(Sorry off topic) Investing in the stock market including the railroads

[Junctionfan]

I want to start off my apologizing for starting this rather off topic thread but a lot of you guys know the market much better then I do.

Including the railroads, which other companies are a good investment and which stock exchange?

I am looking for stocks that will guarentee a good return within 5 years so I and my own family, can move into a house and live comfortable. Anything relatively safe?

[Anonymous]

As an amateur I'm not allowed to give advice, so please don't construe anything I and others might say as being standoffish. It's more a matter of ethics and securities law.

Having said that, I benefited greatly from a little book by finance writer Andrew Tobias called THE ONLY (other) INVESTMENT GUIDE YOU'LL EVER NEED. This book will help you learn for yourself and protect you from the worst excesses of the market, or at least try to.

You might also want to Google the varous Class I's url's. Practically all of them have the 2004 Annual Report on .pdf for easy downloading. Remember, though, that these documents are by nature biased.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Junctionfan

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I am looking for stocks that will guarentee a good return within 5 years

JFan, hate to break the news to you, but there ain't none! Greater return = greater risk, and there is no getting around that.

I trade the market everyday and do pretty well, but I trade Options and that can be a fairly high-risk endeavor (major understatement there!)

This is a pretty good site for Market education:

http://clearstation.etrade.com/

Ted

[88gta350]

There isno garauntee,but Exelon Corp. has been a great investment over the last several years,providing good dividends and great stock performance. And it only looks to continue. There symbol is EXC. For disclosure, I own Exelon stock.

[Junctionfan]

What about CN? If I'm not mistaken, CN is also on the NYSE as well as the TSE; which stock market handles it better?

Also, where is CSX, NS, KCS and BNSF in the stock market. I tried to find them using the Financial Post and was unsuccessful.

[88gta350]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Junctionfan

What about CN? If I'm not mistaken, CN is also on the NYSE as well as the TSE; which stock market handles it better?

Also, where is CSX, NS, KCS and BNSF in the stock market. I tried to find them using the Financial Post and was unsuccessful.

Norfolk Southern is "NSC" on the NYSE. CSX is "CSX" on the NYSE. KCS is "KSU" on the NYSE. BNSF is "BNI" on the NYSE. All 4 stocks have done very well in the last year, although CSX has been flat compared to the others. NS had a rough spring but has done well this summer. CN is "CNI" on the NYSE and has also done well over the last year.

[Junctionfan]

Wasn't there anybody on the Nasdaq?

Which railroad/s do particularly well during the seasons like Christmas holidays.

Off the railroads, generally speaking when I was building stocks up in school as a class project, I did unusually well. As a rule, use commonsense. During the certain holidays, corporations like Cadbury, Toys R Us, Mattel, hotel chains (Valentines day), things like that are a no brainer usually provided you are aware of consumer reports and commercials that you believe to be psychologically compelling.

Also, I think I was the only one to not invest in Bre X because it sounded too good to be true plus lack of evidence and consistancy in the vague reports that were givin.

Of course, pure luck out of ignorance helped too. I invested in Google, Amazon.com, Walt Disney and WWF now WWE just because it seemed like a good idea at the time and worked out.

[Anonymous]

The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham has been a must read for over 50 years. It explains the enduring truths of investing and doesn’t indulge in fads found in most investing books.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0060555661/qid=1128108490/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-7633453-0801724?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

There was a contest between reputable stock pickers and throwing darts at the NYSE listings on a newspaper page. Stocks the darts landed on outperformed the expert picks and indexes like the combined average of the S&P 500 outperform most individual picks.

About five years ago I invested in a company I knew well enough to have confidence that it wouldn’t go south. My reasons for thinking it would go up were wrong but then they brought out a new product and the stock shot up. So with a little skill and a lot of luck I did well.

Knowledge of investing, specific industries, and companies helps you avoid losers but you still can’t predict the future.

