.

And if you ask me on December 31, 2009, I'll be happy to tell you the best way to have made money this year. You don't even need to pay for my newsletter.

markh · Post by **markh** » Fri Jan 02, 2009 2:11 am

Paul, why are you thanking your wife for locking in losses?

mark

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Who has made money this year from their investments?

Who has made money this year from their investments?

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