in Iraq, need advice

[sekto]

Hey there im new to the board.
Lil about myself; Im 21 yrs old currently in the US army and serving in iraq. Ive been investing in stocks since i was 16 so it's been a long time love of mine. I cant say that im a market expert in anyway but I have made some good picks in the past. But lately with the insufficient time ive spent studying the market due to work load and limited internet access, my investments have not faired too well. Anyway, enough about myself. The reason i chose to post here is because id like to hear some suggestions or new ideas from you all about how i might be able to better balance my portfolio or make better stock investments in the future. Id like to know about things that have worked for you all.
have followed this board for a while and have noticed that there are a lot of experienced and very knowledgable investors here.
My portfolio break down is as follows:

Ive got about 5,500$ in sirius satellite radio (siri) and 4,000 cash in available funds.So my caps around 10,000$
Honestly, most of my investment experience has been with small cap stocks.. I havent bought shares of any company over 10$ just because of the fact that my buying cap is so low but id like to change that because small caps havent gotten me very far. That's not to say that i dont know how mid cap and large cap stocks move. I have enough market exposure to understand them. I just need some type of suggestion on where to start (a push into the right direction). I plan on adding 500$ to my funds every month in an effort to increase my profits and capital in the end.

I look forward to hearing all ur replies and wish u all a merry christmas =]

-sekto

[mrmarket]

I promised Sekto he'd get some good answers from the propeller heads on this board.

I'd start out by saying I like to be diversified, that way if one stock doesn't go the way you want it, you can afford to ride it out a little. Of course being diversified reduces your chance of hitting a grand slam, but I like hitting bunches of singles anyway.

[New-born baby]

Here's what I'd do

Sekto,
If I were in your situation (and by the way, me and my family thank you for fighting to keep us all safe and free), I'd invest in Viking Energy Trust on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The symbol is VKR.UN. It pays a monthly distribution of 12 cents Canadian on a $9.33 Canadian share, which amounts to a little over 16% per year. It sells natural gas and oil, and I think the energy market is going to continue to prosper for some time. What to know more? Look up on this site the thread "Newborn Baby's Cans: making money in a down market."

Why this thing is a great play for you: because with a 16% divy, the stock cannot fall too far. If the price drops, buy more, because that means you'll be making 17% on those shares. Furthermore, you can walk away from the computer and not worry because you'll be getting a check every month. If the stock dropped $1, the divys are $1.44 per year, and cover that amount in a hurry. Realistically, it isn't going to drop.

And on a $10k nest egg, I'd put every dime I had into this company. If you buy before Dec 28, your first check will be January 15, 2006, and on every 15th after that.

If you insist upon diversification, buy PMT.UN. Sells natural gas, and is a wonderful company, but pays about a 13% divy. Ex-date for PMT.un is also 28 Dec, and pays on the 15th each month.

Best to you.

[sekto]

'

Hey nb, i really like the whole idea and am gonna start on it asap.
About VKR though, they agreed to that merger with harvest energy which if i read correctly will exchange every 4 shares of vkr i own to 1 share of harvest energy which sits at around 37-38$ or so. The only upside here is that harvest energy pays 0.35 cents a unit as a divy but ill have less shares. It comes to around the same every month for me if i calculated correctly but what is your take on it?

Also lets assume i have 1,000 shares (units) of vkr. 0.12 cents per unit is $120, but how much of that actual amount would i see after taxes/currency exchange? any additional feedback would help

Thanks again for your help, Sekto

[Runner]

Sekto, what part of Iraq are you in? I was in Mosual and Kirkuk. Not sure on the spelling. I remember those huge camel spiders. Have you seen any? How is it that you could use the internet? The only thing i saw that resembled a computer was a GPS. What is your MOS? I was assigned with 82nd and my MOS was 11B. I'm proud of all you guys and keep up the good work. We use to freeze our butts off at night out their. Watch those darn IED's.

Hope you and your unit has a safe and Merry Christmas.

[sekto]

hey runner, im currently at abu ghraib just outside baghdad city. my mos is 31b (mp) ya, ied's are pretty bad right now.
Altough we do live ina shit hole, cant compare to the conditions you guys had to endure when you first got here.
be glad to hear from u again.

,sekto

[scifos]

I'd suggest socking your money in PWO, its an exchanged traded fund that is like the QQQQ except its rebalanced every 3 months (I think, maybe every month) to try and add a little weight to what stocks are doing best at the moment. That should get you decent diversification and a better return than your $4k cash. Then look at some stocks that pay handsome dividends, like what New-Born Baby suggested. They are the kind that you can buy and won't have to watch every day.

Spend what time you can reading up on value investing. Value investors usually invest for longer periods of time (again, so you won't need to be stuck in front of a computer). When you think you've found a business that you can buy for cheap you can move some of your money from PWO into it and see how it looks in 3 months or a year.

[Websman]

hey runner, im currently at abu ghraib just outside baghdad city. my mos is 31b (mp) ya, ied's are pretty bad right now.
Altough we do live ina shit hole, cant compare to the conditions you guys had to endure when you first got here.
be glad to hear from u again.