[Junctionfan]

Has anybody else had good returns from Imperial Oil? Oddly enough, despite it being a company of that type, it made me the most money 5 years ago (Toronto Star contest) however Mackenzie Financial lost me the most money. Definately a learning experience not to listen to my stupid teacher who advised me to spend little in Imperial Oil and more into a financial institution I had know idea was too volitile to gain enough money during the duration of that contest.

[MP173]

Nothing is guaranteed, except US Government bonds. They are pretty much risk free. Their returns are very low due to the very safe nature of the bonds.

I would suggest that you go to Morningstar's web site morningstar.com. It is an excellent personal finance site. Their premium site costs about $100 per year and is well worth it.

Personal finance is a hobby just as railroads are. You will find very passionate and very similar types of discussions over there. Many folks are very passionate and emotional about index funds (Vanguard) while others slice and dice.

I would strongly suggest that you invest time in yourself and learn what you can about personal finance. As far as jumping into the stock market with one stock....be very careful. Understand the concept of risk and how it applies to you. Risk is not a bad thing. It enables one to exceed the current 5% returns of the government bonds.

Another great source is the Bob Brinker syndicated radio program on weekends on the radio. You can go to his website and find a local station. Bob has a Market Timer newsletter he hawks, but other than that...he does not try to sell you anything. He is very, very good.

Best of luck to you.

ed

[garr]

Jfan,

Just my 2 cents, but I have alway followed the old rule that money invested for a short term goal (under 7 years) should not be in the stock market.

Jay

[Junctionfan]

I appreciate all your advice. I'm glad to hear your comments.

[88gta350]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Junctionfan

Wasn't there anybody on the Nasdaq?

Which railroad/s do particularly well during the seasons like Christmas holidays.

Off the railroads, generally speaking when I was building stocks up in school as a class project, I did unusually well. As a rule, use commonsense. During the certain holidays, corporations like Cadbury, Toys R Us, Mattel, hotel chains (Valentines day), things like that are a no brainer usually provided you are aware of consumer reports and commercials that you believe to be psychologically compelling.

Also, I think I was the only one to not invest in Bre X because it sounded too good to be true plus lack of evidence and consistancy in the vague reports that were givin.

Of course, pure luck out of ignorance helped too. I invested in Google, Amazon.com, Walt Disney and WWF now WWE just because it seemed like a good idea at the time and worked out.

None were listed as being on the NASDAQ, they're all probably too old to be listed there. The NASDAQ is tech heavy, anyway.

As for what railroad does well around christmas... going back 5 years on each stock above and UP ("UNP") some trends do seem to occur. Of course stock price has far more to do with finanicial strength at the moment than time of year, but looking at the past 5 years for each railroad:

NS seems to get spikes in the January-March time frame.
KSC does well in the late spring (March-June)
CSX showed jumps in the May-July and November-January time frames.
CP also liked November-January.
BN and UP showed no real pattern to their stock prices.

I stress again that there are no seasonal garauntees of stock gains or losses due to time of year. I can't be responsible if you lose all your money this winter.

[Anonymous]

Buy CN, adopt Hunter Harrison Andrew...FOFLMAO. You'll make money, but what of your precious socialism???

LC

[Anonymous]

I also like Ben Graham's THE INTELLIGENT INVESTOR (so does Andrew Tobias, too).

[Anonymous]

Well, I make my living in insurance and investments. I recently jettisoned my property and casualty business, but the investment side is alive and well. I cannot give on line advise. Feel free to contact me off list. My email address is shown below.

[e-mail]

[fuzzybroken]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Junctionfan

I want to start off my apologizing for starting this rather off topic thread but a lot of you guys know the market much better then I do.

Including the railroads, which other companies are a good investment and which stock exchange?

I am looking for stocks that will guarentee a good return within 5 years so I and my own family, can move into a house and live comfortable. Anything relatively safe?

I've owned mutual funds for several years now, and couldn't be happier. Nothing's guaranteed, but a mutual fund enables you to own a whole bunch of stocks at one time with a small amount of dollars, with small expenses. There's usually railroad stock in most major mutual funds, and an annual report can tell you what they have owned in the past year.