If you had $2k to invest before Jan 20, 2021, what would you invest in?

[Member 34319]

Nothing. Firearms bases are covered. Plowing funds into investments for the next stage in our life. Boring, yes, but the truth.

I'm heading in this direction as well.

 

[awshoot]

4000 packs of top ramen, after certain idiots get done with us I can eat for 4000 days, unless they ban top ramen because it has the word top in it, ya know it suggests it is on top or better than all the other ramen, making all the other ramen feel inferior, left out, not quite good enough, lower class,not as refined and educated as Top ramen. Yea glad I got that off my chest.

Better find the raWOmen brand. Buying the misogynist stuff will get you labeled a nazi, punched, fired, and pilloried on Facebook.

 

[ZigZagZeke]

Edit #3. Lets keep in mind I am talking $2k here. I hope no one thinks that is a retirement fund.

In 2003 I put $7500 into Apple stock. That's not enough money to actually worry about and I felt comfortable plunking it down on the table and spinning the wheel on a company probably headed for bankruptcy. That bought me 500 shares. The stock has split 3 times since then. That 500 shares would now be 500X2X7X4, or 28,000 shares at $130. That's $3.6M.

 

[ZA_Survivalist]

As of today.. here comes full blown gov corruption and socialism. The swamp won..
If your heart desires certain firearms, mags or ammo.. now is probably the time as prices and availability are going to be insane.

 

[American123]

So how did you get into stocks? I guess a better way for me to ask that, is how did you get started? Financial advisor? Robinhood app?

I'm interested because I've been trying to grasp how I want to break into stocks but its all so damn foreign to me.

I decided in March that the stock market had tanked so much that even a complete novice like me could throw some money at it and come out ahead. My 401K leftover from my previous work was sitting at Edward Jones, I decided I could manage my money better than they were and transferred it to a self managed IRA at Vanguard. Especially because my investments sitting there had dipped less than 10% while a lot of the stock market had dipped 70%. I opened a Vanguard brokerage account too so I could play with some investment money that I would get before I turn 59 1/2 which is the earliest you can draw on IRA's.

I used my stock app on my Iphone to look at some stocks like Boeing for example that were $100 a share in March and had previously been over $300.

I wasn't playing with very large sums of money, but for example Boeing hit $230 a share months later and I am sure a lot of people doubled there money minus 30% short term capital gains theft.

Had I been more experience and had more money available to invest. For example, $20K could have become $40K in a matter of months.

I tried to apply some logic to my choices, for example the oil industry and the airline industry were very depressed because the lack of traveling, but I figured as things got better they would pick back up so Boeing and Exxon were relatively safe choices compared to how far down they had dropped already.

I didn't think ahead enough to foresee all these digital tech options would take off in value, but Amazon for example was about $1500 give or take and now it's above $3000.

From my limited experience it's about trying to think ahead of what the masses will be doing. You can also try and predict what the masses will do related to news in the media. Once you do it often you can somewhat see how the market (people) react to various situations and try and buy or sell accordingly.

Long story short - if you start with a little but of money to get a feel for how things work, it won't be dangerous, but then the trick can be not to get overconfident with a little success.

 

[ZigZagZeke]

I decided in March that the stock market had tanked so much that even a complete novice like me could throw some money at it and come out ahead. My 401K leftover from my previous work was sitting at Edward Jones, I decided I could manage my money better than they were and transferred it to a self managed IRA at Vanguard. Especially because my investments sitting there had dipped less than 10% while a lot of the stock market had dipped 70%. I opened a Vanguard brokerage account too so I could play with some investment money that I would get before I turn 59 1/2 which is the earliest you can draw on IRA's.

I used my stock app on my Iphone to look at some stocks like Boeing for example that were $100 a share in March and had previously been over $300.

I wasn't playing with very large sums of money, but for example Boeing hit $230 a share months later and I am sure a lot of people doubled there money minus 30% short term capital gains theft.

Had I been more experience and had more money available to invest. For example, $20K could have become $40K in a matter of months.

