It will be a few years until I have the option
of diversifying--when I closed my brokerage
accounts, several years ago, I took advantage of
the ability to transfer IRA accounts into my
goverment TSP--Thrift Savings Plan. The plan
has very low expenses but no ability to own
individual stocks).
It was a good way to get into treasuries without
the risk of loss when (if!) rates rise--the "G
fund" simply pays out (approximately) the 10-year
bond rate. That has worked well, although there
is certainly currency risk, but I'll cope along
with the other 300M Americans that get will someday
get screwed by inflation.
Anyway, the wife is a lawyer and when I burn out
on my rotating shiftwork (and the kids are both
in school) she is going back to work. When I leave
the government, my TSP can be converted to an IRA
again...and diversified. Of course the TSP has
several index funds available as well, but I'm not
interested in those right now.
Trading microcap biotechs in my wife's IRA seems
to be the best way for me to get in on the action.
...And prove to myself that I'm probably not as
clever picking stocks as I think I am, ha. You
may have seen my perfommance figures for the past
couple years, abysmal.
Lessee, my little pink sheet 'systems biology, biomarker
blatty blah' seems to be trading down again.... Hmmm,
pretty sure it is trading for less than cash, but
it is always a notch trickier than you first assume.
Thanks again. Your idea is very probably a great one,
but my hands are tied for now, and merely keeping up
with inflation is good enough. I am an extremely
conservative saver type of guy at heart, you just
wouldn't know it when things like aria, in 1999,
tgen in 2001 and 02, glgc last year, and now
icor.pink blow up on me. But I should have been
stopped out on Icoria, that's just being stupid.
Perhaps keeping dpii and icor rather than buying
your blue chip is also a bit foolhardy. But the
microcaps only total 5% of what I'm worth, so not
too big a deal. If my cheapo biotechs, both trading
for cash, find a way to go to zero (icor may very
well do that, dpii, not likely) I am even steven
in a little over a year. That's peace of mind for
my personality type.
fwiw, my personality type, when I'm on graveyard
shifts, is a little paranoid. I will always find
a way to dislike the stocks I own. Treasuries,
easier to own, even with the deficit and total
debt. For now. |
