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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Stefan who wrote (9948)	10/28/1997 11:47:00 PM
From: Stu Bishop	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

Stefan, I have to differ on margin investing. If I'm not confident enough in my investments to buy on margin, then I'm not confident enough in my investments. Then my but ought not be in the stock market. I'm not saying that "everyone" should do it because I do. But I am saying that I'm not gambling. I don't gamble, I invest. There is a lot more certainty to investing (at least my approach to it) in stocks than gambling. Included with buying on margin, one should: 1. Own several stocks to manage risk. 2. Keep margin debt managable. So in a big correction, you dont have to sell. 3. Reduce margin debt into sustained rallies of substantial appreciation (correction expected, duh). 4. Increase margin debt when stocks are at bargain levels. When the most probable movement is to the upside. I's easy. It's like "buy when there's blood in the streets". Go on margin when the blood letting is just ended and the new rally begins. JMO Stu B.

To: Stefan who wrote (9948)	10/29/1997 12:30:00 AM
From: Paul V.	Respond to of 70976

Stefan, I did not state I was the one who had the 290.75% gain. You missed my point. Are you saying that Tito, Cary, Big Buck, Teri, Gottfried, Ricardo, Lester, and others on this site who have done their homework are lucky. I do not think you intended to reflect that indivduals who loose $ are unlucky while those who make $$ are lucky. What I am saying is, investing is a process of assessing risk vrs ones return on his/her investment. Some investors are willing to assume more risk than others. There were many on this site who got into amat before the earnings were reflected because their research and actions resulted in them purchasing amat while it was in the low $20 presplit in 1996 before the mutual funds got in. They would probably say they wished to get out at the 108 high! :) My point was these persons took a calculated risk in buying it June, july, aug. and so forth in 1996. The person who purchased and margined at these low level were not lucky they did their homework and assumed additional risk. The same person on analyzing the market in the $40s+ probably would not have margined. But every person has to make the decision as to how much risk they wish to make. An example is my mother wishes to deposit her $$$$ CD's because she perceives it has a lower risk. Many prudent investors on this site would make the argument that making this type of investment should "never" be made since it only has a 4-5% rate of investment gain with a CPI eating up around 3% of the profit. Is one correct while the other is incorrect. No! One is just willing to assume more risk and the possibility of obtaining a greater return on their investment. All investors have the responsibility to do their own research and not just depend of the brokers and analyst. I may be incorrect in my assumptions. My criticsm was what I interpreted as a value judgement of the person or persons who had made an investment decision and lost out. That person or persons will be more careful next time before they get caught up in the hype on this, any other site or the market in general--something which is very hard to do. This is very hard to do at times in buying and selling the violatile tech stocks Just my 2 cents. Paul V