I tried to apply some logic to my choices, for example the oil industry and the airline industry were very depressed because the lack of traveling, but I figured as things got better they would pick back up so Boeing and Exxon were relatively safe choices compared to how far down they had dropped already.

I didn't think ahead enough to foresee all these digital tech options would take off in value, but Amazon for example was about $1500 give or take and now it's above $3000.

From my limited experience it's about trying to think ahead of what the masses will be doing. You can also try and predict what the masses will do related to news in the media. Once you do it often you can somewhat see how the market (people) react to various situations and try and buy or sell accordingly.

Long story short - if you start with a little but of money to get a feel for how things work, it won't be dangerous, but then the trick can be not to get overconfident with a little success.

I did precisely the same thing with $7500 in an old 401k from a previous employer. Only difference was I transferred the money to eTrade and bought Apple stock. $7500 turned into several hundred thousand, and over the years since 2003 we have enjoyed a lot of toys and real estate with that money. Had we sat on all of it, instead of taking some off the table every year, we would be looking at $3.6M today. I've been VERY happy with eTrade, BTW.

 

[The Heretic]

If I had everything I needed (I don't) I would probably invest either in stocks, put the $ into my checking account, or pay down my mortgage.

As it is I don't have everything I need, and I have more things I need than $ to buy them. Plus I have family to help financially, so I the most likely thing I will do with any $ that come my way is to put it into my checking account.

If this contract I am trying to get off the ground works out, any I plan to put 25% plus $25K into a self-employed 401K to keep my taxes down as much as possible.

 

[Krinkov]

Id put it towards my next trip when travel ban lifts. I need out.
stocks or mutual funds.
Both have way better return over time than panic buying in a panic market.

 

[American123]

I did precisely the same thing with $7500 in an old 401k from a previous employer. Only difference was I transferred the money to eTrade. $7500 turn into several hundred thousand, and over the years since 2003 we have enjoyed a lot of toys and real estate with that money. Had we sat on all of it, instead of taking some off the table every year, we would be looking at $3.6M today. I've been VERY happy with eTrade, BTW.

Nice, that's what I am hoping to do with mine. I'll have to look at the various options. My brother in law uses Fidelity. Currently I am not sure of what advantages one business has over the other. My main goal was just to be more in charge of my investments and try to maximize the gains compared to the minimal growth I was seeing with paying others to manage it.

 

[Xaevian]

$2k worth of nuts, so I can hand 1 out to anyone that needs it and tell them if they water it, maybe they can grow a pair.

 

[Soli]

Nice, that's what I am hoping to do with mine. I'll have to look at the various options. My brother in law uses Fidelity. Currently I am not sure of what advantages one business has over the other. My main goal was just to be more in charge of my investments and try to maximize the gains compared to the minimal growth I was seeing with paying others to manage it.

May I suggest the Bogleheads site to get a start. It's biased towards Vanguard in that many/most use Vanguard, as well as 'buy and hold' strategies rather than stock picking, but nothing is off the table for discussion. That said, the folks who post are *really* cordial, and over the years I've had a couple of head scratcher questions answered with great advice and links to resources.

Some people segregate their investments - part to vanilla funds/etfs/etc and part to stock picking type things. The egg is not 'all in' on high risk stuff.

Note: your evaluation of risk may not be accurate. Even if lots of people say it is. Up until a few years ago (when it dropped off for I dunno why) I had in my portfolio a position worth exactly zero dollars. I did not purchase it for zero dollars. The memory of "C'mon man! It can't go any lower than THIS!" is still with me.

 

[teflon6string]

Tar and feathers.

 

[Cavedweller]

Disclaimer - I am not a professional investment advisor, nor am I even a particularly successful investor, and this is not financial advice. But for the purposes of discussion:

Since you are not talking about preparing for SHTF, and since you are looking for an investment based on what might increase in value based on current political trends, I would propose the following. I would not be buying anything that I might have to surrender to the government for much less than I paid for it in some bogus buy-back program. Nor would I be buying anything that I might have to pay annual registration fees on in order to legally possess. I would not buy anything that might be illegal to transfer in the future, except to heirs (assuming again that you are talking about potential trade/resale items).

