This is so depressing
Admire you holding.
I’ve got a horrible habit of value investing in the way in and the way out of any investment.
Always leave way too much on the table.
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Silver and gold are speculation rather than investment. Sure you can make money on the trade but the fact is that neither of them produce anything, they don’t do anything other than exist.
An investment is more like a company that produces chicken for example and they do that well and have various spin off products that people buy and continue to buy and the company thereby makes profit which is distributed to the shareholders.
Does Silver make money, earn anything that gets distributed to you?
Eventually the market will realise this and the price will drop.
P.S. I bought heaps of Inghams chicken a while back with those concepts in mind, beef was getting more expensive, cost of living is farked, demand for chicken going up. No brainer except for the fact that Woolies dumped their $300M contract and the price went down 25%
Investing is difficult. I decided to put a large amount in the hands of my super fund who have returned me 180% over 10 years. I’m not that good and now that I qualify those returns are tax free.
I’m so glad I checked blitz tonight.
I had such a ■■■■■■ day.
Then I read this and a few other posts and now I feel much better. Thank you.
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Sorry @bricky – I claim only a little bit more than dumb luck.
It’s many magnitudes below getting-into-Bitcoin-at-the-start.
That immediate ~10% drop-off after I first purchased silver made me feel stupid. The second purchase was much smaller, and bit contrary-minded.
Because they’ve both gone silly, I haven’t really had to think about whether to put more in.
Remember that the gold purchase was made when bonds/cash were returning nothing, and if I retire somewhat before 60 (i.e. without Immediate access to superannuation), the idea of having a large chunk of bonds/cash as ballast was ugly.
Now, of course, those two are actually returning something.
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Me too.
Example: EFC
Worse, I can’t exit this investment
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I currently don’t have concentration abilities to answer appropriately.
But I will try.
No one should be proud of buying silver at $US40 or even at $US30 or even at $US15.
Silver has been the second oldest currency for more than 2000 years.
And this time it is different. Now it’s also the best electrical conductor on Earth. For weapons and a host of ■■■■.
We also now have every western government printing money out of thin air and or doing QE for whatever dumb ■■■■.
Am I buyer of silver at US$103? No!
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Like that time in 1980 when I bought a roland stereo amplifier which I still have? It’s not worth any more despite the fact that it’s better than most. This time is not different.
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You’re a good man hambo. Go Dons!
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The only guaranteed way to make money on the stock market is to buy companies that produce goods at a decent profit. Buy those companies shares at a low point. Those companies will distribute those profits to you and over the long term you will benefit without having to do a thing other than waiting.
I’m not a “Golden Butterfly” or “All Weather” portfolio spruiker, but at this specific time for me I wanted something that zigged when others zagged.
As gold and USD often move in opposite directions it’s a bit less dramatic a holding from an Australian point-of-view.
I purchased about 3% of my holdings (call it 4% back when I grabbed the gold) and now it’s pushing close to 10%. I certainly don’t feel the need to buy more, and do not hold a strong opinion on whether “this time is different”.
Almost every time someone says “this time is different” they are wrong. History may not repeat, but it rhymes.
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Congrats?
Because I sensed geopolitical risks were rising and sharemarkets were at ATH’s and felt moving into gold / silver was a sensible thing. A small contribution mind you. I’m not a billionaire on this I can assure you. Basically a little dabble for fun. A bit of a fluke too.
I’m actually waiting for (hoping) for the next decent correction in stock markets so I can jump back in and try and capitalise on good entries again. Until then I’m sitting on my hands a bit. Not advice. DYOR and that’s stuff.
it’s pseudo-religious to follow the word of any appointed guru(s).
I agree crypto and blockchain are interesting, even fascinating as to what their uses could be. but at this stage, crypto is a risky investment which is difficult to value or predict.
many investors especially those who can’t absorb the high volatility, or who are scammed, or where the tech lets them down, are losing money on crypto.
some others are making huge gains, especially those gaming the system.
if the world economy is heading towards major disruption and collapse, and it is but it’s difficult to forecast when and how quickly it collapses, food, the ability to grow it and independence/self-sufficiency not gold and crypto are the critical assets to own. Unfortunately though, together with the military power to steal other people’s.
Initial query is why are you actually after individual US stocks, which seems a poor start for a beginner investor (unless you are saying the beginning bit only refers to direct international trading).