,sekto

Hang in their dude. I'm 100% behind you!

[New-born baby]

Hey nb, i really like the whole idea and am gonna start on it asap.
About VKR though, they agreed to that merger with harvest energy which if i read correctly will exchange every 4 shares of vkr i own to 1 share of harvest energy which sits at around 37-38$ or so. The only upside here is that harvest energy pays 0.35 cents a unit as a divy but ill have less shares. It comes to around the same every month for me if i calculated correctly but what is your take on it?

Also lets assume i have 1,000 shares (units) of vkr. 0.12 cents per unit is $120, but how much of that actual amount would i see after taxes/currency exchange? any additional feedback would help

Thanks again for your help, Sekto

Yes, in March there will be a stockholder's meeting to vote to merge VKR with HTE.UN. The divy is .38C, and the current exchange rate is .8689, so 1 CD gets you .87 USD. Taxes, automatically taken out, are 15%. There are no tax issues to be concerned with. You'll get 85% of your divy each month, and at the end of the year, there are no taxes issues to concern yourself with because the US gov't gives you a tax credit for foreign taxes up to $3000. With a $10k nest egg, you'll not just yet net $3000 in taxes on those divys!

HTE is rock solid. It pays out only 61% of income to divys, and the speculation is that during 2006 that divy will increase handsomely to a payout ratio of perhaps 75%. (Maybe they'll raise the divy to .47 or more. Remember, my view is that oil will bust $70, maybe much higher, this Spring and Summer. At .38 divy, you are earning 13%+. If divy is increased, the share price will in turn rise, and you'll be earning probably 20% on your initial investment, plus you'll realize a capital gain in the stock price, as it will move upwards to keep the divy/price ratio at about 13%. In short, a good, safe, profitable investment. Remember, the S &P only nets about 8% per year.

In summary, there is good upside here; it is a safe investment; and you don't have to watch the thing every day. Just collect the money on the 15th each month.

God bless you.

[dmk112]

NB, you haven't been posting in your CANS thread, which ones are you in right now?

[mooddude]

I'd invest in Viking Energy Trust on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The symbol is VKR.UN.

How do you buy it, say, through Scottrade? I can't find the symbol there.

[sekto]

i bought using scottrade. You have to call them and tell them ur buying on the toronto stock exchange and the symbol is (vkr-un.to)
They will verify that it is viking energy, last price in US dollars was around 8.20$ a share

Hope that helps =] Take care

[New-born baby]

Good going!

i bought using scottrade. You have to call them and tell them ur buying on the toronto stock exchange and the symbol is (vkr-un.to)
They will verify that it is viking energy, last price in US dollars was around 8.20$ a share

Hope that helps =] Take care

Great going, man!

[spikefader]

Hiya sekto,

Forgot to welcome you to the boards when I replied to your posts in my thread, so welcome! Looks like you got some solid advice you've acted on, so good luck with the play dude! NB's divy plays make so much sense and it seems perfect for your current situation.

Don't know if you're still holding any of SIRI, but the last 3 days action is disappointing for bulls, and I am expecting gap fill at 6.00 as a result (note the 6.00 gap up was on low volume and the recent gap down was on high volume). Also a 2 day island reversal is there now, as well as the worriesome failure to run after the breakout was made. All that's plenty enough warning to exit any long and look for gap fill entry lower. And if that gap support fails, it's in dire danger of falling to 2.77 gap fill. There are better longs out there than SIRI right now I think. I've posted several in my thread recently.

Anyway, good luck over there sekto, thanks fer doin' it and prayers up to the big guy that you make it home safe.

[sekto]

Hiya sekto,

Forgot to welcome you to the boards when I replied to your posts in my thread, so welcome! Looks like you got some solid advice you've acted on, so good luck with the play dude! NB's divy plays make so much sense and it seems perfect for your current situation.

Don't know if you're still holding any of SIRI, but the last 3 days action is disappointing for bulls, and I am expecting gap fill at 6.00 as a result (note the 6.00 gap up was on low volume and the recent gap down was on high volume). Also a 2 day island reversal is there now, as well as the worriesome failure to run after the breakout was made. All that's plenty enough warning to exit any long and look for gap fill entry lower. And if that gap support fails, it's in dire danger of falling to 2.77 gap fill. There are better longs out there than SIRI right now I think. I've posted several in my thread recently.

Anyway, good luck over there sekto, thanks fer doin' it and prayers up to the big guy that you make it home safe.

Hey spike, thx for ur help but i have a question on SIRI. Im new to the world of TA and so i wanna see ur take on this...

The fact that the gap up was on low volume indicates that the stock was not over bought and the gap down on high volume shows that investors took profit and the stock was oversold. SIRI posted a 17 cent gain today as a result showing some support at 7.00 on a bit above average volume. Either way, i think a tight stop at 7.00 might be to my benefit. What is ur take on this? Thanks in advance!