The Swamp

HaulCitgo wrote: ↑Tue Sep 17, 2019 3:23 pm Very definitely interested in rotating out of my way overweight stock portfolio with mostly large cap type mutual funds. Bought a lot of this stuff in the early 00s through recession. Obviously lots and lots of green with most everything up over 100%

Question... is there anyway to change at least some of this into conservative or counter type investments, cash, bonds, treasury type investments without incurring massive capital gains tax liability? Answer seems to be no and somehow I am basically stuck in these investments but better to ask yall then be down the 40% that the economy is begging for.

Most of my investments are in 401-k, so the good news is you can move things around and not get dinged. But, for your regular investments, you have to realize your gains to move the money. After I retired (and moved into a lower tax bracket), I moved a lot of my equities into fixed income (Bonds and bond funds). I lost some upside as the stock market kept going up, but it is really good for my heart health to know that losing is pretty damned unlikely.

Regarding capital gains, obviously you want to make sure you've held the investment over a year before you sell, so it is long-term not short-term gain for tax purposes. And, the tax rates vary wildly depending on your income, so you should manage that, if possible.

Had to dig to find the Etrade password but things not so rosy in that account. Two more stock funds and one is up 7% and something called the VTRIX Vanguard International Value Fund is down 3% from 2006-2019. How terrible does your fund have to be to lose money in that period? Guess I really should look at this stuff.

Helpful info Sancarlos but that capital gains tax bracket is pretty wide. Pretty much no shot I get to either the 0% bracket or the 20% bracket.

Gunpowder wrote: ↑Tue Sep 03, 2019 3:51 pm Probably more of a random thought but this looks awfully similar to me:




Great depression was over a shorter timeframe but still.

Doesn't take much to knock over a house of cards

Long term I should just be looking at this as a discount on shares for my TSP, right? (A TSP is a 401k for federal employees.)

I'm riding it out with my long-term stuff and bailed on my cash accounts

I sold this put option last week for our shittiest major company, Boeing and made a few hundred bucks.



Right now it's worth $5700. I am ALWAYS selling at the wrong point. Every damn time.

Buy it back.

mister d wrote: ↑Thu Mar 12, 2020 11:54 amBuy it back.

D is right (if you sold it for a gain.) If you took a loss on the sale, you have to wait 30 days before buying it back. Link

I don't have $5700 anymore after this past week.

sancarlos wrote: ↑Thu Mar 12, 2020 11:59 am

mister d wrote: ↑Thu Mar 12, 2020 11:54 amBuy it back.

D is right (if you sold it for a gain.) If you took a loss on the sale, you have to wait 30 days before buying it back. Link

It's an option. I sold it last week and made some money. I would have made thousands more if I'd held it for a few more days. If it were a stock, which it wasn't, you only have to wait if you are going to write off a loss on the sale on your taxes.

With the lack of a casino in a deployed location, everyone here is using Weeble or Robin Hood on their phones and playing the stock market. Some people are actually doing really, really well too.

I'm dabbling here and there, but I just need to familiarize myself with all of these new terms. I want to get better at understanding this stuff because it seems like it could be fun.

This Gamestop short squeeze shit has been fun to follow. Crowdsourced market manipulation is riveting. After hours, $GME is up to $210 after closing at $147.



DeepFuckingValue has a YouTube channel and explained his thoughts 5 months ago:



Turned in $53k into $23MM...and counting.

Background: People Are So, So Mad at GameStop Investors and FinTok Influencers

I don't really understand what's happening, but I like the aim. And the screaming from Hedge Fund bros...

Lots of short sellers getting squeezed right now. I love it. I’ve been surprised how much equities have roared since the drop last spring. But, since I’m retired, I’ve now de-risked and converted a big chunk of my stocks into investment-grade bonds. I’ll trade upside potential to get more security.

The more and more I read the sicker and sicker I get. The economy being based on this is so exploitative it's really sad. There is no right and wrong here and we've been told forever that the only way to ensure retirement and a stable future to to put our money in the hands of this market.

Ugh. You just feel so small you know?

Yup. What started as a goof subreddit turned into people who genuinely said "Fuck this" and decided to hit back.

So this $GME thing looks to be the culmination of what happens when you can trade stocks for free from an app on your pocket. (That grossly oversimplifies it, but you get the point.)

And to add a cherry on top, this happened:



In the last year the Fed has pumped so much money into the stock market that it has made people rich off of trading Tesla alone. They're called "Teslanaires." So naturally Elon is their king.

BSF21 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 26, 2021 6:24 pm The more and more I read the sicker and sicker I get. The economy being based on this is so exploitative it's really sad. There is no right and wrong here and we've been told forever that the only way to ensure retirement and a stable future to to put our money in the hands of this market.

Ugh. You just feel so small you know?

Those dudes on WSB felt just like you and they decided to do this. I'm happy for them.

Johnnie wrote: ↑Tue Jan 26, 2021 6:28 pm

BSF21 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 26, 2021 6:24 pm The more and more I read the sicker and sicker I get. The economy being based on this is so exploitative it's really sad. There is no right and wrong here and we've been told forever that the only way to ensure retirement and a stable future to to put our money in the hands of this market.

Ugh. You just feel so small you know?

Those dudes on WSB felt just like you and they decided to do this. I'm happy for them.

Do you actually follow WSB? These aren’t good people either. And the losers aren’t hedge fund managers. It’s going to end up on the head of normal people putting their money in based on the advice of their accountant or what they read or see on tv. It’s all sad.

I subscribe to the subreddit for the lolz, mostly.

