The most prominent point I was trying to make is that the majority of Americans haven't a clue when it comes to investing nor money in general. The level of financial illiteracy in this country is downright pathetic and is an issue that desperately needs to be addressed. But if you want to get into it further in terms investing IQ b/w generations, here is my thought process... I'm not saying that I think every generation has the same investment IQ, but rather the difference between them is not all that great (I'd be inclined to use the word negligible) and certainly not high enough to label one generation as having a noticeably higher IQ than others. It is awfully premature to label millennials (who I think of as people born after 1990 or so, maybe the last couple yrs of the 80's) as having a higher investment IQ when really the only market they know and have had money in is a 6 year bull market (or a 4 year if you want to label July-October of 2011 as a bear market). Let's see how they handle things when they go through a stretch like boomers have the past 15 year or so - getting closer and closer to retirement and in less than a ten year time span seeing your portfolio cut in half twice by two bear markets. My bet is that they would respond in a similar way that boomers did - slow to rotate money back into equities to the point where some of them have missed out on most of the past 4-6 years. Also take into account the fact that millennials and other younger generations (those younger than 35-40?) have had it much easier when it comes to the markets than those that came before them. Gone are the days of having to actually go into a broker (not using a computer, but physically having to go into a broker's office) and paying them absurd commissions and fees just to buy/sell one stock or some actively managed fund the broker recommended to them because he was getting a large kickback from the fund company (and that doesn't even cover how retail used to get raped even more b/c they didn't have the access we do to data about where various securities are currently priced). You can now do everything from your computer (without having to talk to some scummy broker and with a plethora of data/resources available at the click of a button), commissions are slowly but surely becoming a thing of the past (maybe they will never go completely to zero, but my bet is that eventually you will see most firms with a cost structure similar to that of Interactive Brokers where you're paying $.01 per share / $1 minimum on trades), and the rise of new products like ETF's have made it easier than ever for retail to put their money into low cost index funds giving them both diversification as well as exposure to parts of the market that otherwise would have been more difficult/costly in the past. Never mind services like Betterment that give them access to what amounts to an advisor of sorts and the only decision they make is how much $ they put in each month and where to adjust the slider on their risk tolerance bar or whatever. So while it may seem like they are much smarter when it comes to investing, remember that the overall environment is a lot more friendly towards the small individual investor than it used to be and has made it much easier for them to not get butt fucked by the financial industry.
The other reason I think (I'd say know, but don't want to be an ass) millennials are no different than other generations has to do with my job. I currently work at a firm where we have our own products but a bigger part of the business is handling various middle/back office type stuff (mutual and hedge fund accounting, fund administration, transfer agency, compliance, ect.) for other firms. For the most part, people enter the company through either fund accounting or transfer agency, and I can tell you without a doubt that the vast majority of the millennials we are hiring haven't a fucking clue about basic concepts relating to the markets. Keep in mind most of these are supposed to be people that went to school for finance, accounting, or something along those lines and should know some basic stuff. Just off the top of my head examples include not understanding what the difference is between being long and short a security, not understanding the difference between call options and put options nor options and futures (hell, some of them don't even know what options and futures are), the inability to calculate basic interest accruals or straight line amortization on fixed income securities to check for accuracy (not like we ask them to check it to the penny and to take into account all of the stuff that can impact these calculations, but rather just asking them to ball park it if something looks off), and even some that used to not understand the difference between mutual funds and ETF's though that has improved with the increasing popularity of ETF's in recent years. Granted a lot of that isn't a big deal since they are usually just clicking buttons and the accounting software takes care of the rest, but with many of the questions I used to get as a supervisor when I was in fund accounting millennials do not seem (to me at least) to know more about investing nor the markets than any of the generations that proceeded them. I'm not trying to rag on millennials or sound like a grumpy old man (I'm 31), but some of the stuff I have heard and seen at my job scare the shit out of me when it comes to people in the 22-26 yrs old (and younger) age range.
Why am I a 'hipster'? Because I don't think of myself as being a millennial (and made a comment about how a lot of the people that I work with and would classify as one have a hard time with basic details of a pretty easy job)? I have read plenty of articles/ect. that discuss how people born between Gen X and the Millennials (1979/1980 through 1984/1985) don't necessarily fit in with either group. I tend to agree with those as I do not see myself, my friends, or other people my age as being all that similar to those quite a few years younger nor those quite a few years older. And as far as my comments about some of the people I work with go, it may be a small sample size but that is what pops into my mind when I think about comparing the knowledge younger people have about the markets to that of older people (as I have said, my opinion is that there is a big difference). Besides, I don't think hipsters are really all that interested in finance and generally regard Wall Street and everything associated with it (like me and my job) as evil.
