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Item One: LJ Emails
Anyone else missing notification emails from LJ? I got a couple of comments yesterday, but never got the notifications. (If you replied to one of my comments in another journal yesterday, I didn't get that notification, either. I've glanced through recent posts, but I still might have missed something.)
There are, as I see it, two possibilities. Either the emails were never sent (because of some issue with LJ's server yesterday) or they were sent but never arrived. If it's the former, it's no big deal. A momentary blip, which did no real harm, and then things (if they haven't already) will return to normal. If it's the latter, though... it's probably another case of one of my email providers deciding to blacklist a friendly sender without telling me. (Comcast has been the worst in that respect, but AIM has done it before and I've had another email provider block LJ's server and then refuse to unblock them.)
If you have a sec, please comment to let me know whether or not you're missing any emails from LJ. If you are, then it's probably a server issue which will be fixed (if it hasn't already). If you're not, then it's probably an issue with AIM mail, and I'll have to see what I can do with them. Also, when you comment, I'll be able to see whether or not I get a notification.
Item Two: Investing
As you no doubt know, the market is down. Way down. What you may or may not have realized is that now is an excellent time to buy stock. Buy low, sell high. It's the most basic principle of investing. They're talking about this as a once-in-a-century collapse... which means it's the opportunity of a lifetime to buy while everything is cheap. Now. Before things stabilize and start to recover. (Which I'm sure they will, even if they do so gradually.) If you've got some spare cash (even a little) and at least a few years before you need to use it, now is quite likely the best chance you will ever see to put yourself in a position to get a big return.
Of course, you have to know what to invest in. And here I regretfully inform you of a fund which is down now but (I believe) likely to do rather well during a recession. I've mentioned it before, though it's been a little while. It's the Vice Fund (Ticker: VICEX).
The fund was set up as a joke of sorts. A counter to the socially responsible investment movement. A parody. Socially responsible funds filter out what they consider to be morally objectionable companies before looking at where to invest. Some of them actively seek to put their money into good causes (green energy, for example). Many of them do rather poorly because of this. The Vice Fund is set up to do exactly the opposite. They invest primarily in companies whose business includes alcohol, tobacco, gambling, and/or weapons manufacture. So far, this is the first year that they've posted a loss, but, like I said, I expect they'll do well once things stabilize.
I thought of it because I was trying to come up with ideas for recession-proof investments. I thought of Kraft Foods, which seems like it would do rather well in these economic conditions. But Kraft is owned by Phillip Morris, a company which gets a significant portion of its revenue from selling cigarettes. Not something I personally prefer to invest in. But, as it happens, Phillip Morris is the top holding of the Vice Fund.
Something to consider, if you don't mind investing in such things. (I don't blame you if you do. I just personally choose not to.)
One company I am investing in is AES (Ticker: AES), a power supply company. They sell energy to a variety of utilities and such. And they have an active program to promote green energy. Which will hopefully be a growing industry.
Dad suggested investing in banks and investment companies... they're down now, but they'll be needed once the dust settles.
Otherwise... I'm looking into more general things like mid-cap growth funds and such. You can decide for yourself what seems most wise. The Dodge & Cox Balanced Fund (Ticker: DODBX) has historically done rather well and has a very good mix of domestic and international stocks, bonds, and other holdings. Actually, when another investment company gave me a free analysis of my holdings and where I should be investing (in the hopes that I would buy more of their funds), the distribution they ended up suggesting for me turned out to be almost exactly what the managers of the Dodge & Cox Balanced Fund had chosen. The fund was closed to new investors for some time (they did so well that they found themselves with more money than they could manage), but reopened this past February.
So, those are my thoughts. I'm not telling you that this is what you should be doing. I'm not an expert or a professional or anything. But I thought it might be worth bringing some things to your attention which you might otherwise have not known about or considered. (Mostly, I was thinking of the Vice Fund, but, as usual, ended up rambling on for longer than expected.) Take it for whatever you think it's worth.
Anyone else missing notification emails from LJ? I got a couple of comments yesterday, but never got the notifications. (If you replied to one of my comments in another journal yesterday, I didn't get that notification, either. I've glanced through recent posts, but I still might have missed something.)