IBKR (Interactive Brokers) is usually quoted as the cheapest/best – most (all?) of the others screw you over with the conversion from AUD to USD and then back from USD to AUD.
(no personal experience)
If you need one, I have a few in the draw, only slightly used.
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Whilst not on topic atm, I have been reading about the convoluted TikTok deal.
IMO, its promoted as same same, but it will be different.
Why?
The joint-venture agreement with new investors creates an independent US arm of TikTok – TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC. USDS stands for US Data Security Inc. Under the agreement, the new entity will separately secure and store US user data in line with US cybersecurity laws. “The majority American owned Joint Venture will operate under defined safeguards that protect national security through comprehensive data protections, algorithm security, content moderation, and software assurances for US users,” TikTok’s statement read.
The TikTok statement added that the US division’s algorithm will be “retrained” on US user data. The company also said US creators will remain discoverable on a global scale.
OK, nice motherhood statements but Byte Dance will still own 19.9% of the new US entity.
1. First issue. This is contrary to Biden-era law that specified that TikTok US cut ties with the company. In fact TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew remains on the board and Byte Dance has the biggest shareholding
The US entity will safeguard US content “through robust trust and safety policies and content moderation while ensuring continuous accountability through transparency reporting and third-party certifications,” it added.
2. Second issue: Content moderation, yes but according to who? What if Trump moves onto this platform, and continues to lie about everything, and make inappropriate posts, will he be subject to content moderation? What if a journalist is killed by foreign government; which also has a shareholding in TikTok. Will posts detailing this event be ‘suddenly’ subject to content moderation and removed?
The TikTok statement added that the US division’s algorithm will be “retrained” on US user data.
3. Third issue: “retrained” is so vague; whatever does it really mean…maybe it means the endless promotion of an investors products, services, opinions etc with no counter view allowed
The remaining ownership comprises three investor companies each hold a 15 percent stake:
- Silver Lake – A US private equity firm focused on tech investments and with branches in London, Hong Kong and Singapore. It is chaired by Kenneth Hao. Egon Durban, a co-executive, is on the TikTok US board.
- Oracle – The cloud computing company that has been storing TikTok US data since 2022. It is chaired by billionaire Larry Ellison, a longtime ally of Trump.
- MGX – The UAE -owned investment firm specialising in artificial intelligence (AI) technology, which is chaired by the country’s national security adviser, Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan
4. Fourth Issue: If one non US 15% shareholder makes a takeover offer for another, Tik Tok is no longer majority owned. Of course, they may be ordered to divest TikTok. However, there are so many ways you can effectively control another company without making a full takeover offer…
There are eight other investors, including:
- Dell Family Office, owned by Michael Dell, founder of Dell Technologies and a Trump ally
- Vastmere Strategic Investments, an affiliate of Susquehanna International Group, founded by Trump ally Jeff Yass
- Alpha Wave, a global investment company
- Revolution, owned by Steve Case, founder of AOL
- Merritt Way, managed and controlled by San Francisco-based investment firm Dragoneer
- Via Nova
- Virgo Li Inc
- NJJ Capital
This whole deal is very convoluted. It could work for a while, but IMO, it looks destined to fail, particularly if the US fiddle too much with the algorithms and content.
Also, nothing is a zero sum game for President Cankles and this Tik Tok deal. If he isn’t a part of the deal, his shareholding may be held in trust or he will be getting big favours of some sort.
I saw a screenshot of a single word post “Epstein” being blocked from sending by TikTok.
Makes you think…
Bit more info on the convoluted Tik Tok deal from The Economist
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ByteDance (reportedly) will lease its algorithm in return for ongoing payments of around 20% of the American entity’s revenue (gross revenue I assume)
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A ByteDance-owned unit will continue to manage the American company’s ad business, its e-commerce arm and “global product interoperability”…implying close links between the two apps.
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Advertisers have been told that they will be able to buy spots across TikTok globally, via a single platform.
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The buyers will pay about $14bn for TikTok’s American business, the vice-president, J.D. Vance, said in September. If true, it is a steal: equal to roughly one year of TikTok’s American ad revenue, estimates eMarketer, a research firm. The deep discount may partly reflect the ongoing lease payments to ByteDance.
The Economist: All this would fly in the face of the law’s requirement that TikTok be cut off from any “operational relationship” with ByteDance. ByteDance may not own the car, but it will still own the engine, sums up one analyst.