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Biotech / Medical : The thread of life -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Spekulatius who wrote (743)	7/8/2005 3:36:34 PM
From: Mike McFarland	Respond to of 1336

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.