There are, as I see it, two possibilities. Either the emails were never sent (because of some issue with LJ's server yesterday) or they were sent but never arrived. If it's the former, it's no big deal. A momentary blip, which did no real harm, and then things (if they haven't already) will return to normal. If it's the latter, though... it's probably another case of one of my email providers deciding to blacklist a friendly sender without telling me. (Comcast has been the worst in that respect, but AIM has done it before and I've had another email provider block LJ's server and then refuse to unblock them.)
If you have a sec, please comment to let me know whether or not you're missing any emails from LJ. If you are, then it's probably a server issue which will be fixed (if it hasn't already). If you're not, then it's probably an issue with AIM mail, and I'll have to see what I can do with them. Also, when you comment, I'll be able to see whether or not I get a notification.
Item Two: Investing
As you no doubt know, the market is down. Way down. What you may or may not have realized is that now is an excellent time to buy stock. Buy low, sell high. It's the most basic principle of investing. They're talking about this as a once-in-a-century collapse... which means it's the opportunity of a lifetime to buy while everything is cheap. Now. Before things stabilize and start to recover. (Which I'm sure they will, even if they do so gradually.) If you've got some spare cash (even a little) and at least a few years before you need to use it, now is quite likely the best chance you will ever see to put yourself in a position to get a big return.
Of course, you have to know what to invest in. And here I regretfully inform you of a fund which is down now but (I believe) likely to do rather well during a recession. I've mentioned it before, though it's been a little while. It's the Vice Fund (Ticker: VICEX).
The fund was set up as a joke of sorts. A counter to the socially responsible investment movement. A parody. Socially responsible funds filter out what they consider to be morally objectionable companies before looking at where to invest. Some of them actively seek to put their money into good causes (green energy, for example). Many of them do rather poorly because of this. The Vice Fund is set up to do exactly the opposite. They invest primarily in companies whose business includes alcohol, tobacco, gambling, and/or weapons manufacture. So far, this is the first year that they've posted a loss, but, like I said, I expect they'll do well once things stabilize.
I thought of it because I was trying to come up with ideas for recession-proof investments. I thought of Kraft Foods, which seems like it would do rather well in these economic conditions. But Kraft is owned by Phillip Morris, a company which gets a significant portion of its revenue from selling cigarettes. Not something I personally prefer to invest in. But, as it happens, Phillip Morris is the top holding of the Vice Fund.
Something to consider, if you don't mind investing in such things. (I don't blame you if you do. I just personally choose not to.)
One company I am investing in is AES (Ticker: AES), a power supply company. They sell energy to a variety of utilities and such. And they have an active program to promote green energy. Which will hopefully be a growing industry.
Dad suggested investing in banks and investment companies... they're down now, but they'll be needed once the dust settles.
Otherwise... I'm looking into more general things like mid-cap growth funds and such. You can decide for yourself what seems most wise. The Dodge & Cox Balanced Fund (Ticker: DODBX) has historically done rather well and has a very good mix of domestic and international stocks, bonds, and other holdings. Actually, when another investment company gave me a free analysis of my holdings and where I should be investing (in the hopes that I would buy more of their funds), the distribution they ended up suggesting for me turned out to be almost exactly what the managers of the Dodge & Cox Balanced Fund had chosen. The fund was closed to new investors for some time (they did so well that they found themselves with more money than they could manage), but reopened this past February.
So, those are my thoughts. I'm not telling you that this is what you should be doing. I'm not an expert or a professional or anything. But I thought it might be worth bringing some things to your attention which you might otherwise have not known about or considered. (Mostly, I was thinking of the Vice Fund, but, as usual, ended up rambling on for longer than expected.) Take it for whatever you think it's worth.
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From:
no subject
I told him to tell them to invest in Wonderbread, Betty Crocker and bottled water.
DO NOT JUDGE ME.
...
From:
no subject
Although... wonderbread... not so much. They nearly went bankrupt, and Talagenda Nights can only get them so far.
Also, I'm not so sure about bottled water. The bubble on that has to burst sometime, right? Wouldn't now be a good time for people to stop paying premium prices for tap water in plastic bottles?
Betty Crocker, tho... that sounds good. Wonder who owns that. General Mills, is it? That's a good choice, too...
Anyway... got the notification email. W00t. Two in a row. I think we're back!