I didn't get the lingo, but I understood the money being moved. And while they don't seem to be decent humans, neither have the hedge fund scumbags either.

As opaque as the workings of the stock market and economy at large might be, I'm not sure rooting for a bunch of Internet trolls to bankrupt random hedge funds is the answer either.

I'd short the shit out of Gamestop at this point if I had an online account. They've artificially inflated the value of the company by at least 1,000 percent. Real people (including many of these trolls) are gonna get hurt in the fallout.

BSF21 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 26, 2021 6:32 pmAnd the losers aren’t hedge fund managers. It’s going to end up on the head of normal people putting their money in based on the advice of their accountant or what they read or see on tv. It’s all sad.

Are the normal people really the ones shorting GameStop or even heavily invested into a hedge fund that is?

I used to know lots of hedge fund guys. Good guys to have a beer with, but these guys would cut the heart of their mother for an extra nickel of profit. They are certainly the deep pockets who drive short selling.

I can’t imagine sympathizing (empathizing, really) with a hedge fund or private equity because someone took ruthless advantage of their situation.

GME is now up 90% pre market. My god. This is hilarious.

BSF21 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 26, 2021 6:32 pm

Johnnie wrote: ↑Tue Jan 26, 2021 6:28 pm

BSF21 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 26, 2021 6:24 pm The more and more I read the sicker and sicker I get. The economy being based on this is so exploitative it's really sad. There is no right and wrong here and we've been told forever that the only way to ensure retirement and a stable future to to put our money in the hands of this market.

Ugh. You just feel so small you know?

Those dudes on WSB felt just like you and they decided to do this. I'm happy for them.

Do you actually follow WSB? These aren’t good people either. And the losers aren’t hedge fund managers. It’s going to end up on the head of normal people putting their money in based on the advice of their accountant or what they read or see on tv. It’s all sad.

In this case, no it isn't. The people getting crushed, the ones who release "NVDA is overweight!" and "so and so is a fraud!" articles, those are the ones who are fucking you. The people shorting more shares than exist to depress values. Not some guys pushing up Gamespot to destroy a hedge fund manipulating a particular stock.

brian wrote: ↑Tue Jan 26, 2021 6:44 pm As opaque as the workings of the stock market and economy at large might be, I'm not sure rooting for a bunch of Internet trolls to bankrupt random hedge funds is the answer either.

I'd short the shit out of Gamestop at this point if I had an online account. They've artificially inflated the value of the company by at least 1,000 percent. Real people (including many of these trolls) are gonna get hurt in the fallout.

If you said this yesterday and did it you would have lost so much money that you would have to close your account.

mister d wrote: ↑Tue Jan 26, 2021 6:46 pm

BSF21 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 26, 2021 6:32 pmAnd the losers aren’t hedge fund managers. It’s going to end up on the head of normal people putting their money in based on the advice of their accountant or what they read or see on tv. It’s all sad.

Are the normal people really the ones shorting GameStop or even heavily invested into a hedge fund that is?

Nope. They are just buying GameStop because they saw that a hedge fund had built a tenuous short position.


I sold mine yesterday, easy money - could have made a lot more today but I'm not trying to go down with their ship and I'll take the profits. Syb, take that money and put it into put and call options on GME and YOLO!

Well done SL.

This article helped me a bit...

https://slate.com/technology/2021/01/ga ... ssion=true

tennbengal wrote: ↑Wed Jan 27, 2021 7:35 am Well done SL.

This article helped me a bit...

https://slate.com/technology/2021/01/ga ... ssion=true

“I’m an old millennial. I’m tired of getting screwed by the globalist elites,” said another. “This isn’t left or right republican or Democrat. It’s the 1% versus everyone else.”

Basically that. They sent one fuckin' guy to prison in 2008! One!

They just let Trump move stocks with tweets. Fuck em

It really seems like a fucked up system when so much money can be riding on a company's failure.

From what I've learned, the entire stock market is just a fucked up system irrespective of anything else.

And the fact that there is such a small (compared to the nation's population) number of people that can fuck with it and profit from it makes it even worse.

"The wrong people are artificially steering the worth of a physical company!!!"

Gunpowder wrote: ↑Wed Jan 27, 2021 8:03 am

tennbengal wrote: ↑Wed Jan 27, 2021 7:35 am Well done SL.

This article helped me a bit...

https://slate.com/technology/2021/01/ga ... ssion=true

“I’m an old millennial. I’m tired of getting screwed by the globalist elites,” said another. “This isn’t left or right republican or Democrat. It’s the 1% versus everyone else.”

Basically that. They sent one fuckin' guy to prison in 2008! One!

They just let Trump move stocks with tweets. Fuck em

That article was written by Alex Kirshner of Split Zone Duo fame? My man! I love that podcast.

Does the stick price have any bearing on the "worth" of a company. Certainly to the insiders who want to unload but lenders rarely worry about stock price. Seems like profits and assets are the true worth.

mister d wrote: ↑Wed Jan 27, 2021 8:42 am "The wrong people are artificially steering the worth of a physical company!!!"

Speaking of wrong people.

Nancy Pelosi Buys Tesla Calls, Stands To Benefit From New Biden EV Plan

Call me paranoid, but I don't think letting memelords run the economy is going to go any better than Bush-era deregulation did.

brian wrote: ↑Wed Jan 27, 2021 9:03 am Call me paranoid, but I don't think letting memelords run the economy is going to go any better than Bush-era deregulation did.

They're not "running the economy", they're David getting a punch in on Goliath (not the best metaphor, as David wins that fight ultimately) after Goliath has run amok over the masses for years.