Just because something is banned doesn't mean you will make money on it. The price may go up but it is worthless as an investment if you can't transfer it legally or your potential profits are eaten up by registration fees.

That being said, I think people will want what they can legally possess. If I were looking to invest extra funds in firearms related items, I'd be looking for bargains in quality revolvers and bolt action rifles.

I am not married to this idea. Interested in what others think.

 

[Kindrox]

I am not married to this idea. Interested in what others think.

I appreciate that you actually read what I wrote. Maybe others did too but I didn't intend for folks to think I was looking to invest my retirement. For me, $2k is hobby money.

I have been alive for something like three gun scares. In none of the past ones was I prepared beforehand with items I was ready and willing to sell or trade (things I owned specifically just for trading). As example, I could have done well having a ton of 30 round AR15 mags on September 12, 1994.

The past does not always repeat like the future. There are so many AR15 mags out there now, perhaps they would not significantly increase in trade value for many years (or they may, hard to predict).

Politically, I don't think we are looking at confiscation any time soon. But bans on importation can happen with a signature. Bans on new manufacturing of say high capacity magazines are not hard to envision.

So I was more curious what folks would think would significantly increase in value should we be limited to just what you can purchase today (and is in the political cross hairs).

 

[Knobgoblin]

I appreciate that you actually read what I wrote. Maybe others did too but I didn't intend for folks to think I was looking to invest my retirement. For me, $2k is hobby money.

I have been alive for something like three gun scares. In none of the past ones was I prepared beforehand with items I was ready and willing to sell or trade (things I owned specifically just for trading). As example, I could have done well having a ton of 30 round AR15 mags on September 12, 1994.

The past does not always repeat like the future. There are so many AR15 mags out there now, perhaps they would not significantly increase in trade value for many years (or they may, hard to predict).

Politically, I don't think we are looking at confiscation any time soon. But bans on importation can happen with a signature. Bans on new manufacturing of say high capacity magazines are not hard to envision.

So I was more curious what folks would think would significantly increase in value should we be limited to just what you can purchase today (and is in the political cross hairs).

I like the mags idea.
They are still dirt cheap on CDNN even with everything going on. Ak Ar and pistol mags have not jumped yet, but everything else definitely has. In other words, the ground floor is still open on this particular niche.

 

[Gbirk]

Well, I guess I answered this question this morning when I bought an LWRC IC DIR 15 on impulse. Been wanting to upgrade from the S&W Sport II for a while now, and this was just sitting there calling my name.

 

[Cavedweller]

There are so many AR15 mags out there now, perhaps they would not significantly increase in trade value for many years (or they may, hard to predict).

Bans on new manufacturing of say high capacity magazines are not hard to envision.

I like the mags idea.
They are still dirt cheap on CDNN even with everything going on. Ak Ar and pistol mags have not jumped yet, but everything else definitely has. In other words, the ground floor is still open on this particular niche.

If I'm not mistaken, some of the proposed legislation in Oregon that did not make the ballot last time or was not voted on in the legislature because of the Republican walk-out would have grandfathered currently possessed high cap magazines, but required registration (which generated a lot of discussion since magazines are not serialized - but such practicalities never stopped a democrat. LOL) and banned transfer. So I'd be leary of plunking a lot of money into them if trade/resale is your objective. A lot of this type of legislation is boilerplate and seems to have the same language wherever it pops up. You might want to check into what's been proposed in WA in that regard.

 

[Kindrox]

required registration (which generated a lot of discussion since magazines are not serialized - but such practicalities never stopped a democrat. LOL) and banned transfer.

I have thought of this in terms of where gun legislation could go. I don't think this has passed anywhere else. Has any other state banned existing mags?

 

[Cavedweller]

If memory serves me correctly, the legislation that was proposed on OR was almost identical to a bill that was passed in CT.

 

[Kindrox]

If memory serves me correctly, the legislation that was proposed on OR was almost identical to a bill that was passed in CT.

You are sadly correct

Large Capacity Magazines in Connecticut

giffords.org