Finance Thread

Earnings release is scheduled for the 22nd. AAPL is NOT a good look in either direction this close to earnings, especially since it just started to drop below support, but what you see as an uptick I see as a plausible short entry (provided moving averages and other conditions line up favorably).

I'm likely looking at things on a shorter time frame than you, as I don't really consider holding something for longer than a couple months. Apple's had a great ride, but I'm not going to fight current trends. Also, I'm a technical analysis guy, and the technicals for AAPL right now are not looking good.

 

Any of y'all know anything about S ESOPs?

 

Can somebody give me some advice about an online bank?

My bank sold all of it's local accounts to another bank. I moved from my hometown a long time ago, so I don't use the local branch (or actually any branch in particular.) I'm not interested in this new bank and since I tend to move quite a bit, an online bank seems to make sense.

How safe is an online bank?
How hard is it to open an account and move all of my money over?
Does anybody recommend one bank over another?

Any info is appreciated. Thanks.

 

Back in June, I moved everything (checking, investments) over to Schwab and I couldn't be happier. There are no fees, no minimums, and no obligations to invest (you do have to open a brokerage account when you open a checking), and they reimburse all of your ATM fees monthly. I don't use cash often, but it's a nice feature when every god damn ATM has a $3 fee. It's also an interest checking account. Right now I think I'm only earning 20 basis points, but it's better than nothing.

The whole, no brick and mortar aspect isn't a big deal at all unless you routinely deposit checks greater than $1,000 (not including any direct deposit you have with your employer). They have a mobile app that allows you to deposit checks using your phone or tablet that works seamlessly. In the instance of checks over $1,000, you can either mail them to their processing center or visit a nearby brokerage office if there is one. I've had to go to their office once, when I got my bonus check this past December. It was a piece of cake and I was in and out in less than 10 minutes.

As far as protection, they're one of the best in terms of fraud. Your checking is FDIC insured (brokerage isn't obviously), and they offer 100% protection in instances of unauthorized access--which is important with an online bank.

The only hang-up I experienced was getting approval for mobile deposit with their app. You need to build a little bit of a history with them before they approve you. After a month of having my paycheck direct deposited, I was approved. I had to keep my other account at my old bank open to deposit checks easily, but I was able to link my old account to my Schwab account and move money between them at no cost. It was a couple extra steps and really not much extra work, but it's something to be aware of.

I've been really happy with them so far, so they're definitely worth a look. Here's the FAQ page.

On a completely separate note, I've got a few bucks invested in some of their zero load funds and I'm up 10% since inception (<9 months).

 

I've had nothing but good experiences with banking online. In addition to my local bank I had accounts with ING (now Capital One). They have less infrastructure so you end up paying less fees and they generally have better returns (this is worthless now, but hopefully in a few years we'll have real interest again). As for what I would recommend, I can't speak for the user friendliness of the website, but Ally bank is reliable and has decent returns for a checking account, no fees as long as you don't do anything dumb and they'll reimburse you for any ATM fees you incur in the US which is awesome.

 

Thanks for the replies. I'll look into those banks.

For those of you who switched, how difficult was it? Was there a period of time where you didn't have access to your money?

 

Like I said, when I switched to Schwab, I kept my old account open, but linked the two of them so I could move funds freely between them until everything was finalized with Schwab about a month later. Then I closed the old one. It was very easy.

Linking the two accounts was basically the same process as linking a PayPal account.

 

I opened an Ally account this morning. I'm waiting on my transfer to appear, but so far its been super easy. Setting up the bill pay is going to be a pain since I always forget some of my online passwords.

Thanks for all the feedback.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk 2

 

Some of the online banks have "deposit bonuses" if you move over a certain amount of money or set up a direct deposit with them.
The company I work for allows me to split my paycheck between 4 different direct deposit options so I set up a few different accounts to take advantage of them. I added almost $600 to my accounts by simply having a small amount of money shuffled over there every week. I also went through and linked accounts so I can move money with relative ease between all the different accounts I have.
Even better, if you want to open up a trading account, places like E*trade give some big bonuses if you open a trading account and a checking/savings account through them.
Really make sure you research all of the different options out there and figure out what works best for you.

 

In the interest of seeing what some of you guys trade, I figured I'd share a short list of some of the stocks I'm in at the moment.
I deal mostly in "penny" biotech stocks as I understand the flow of how catalysts affect stock price much better than other sectors and it allows me greater gains as I don't have to risk as much cash to make a sizable return.
Do your own DD on anything I put up here as I am not responsible if you lose your rent money.

My only long term investment to date is $ATRS. Averaged to $2.95 and I've been accumulating since late 2011. They have a great patent profile, a good pipeline, great management, low cash burn, and almost zero debt. I'm holding this until it's either bought out by Pfizer or Teva or it hits somewhere in the $10's.

