Thread: 1st day newbie question

Originally Posted by Wishin2Retire

Hello All,

This is also my first day on the forum and site/autotracker. I have a newbie question. I can't seem to be able to figure out how to create a new thread. Can anyone point me in the right direction? (I am assuming this is a operator error) Thanks!

Hi and welcome Wishin2Retire,

Assuming you are talking about creating your own, personal thread, I believe this page should help:

http://www.tsptalk.com/mb/members-account-talk/

Create your own thread to talk about your account transactions, strategies, returns, etc. The thread name should be your member name + Account Talk (ie: BigBob's Account Talk)

Click the POST NEW THREAD button.

Welcome WSHN!! We wish you great success and extend you a warm welcome..

FS

Welcome to the Forum Wishin2Retire, Best of luck with your Investments.
Norman

Welcome Wishin! I think userque got you covered... right?

Welcome aboard. This is a great place to learn. Don't be afraid to ask lot's of questions. Good luck.

Hi Wishin2Retire! A Big Welcome to you!! So many things to love about this site. ...TSPTalk daily commentary and weekly wrapup is great. Best wishes to you in your invesments!!!!

Welcome to the forums and site! Best of luck in investing!

Thanks for all your warm welcomes. I guess the thing I want to learn the most is recognizing and anticipating indicators on when to enter and exit the market. I do enjoy reading about the market and like to read market outlooks before the following week to see what happenings are in the news (what companies are reporting, what data the g'ment spits out, etc.) Are there any good threads and/or other sites you could recommend that provide an honest, non-bias assessment of what is happening in the week and what to/not to expect? I typically read the CNN Money "Things to Expect" articles in the morning to see what's going on for the day along with the pre-market numbers. However, when I see that the pre-market is down 1.5% on a given day I think "Dang, was there something that has caused that was in the news this week that I missed, or was this a result of an unexpected event?" If I would have had an indicator, I could have exited the market a few days and re-entered at a lower price.

I'm in the data gathering stage of my TSP investing and would consider the prem service in the near future if that would help. Even that though, I see members getting over 15% (I'd be happy with 10%,) so their indicators must be doing well. I'd want a "teach a man to fish" approach rather than "here's your fish." I would prefer to take advice and execute trades based on that advice as long as the advise came with reasoning. I want to learn how to fish. That's why I am here.

Investing for me has been mostly a result of the fear of not being able to retire. I truly do feel for those that post things on here that are in a position where they may have to delay retirement or have to essentially work until they physically can't. The g'ment says that I can early retire at 55 1/2 so that's when I'll be done. I plan to achieve that through diligent investing: my wife and I have maxed out a Roth IRA for 5 years, pay off CCs at the end of every month, no car payments, and we are conditioning ourselves slowly to getting to a point of hitting the IRS TSP contribution limit (Currently I put in 11%, matched by 5% on a GS12/5 salary isn't terribly far away.) When dad/grandma send a birthday card with money - savings. When I get a tax return - savings. The wife's a stay at home mom for now but when our boy goes to day care, she'll go back to work. I do honestly feel those 3 years of missed income for her to be with our boy is worth 10 times more than any other investment. When she does, we'll work to condition ourselves so she max her 401k, I'll max mine (TSP) and we both will max our Roth IRA contributions. I can smell the sunshine now.

If anyone has any opinions/recommendations on news articles or commentaries please send links. If you have any opinions on the prem services, I'll take that too. Thanks for all you do.

Hi WSHN:

Here are a few of the sites I frequent for information. I didn't list freestockcharts.com because a lot of people know of it and use it.

There are plenty of good sites and others will have good options as well.

https://www.crystalbull.com/
Nifty charts and latest updates
Ticker Sense
^GSPC,^DWCPF,EFA,AGG | Stock Prices | Quote Comparison | YAHOO! Finance
https://caldaro.wordpress.com/2015/0...nd-update-494/

Best to you in your investing.

FS

Great list FS!!!

I want to add a few. I like to read:
--Investopedia.com (GREAT site for learning!!!!! )
--Safehaven.com - articles by Chris Ciavacco and a few others but need to be careful. Some are too bearish.
--Bigcharts.com - to create free charts but while it can go back years and you can book mark to not have to recreate each chart every time you look at them, it gives a decade of historical data if you want to view it. Downside is that it does not give you ability to define a date range so that you can see detail clearly in prior years.
--Stockcharts.com - Love this site. So much information. Love the Slow Stochastic default settings on free charts (Less volatility with a K%(14), D%(3) default) as opposed to Big Chart's that has default at 5/5. You can define a date range going back a few years, but must purchase service plan if you want more information than what is offered on its free charts---but still have ability to craft your own free charts.

Best wishes to you!!

P.S. As for entries and exits... everyone has their own strategies. Read as much as you can (investopedia and various technical indicators and reading candlesticks, etc). I like to see the Ira Epstein videos too (nnutt posts those daily on this site). Lately I am looking more at the Stockcharts slow stochastic. Entry under 20, exit over 80---plus several other indicators considered as well as "news". Be careful about what you listen to... every day there are talking heads in the news that are bullish and bearish... so you kinda really need to learn to tune some of that out and follow your own strategy.

But fear is the big thing...its hard to buy in when blood is in the street because you wonder if more blood is coming... uggh...I have caught the falling knife more times than I would like to admit. Ouch!!!! But you gotta have a mix of patience and courage and that is hard to do sometimes. With more learning, it should help you better control the risk though. But No matter how you look at it... it is all a risk. Good to have exit plan and limit exposure as you deem appropriate, etc. No one has a crystal ball !!!

Annie - your suggestion of the stock charts site is interesting. I love data that is easily calculable and easy to understand. You mentioned getting in and out at 20 and 80. What do you use as the 14 periods? Days? Months? I think when combined with other factors this site is beneficial. Thanks!