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Q: is the gld etf as good as owning physical gold
Asked by charles1612000 - 6 days ago - 8 answers - 57 views
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A: HEADS UP - BE AWARE - FYI

Gold and silver receive special treatment in the tax code. Considered 'collectibles', not
'capital assets', they don't qualify for the maximum 15% tax rate on long term capital
gains. Instead, gains on the sale of gold and silver investments, including gold and
silver backed ETF's, and gold bullion and coins (except certain US issued coins) are taxed
at a maximum tax rate of 28% when such investments have been held for more than a year.
When these assets are held for less than one year, gains are taxed as ordinary income.

Precious metals ETF's, such as GLD, are organized as grantor trusts. Investors in an ETF
are treated as owning individual interests in the metal owned by the fund. When an
investor sells shares in the ETF, the tax code treats that investor as having sold a share
of the metal backing the fund. Thus, the investor is 'subject to' the maximum tax on
collectibles . . . currently 28%

IF the Etf sells some of its gold or silver, as funds typically do to pay expenses,
including management fees, then gains or losses on such sales flow through to the fund's
investors, though they receive no cash distribution. In the case of gains, the investors
must include their share of the profit in gross income, which likewise would be taxable at
the maximum 28% rate.

GLD does provide instructions to shareholders on its website how to compute the gain or
loss when the ETF sells metal to pay expenses.

ALSO OF NOTE: the above tax considerations are 'moot' (of no consequence) if the ETF is
held within a qualified IRA . . . though the IRS has not stated its view publicly. more
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Q: Stockpickrs, I want to invest in an international bank with a good divy.
Currently looking at STD. Is this the best play?
Thanks
Asked by reinorht - 6 days ago - 3 answers - 86 views
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A: I don't have an opinion on international bank plays, but STD seems like a quality pick.
If you are looking for dividends look at the preferred issues for STD; STD-E and STD-F.
For more info look in the forums section under the "Postcards from..." forum. I recently
posted info on this preferred issue. more
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Q: with CNN pumping out articles like this:
http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/108212/dirty-secrets-of-black-frida
y-doorbusters

i can just hear the headlines now....lowest sales ever on biggest shopping day
of the year....then we'll have every analyst yelling sell your retail stocks.
Asked by fine tune your disciplines - 7 days ago - 4 answers - 101 views
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A: good q, reality seems to be just what cnbc wants it to b,,but look at ltd then make your
decision more
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Q: If Goldman Sachs is stupid, whats that make Cramer?

http://seekingalpha.com/article/174528-options-trader-friday-outlook-is-goldman-
sachs-stupid-or-evil?source=email

Cramer recommended Dryships?? Not sure about this one...
http://seekingalpha.com/article/174537-why-traders-are-abandoning-dryships?sourc
e=article_lb_articles

I really like Cramers insight and for sure entertainment, even when occasionally
wrong.
Asked by Clementplace - 7 days ago - 4 answers - 100 views
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A: A portfolio manager.GS is far from stupid. more
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Q: Would it be a good thing to exchange my 200 PMY shares for MJN shares? Or half
of them? Or none? The dividend yield is important to me. Thanks very much.
Asked by bpb2140 - 7 days ago - 1 answers - 54 views
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A: can you even sell your PMY? volume in that is like dead. more
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Q: For the Quants: it seems like there is some kind of perceived issue with Quant
funds,e.g. that they generate growing exchange traffic, result in unfamiliar
chart patterns and market movement for traditional fundamental investors, and
potentially pose some kind of threat to the stablity of the market. Some have
accused the leverged & inverse ETFs for bringing down the market in 2008 and
believe that the same thing could easily happen again. It comes with surprise
to some that large institions and leading investment houses hire people with
alot of skill in this area. My question: is this really so surprising;
wouldn't a leading institutions have an incentive to include risk controls (or
lose shirt); aren't the quantative types smart enough to do this, e.g. risk
control. Do you think that quants are here to stay or were a primary cause of
the crash and future crashes. Can fundamental investors and quantitative
investors co-exist or are the models shifting as quant fund traffic increases.
Is this a major concern or not?
Asked by ksh - 7 days ago - 9 answers - 98 views
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A: Ryan4891 -