Sounds like that thanks to the access of information that millennials have a higher investing IQ than previous generations and that littletonbuff's HR dept needs to step it up
I was born in 80 and my wife was born in 81. Neither of us identify as millenials and personally I feel more toward Gen X. On the fringe there are elements of millenial in us like comfort with technology but we still grew up in a world where we didn't have internet access until college, kids in HS had pagers instead of cell phones, we bought CDs, we took our film to a store to be developed, etc.
Once again AMZN tanked after opening near 620. Luckily I sold my calls because its now trading near 600. Bottom line is these options trades in AMZN and GOOGL worked out but the risk is probably not worth the reward.
Any thoughts on UA? Dipped below $90 the last 2 days from around $100 earlier this week. Been watching for a while. Curious to hear some more "expert" input. Thanks. I'll hang up and listen.
Seemed like selloff after quarterly profits taking. Have been in n out of it over the years, seems like the products in stores are looking better for fall and winter. Less neon shit
Cost of expanding into other countries is hurting margins for now but should be more positive in the long run. I didn't expect an 8% dip this week. I may pull the trigger.
Are you gonna play the AAPl earnings tomorrow? If I remember correctly last earnings the stock opened up lower by a good amount. Not sure what to think this time.
I am considering buying puts in GPRO and YELP who are both coming out with earnings after the close today.
Anyone know what's up with Pfizer? Bought some due to previous experience but I haven't followed then specifically in a while. Up over 12% in the last month ...
I bought the 20 Puts in YELP and the 27 Puts in GPRO. My luck probably runs out today but I took a shot anyway.
GPRO missed earnings and is trading near 27 so I have a chance of making money with that one but YELP had good earnings and is trading almost 25 so that is worthless.
GRPO was one that had my interest, latest quote shows down into $25 so I'm going to pay attention to that one tomorrow. I'm also very interested in seeing the reports from the major oil companies starting with COP tomorrow
You can't really wear a phone on your head and gopro has cases/accessories that make it much more useful during an activity. I doubt they'll compete much.
Selfie sticks? Are you telling me they can't make some contraption which holds an iPhone that you can stick on your ski helmet? Just a gut feeling but I think the phone will make GoPro less relevant pretty quickly. Could be wrong though
Phones are so big these days...I just think it will be cumbersome. Not to mention more phones will have to become water proof or have cases capable of that in order to use it instead of a gopro in many instances. That means whatever that might entail will have to be extremely reliable because I have a feeling people would be less apt to risk drowning their phone. I'm no expert but I just don't think they will compete that much, at least in the market that GoPro tries to market to (active people). I could see phones taking over for your average run of the mill attention whore that doesn't do anything that might jeopardize their phone. The thing about GoPro, though, that could be a monster if it's done right, is they're working on incorporating the actual media shot with their cameras into a multimedia platform. The people that submit their videos to GoPro sign their life away, basically, so GoPro has a sweet collection of extreme videos on the cheap. Not exactly sure what they're thinking of doing with it but that's a market they're exploring.
I've always wanted to get in on that, but it's always seemed so expensive. If I wasn't under contract for a house right now, I'd look at buying in for a small position. Then again, i have no technical analysis or reason for that at all.
I definitely view GoPro as a fad. It might be a cool niche market for a while, but I can't see it getting huge. I'd be more concerned about (other?) wearable tech than I would about phones though.
Some already are. It's just a few but I'm sure it's going to end up being a significant portion at some point. Just not sure how serious they want to get with it beyond like being able to continue working after a spilled drink or something similar.
Yeah it's not like they have revolutionary technology or anything, will have to do something to keep up with their current market share
I think someone else had a good point, though. Phones seem to keep getting bigger. Much bigger than GoPros are. For most of these active people using GoPros, even if the phones camera is the better technology it may not be as convenient to use.
