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Technology Stocks : Lucent Technologies (LU) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: J. P. who wrote (3507)	8/4/1998 2:17:00 PM
From: Sawtooth	Respond to of 21876

<<Just ask the proud owners of Cendent, Nike, Iomega, (John Mansville?), who bought their stock long and had the money wrested from their hands, taken out of their babies mouths.>> Fraud, mismanagement, poor management decisions, changes in competition/industry/regulation/... happens to private companies, too. The risk:reward is commensurate. We can all buy CD's (not referring to Cendent) without giving a second thought to the safety of our principal. I've had several holdings return > 100% in the last year; can't find a CD paying more that 5.25%. On the contrary, I've been "burned" in the market, too, just as I have outside of the stock market. But I made the choice to participate. I examined and managed the risks to the best of my ability. A lot of people these days seem to feel that they deserve to make money in the market. If we deserve to make a return on our stock investments, I'm missing something and need to find out where I can go to get my losses refunded to me <ggg>. <<You may argue that Lucent will never undergo such a cataclysmic fall as those others, and you very well may be correct. However, we the investing public are not privy to that kind of information until it's too late.>> Actually, J.P., I'll argue that it is, with absolute certainty, possible that LU could virtually evaporate before our eyes. LU faces the same nature of business, operational, legal/regulatory, and financial risks as other businesses do. One chooses their investments, I hope, based on how the management of the company manages those risks. Based on one's assessment, each decides where to invest. I suspect that in todays market, there are many investors who don't investigate these aspects to the degree warranted. I suspect there may be many holders of Lucent stock who would have a very difficult time accurately describing Lucent's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (to borrow from strategic planning theory) and what the company's plan is for the future. Would you invest in a local company in which you didn't know the answer to those questions? I'm sure you've heard of the study (I think I saw it in SmartMoney) that showed many people put considerably more time and research to buying a refrigerator vs. buying a stock costing many times more. <<if you bought 10 grand worth of Coke, Mobil, Wal-Mart 20 years ago and forgot about, hell, you'd be very rich today. But who's got time for that, baby needs a new pair of shoes! <g>>> LOL!!! Just wait until you have teenagers!!! But that's why I don't have all my money in the market. I've got savings, r.e., variable annuities, and money in the market. Risk:reward. Thanks for the conversation, J.P. Every person has their own style of investing and I respect each of them. LU may tank big time and all the people who said "bail now" will look like reincarnations of Philip Fisher. The above are just a few aspects of my philosophy. Regards and thanks for the post. ...Tim