On the Levered ETF vs. Options discussion, I thought of another benefit. Options can
expire worthless whereas you could hold onto the Levered ETF like a stock until it reaches
your desired price level. Plus, the price patterns of the ETFs in general are
straightforward to understand (like stock) whereas with options, many tools, for instance,
don't include historical option prices. I feel like the levered ETFs are easier to track
and trade as a result of these benefits. Speaking generically here and w.r.t. max. 2X
labeled ETFs (agree that the 3X are pretty wild - some people apparently can trade them,
etc.) more
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Q: November 3, 1982 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average surges 43.41 points, or
4.25%, to close at 1,065.49, its first all-time high in more than 9 years. It
last hit a record on January 11, 1973 when the average closed at 1,051.70. The
points gain is the biggest ever up to this point.

and 27 years later we're worried about not retesting 8,000?
Asked by fine tune your disciplines - 8 days ago - 2 answers - 76 views
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A: The good old days when they laid you off and eventually called you back to work.And
conducted actual face to face interviews not resume Black Holes set up on the Internet.The
time spent on sending E-mails,resumes,and remember me notes can be better spent on setting
up your own business.More productive for sure. more
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Q: I am a studetn about to graduate from high school. My grandparents are giving
me a small amount of money with which to begin investing. What would be the
best types of investments to make so that I can make some money without risking
my funds too much.
Asked by Amanda Bowen - 8 days ago - 4 answers - 99 views
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A: Speaking as a young investor myself (I'm 20, began investing just last year), I would say
that the most important thing is to realize the extremely favorable position that you are
it. We have all of the time in the world to make all of the mistakes in the world.

This means making extremely long-term investments. This means looking at stocks not as
pieces of paper that you can trade furiously to eke out a few points here and there, but
as pieces of a company.

Therefore, I would recommend finding stocks of companies that you feel will be around 20,
30, 40 years from now. Think about companies that are setting themselves up to have the
ability to pump out cash to you, the investor, way down the line.

This also means taking some pretty big risks. Not stupid risks, but you can always throw
in a lottery ticket type of pick in with the rest of them. If it doesn't pay off, no big
deal, you now know what to avoid. If it pays off however, it will pay off big.

And most importantly, don't go rushing in to picks. Having all of the time in the world
means that you can wait and watch. You can read every bit of information about a stock
available to you without worrying about missing an upswing of a few points.

So be patient, take a few risks, think about stocks as companies that you would want to
own, and most importantly, don't just pick a stock because you hear someone touting it as
"the next big thing". In fact, I don't like reading about individual stock picks
at all. I like reading about the reasoning behind such a pick so that I may apply it to my
own investing style.

And really, go out there and have fun. I like knowing that little me can be out there with
the big boys and who knows what may happen. more
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Q: Stockpickrs, I was lucky and bought TRA last spring at 14.75 and rode it up to
$40.00 I am not sure if I like CF/TRA combo. I am looking at putting the money
to either buy POT or AGU on a pullback. Which one do you think has best
prospects or is there another name I should be looking at?

Thanks
Asked by Java12jack - 8 days ago - 3 answers - 93 views
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A: If you are looking for fertilizer plays one thing to consider is the type of fertilizer
you are interested in. There are a variety of types that farmers use to increase yields
with the important elements being nitrogen (ammonia compounds), phosphorous (phosphate
compounds, and potassium (potash). Other specialty fertilizers also exist like sulfate of
potash and others. Some fertilizer companies are in the non-metallic mining industry
while others are considered to be in the chemical manufacturing industry depending upon
the type of fertilizer. Some fertilizer companies include the well known to the
relatively unheard of. A brief list would be: POT, AGU, MOS, TRA, CF, TNH, CMP, SQM,
COIN, etc. The list does go on but the point is that there are a lot of options beyond
what is popularly publicized. It would be interesting to hear other Stockpickr's input
regarding which they prefer and why. more
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Q: March cotton closed up 1.07 cents at 74.04, the highest close in fourteen
months. Who has the best idea long or short on how to take advantage of this?
Asked by Stockpickr Staff #2 - 8 days ago - 2 answers - 76 views
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A: Good idea. It definitely makes sense. Similar scenarios would likely apply to other
heavily cotton weighted textile companies don't you think? Are there any long ideas out
there? There is BAL (iPath DJ AIG Cotton TR Sub-Index ETN) which could be a pure play on
cotton futures. However, daily volume is poor. more
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