I thought the same thing until recently, I even shorted GPRO once based on that premise...but this past winter I lived near a ski resort and got heavier into snowboarding and that changed my tune. I used to ride with a GPRO helmet mount and a cell phone in my jacket all the time, and the GPRO is exponentially better for that purpose. Camera phones would have to significantly change their form factor and would also need to strip down other features to be able to do what GoPros do without draining the battery completely. To make some of the structural changes needed (water proof, non-breakable phones), they'd either need a completely separate lineup of phones or they'd be alienating the larger part of their usage base that wouldn't use the phone that way and just wants them thinner and sleeker. No reason for a bunch of tech nerds or businesses to have a bulky, GoPro capable iPhone, right? Though Apple and Google definitely COULD make a phone that could do what a GoPro was, I'm not sure if would be worth it for them to go after in the first place, at least not until GPRO grows substantially more. I'm also not completely sure that GoPro's future is as a hardware only company. In the extreme sports world, they have unbelievable brand loyalty and good will. Other than maybe Monster/Red Bull, I can't think of another brand that's more recognizable to those groups. I'm not exactly sure how they can monetize that, but I could see them evolving into more than just cameras, maybe even some media stuff.
Like somebody else mentioned, GoPro has a crazy built in advantage in that they get almost unlimited free exposure. Every other day somebody, whether amateur or a sponsored pro, uploads a video that outdoes the one before it. Check this one out for example. I f you don't want to watch the whole thing, skip to 0:55 and watch the next couple seconds.
Well, that's the best evidence I've seen against GoPro yet. GoPro may be the first company ever to go bankrupt due to natural selection.
We are in a very similar position. Basically have some extra cash on hand at the moment for when we need to sign our construction loan. I keep wanted to put it in something quick for a few months but my wife does not agree with me.
It's hard to say this, but listen to your wife. You could always go to a casino if you want to bet short term.
On TWTR's gap down yesterday, I bought some of the $30 January 2017 Calls. Pretty much just a gamble at this point (short term it is a better short with the terrible monthly active user growth #'s), but I just have a hard time seeing how such a useful resource could go the way of MySpace. Hopefully the new CEO can get things back in order... I might add a few of those calls more if it dips again and will likely look to offset some of the cost/turn it into a call spread by selling further OTM calls expiring that same month on a substantial move higher.
I feel like it is a little late to the game with a short in GPRO, especially with short interest already so high (someone else mentioned to me that it is up between 40-50% now, haven't had time to check that myself). I'm with the people that have said they view it as a fad. Beyond uses by businesses/police/the military, I just do not see them consistently doing enough business. Their best case scenario is another big company (Apple, Google, ect.) acquiring them. I had a position but got stopped out of it when it got murdered after earnings. I might be interested in it on a sustained move over the 100-102 area, but at this point it doesn't appeal to me on a technical basis. In terms of their core business, I think they continue to improve. The business is basically starting to come down to just them and Nike (just look at all the CFB fans who want their teams to ditch Adidas as the jersey's and other gear that NKE/UA are producing is vastly superior both in terms of quality and appearance).
I also like ICE. They just purchased Interactive Data Corp (IDC) from a couple of private equity firms which was huge in my opinion. IDC is the primary vendor our company uses to price all of the securities held in client funds and they make a killing on what they charge. I also feel like IDC's core business is a wide-moat business since there is so much that goes into providing daily valuations, especially when it comes to complex/illiquid securities and their Fair Value pricing platform for foreign equities (they are in the process of developing one for Fixed Income as well). Throw in the fact that this will help ICE enter into some other areas of business (an example would be fixed income trading) and I think it will be hugely beneficial for them. A similar case would be FIS, who just purchased Sungard (they provide one of if not the biggest accounting platforms for financial services firms). Providing the market holds up, I think both have a lot of upside.
@WSJbreakingnews U.S. economy expanded 1.5% in the third quarter http://www.wsj.com we're in another recession by 18. especially with rates going up (which they need to) but Q2 next year is gonna be brutal
I can absolutely see the uses for it. I just think it's a niche market. Don't think the company is going to tank or anything, but if I'm looking for growth, I'm looking elsewhere.
I've been watching TWTR as well so it's good to see someone more knowledgeable than I taking a shot on it. I've got to believe that it has strong buyout potential probably from Google, er Alphabet, as they don't really have a social media quite like it, and I agree that it is a very powerful resource
Essentially, they make digital cameras, right? They've gotten a head start, found a niche, but there's nothing proprietary about their technology that I'm aware of. That'd be my concern personally ...
Rolling the dice with two more options plays. I bought the DECK 48 puts and the NUS 31 puts both expiring tomorrow. Both have earnings after the close.