I just recently bought a little bit of Valeant Phrama $VRX after they acquired another company I was holding $OMPI. $OMPI makes beauty products that are FDA approved and are the "secret" of the beauty product world. With a big pharma pushing their products now, they are going to be filling up the wheelbarrows with cash. Bought in at $71.95.

The rest are mostly spec plays and I won't go into too much detail about each.
$ACRX another bio company who has some big catalysts coming up.
$DARA same as above
$INO long term spec play. They have some novel work they are doing with DNA based therapies and could easily be a 4 bagger in a few years. It is however risky and could just as easily go to micro penny hell as it could pop to $20 a share. It's cheap at the moment and worth a look.
$ZEX.V or $ZDEFX is a spec oil drilling company in Canada. There's been some rumors that they are sitting on a huge oil find that could easily bring the stock over $1.50 almost overnight. Another HUGELY RISKY stock play, but again, it's pennies for a few thousand shares which could easily turn out a nice chunk of change.
$SANW Seed company who has gone on a pretty big run the last 6 months or so. Could churn for the next few months, but it's an interesting long term play.
$SDRL Oil drilling company that gives a decent dividend. Stock price has been pretty steady if you are looking for a good dividend play.
$TTPH Just IPO'd the other day and I'm waiting to see how things shake out after a little while. Interesting company that could hit some good returns in a year or two.

A few others I pop in and out of from time to time $IBIO, $MTOR, $BPOP, $BRD.

 

To keep in line with bringing more trading talk, I figured I'd share a couple trades I made today.

$AVEO Bought in @ $7.58 and looking for a $8.75 price target in 1-3 months.
$NFLX Bought a very small stake (read less than 50 shares) @ $188.75 and looking for a move to $206 in 1-3 months.
$LULU Another small purchase, but this stock took a huge reactionary drop the past few days and I see it rebounding on good quarterly numbers. Looking to sell at $72.50 1-3 months.
$PFE Opened what will be a long term position in Pfizer today. Bought in @ $28.45 and I'm looking to hold this long term or unwind my position if it reaches the $40 mark in 12-18 months.

One of the minor concerns I have with making any long term investments at the moment is some extremely troubling long term analysis based on the Elliot Wave Theory. It basically is calling for major markets to be going into a serious down swing in the near future. If it holds true, there could be some violent market reactions in the coming months. If you look into some predictions even further, there are some calls for the Dow to hit some staggering new highs before crashing down to test 2008 lows in and around 2016, possibly sinking into the low 1,000 point range which would be ridiculous.

 

When the Dow is hitting record highs, it doesn't take technical analysis to expect a sharp correction in the near future.

 

Just to give a little update info as I don't like leaving trades up where I've changed positions:
I sold out of $NFLX today for $190.65. I was hoping the overall market was going to hold up for another week or so, but it looks like it's going to be a rough few down days I'd rather not be holding a bag through. I'll probably revisit this in a few weeks as I think the $206 price target is easily attainable if the overall market is at the very least stable.
I'm going to look to take that money I freed up from $NFLX and average down in some of the micro cap stocks I mentioned I was in earlier as well as trading in and out of $UVXY as a hedge against a really big down turn.

 

I'm a charterholder. PM if you want to talk about the program.

 

Can someone with financial sense tell me if I'm retarded or does this idea actually make sense?

I have about two years of college left, I haven't been enrolled for the last couple of years but I'm applying this week to go back in the fall. In the past, I never qualified for financial aid (rich dad), but this year I turn 24 and the FAFSA considers me an independent student meaning I don't have to put my parent's financial info on the financial aid forms, they only look at mine and I'm poor so I qualify for a lot of aid. My parent's still have a college fund for me and have said they're willing to pay for school if I want to go back (which I do now).

I'll know more about specific aid packages when I hear back from my applications but I filed the FAFSA and it said I should expect a grant from the government and that I qualify for student loans if I want them. I'm obviously going to take any grants or scholarships I get because that knocks down the price for my parents, but I'm not sure about the loans. I don't need them for tuition, but I do have some credit card debt and a car payment. I should qualify for up to $10,000 a year in student loans at like 3% or something. I was thinking of taking out like $6,000 of that and paying off my credit cards and car payment as my student loan payments will be deferred until six months after graduation and the interest rate is way way lower than my current debt situations.

I don't want to take out student loans if I don't have to and I technically don't have to take them out for school but is it not smart to take advantage of this low interest rate I get for being a student to pay off my high interest debt from a few years ago when I was super irresponsible with credit?

Is this dumb?

 

No, a lot of students use loans for other purchases. I don't recall having to submit receipts, just proof of enrollment.

One downside is that unlike credit card and other unsecured debt, student loans from Uncle Sam won't be forgiven if you ever file bankruptcy.