Help! 15k in debt!

[Hummer]

Well not really, but my accounting teacher has us playing the stock market game.

I sold some stock that wasn't doing to well and somehow that put us 9k into debt. I don't know how selling stock put us into debt. Anyways now some idiot on my team bought Daimler Chrysler stock with money we don't even have so now we're 15k in debt. I don't want to sell Daimler because they dropped so much and I'm afraid that they have some chance of going back up if GM buys them.

I need help on how to get out of debt and back on the score board. We are currently in last place in our region. I have 112k worth of longs and with the debt it puts me at 97k in equity. I don't want to sell more to get out of debt for fear that I will lose more money like I did first time I sold stock.

Attached is our account summary and account holdings. What do I do?!

 

[CEAbiscuit]

Stop buying tech stocks and invest in international stocks and oil.

 

[CanadaRAM]

Face it, some win and some lose, this is the lesson for you in this class.

 

[Hummer]

Face it, some win and some lose, this is the lesson for you in this class.

I still have another month and a half to play the game. I don't think I want to give up now. We just started a week ago.

 

[TheAnswer]

Stop buying tech stocks and invest in international stocks and oil.

Yeah...you are way too heavy on tech stocks...international, oil, maybe gold and healthcare too. The real question is if you can recover in the duration of the class or not. Even if not, you've at minimum learned to diversify your portfolio to avoid sector volatility.

 

[CEAbiscuit]

Almost half you portfolio is in google. Dump 3/4 of google and go half oil, half international.

 

[shecky]

I sold some stock that wasn't doing to well and somehow that put us 9k into debt. I don't know how selling stock put us into debt.

the fact that you do not know how selling stock put you into debt combined with the fact this is a class makes me wonder if asking people how to do it instead of learning how to do it yourself is a smart move.

the idea of school is to learn, not be told what to do. try learning instead of asking here how to do it.

 

[TheAnswer]

I still have another month and a half to play the game. I don't think I want to give up now. We just started a week ago.

Don't give up, but definitely diversify as much as possible...I'd like to think the teacher will reward a group that learned the lesson of sector risk instead of a group that went heavy into one sector but just happened to pick the lucky sector for that period of time.

 

[heehee]

Energy and commodities are your friends.

 

[hayduke]

Given your forum of choice for posting this, can I suggest AAPL?

 

[WildCowboy]

Yeah...you are way too heavy on tech stocks...international, oil, maybe gold and healthcare too. The real question is if you can recover in the duration of the class or not. Even if not, you've at minimum learned to diversify your portfolio to avoid sector volatility.

But you don't win the game if you diversify! You have to bet the farm on the winning horse!

That said, if anybody knows for sure how to turn his portfolio around in six weeks, let me know so that I can put some real money into that strategy.

Did your team have an investment strategy or did you just buy stocks of companies you like?

 

[Hummer]

the fact that you do not know how selling stock put you into debt combined with the fact this is a class makes me wonder if asking people how to do it instead of learning how to do it yourself is a smart move.

the idea of school is to learn, not be told what to do. try learning instead of asking here how to do it.

I thought it was a good thing to consult with others when your initial approach doesn't work out too well.

 

[Hummer]

But you don't win the game if you diversify! You have to bet the farm on the winning horse!

That said, if anybody knows for sure how to turn his portfolio around in six weeks, let me know so that I can put some real money into that strategy.

Did your team have an investment strategy or did you just buy stocks of companies you like?

My strategy was to buy things that had some kind of product in the works that could boost their stock prices when released or announced. Kind of where I got the idea of buying apple.

 

[shecky]

I thought it was a good thing to consult with others when your initial approach doesn't work out too well.

consulting with experts/teachers/those knowledgable in the subject at hand, yes. i nor you know how much (or little) the people responding to the thread know about the stock market.

Attached is our account summary and account holdings. What do I do?!

saying "i messed up, please explain to me what i did wrong" is the right way. asking "what do i do" is the wrong way.

 

[TheAnswer]

Who the heck in your group picked LG?...looking at the charts I can't see anything promising about the trends. See if your accounting class has any kind of black market where you can sell of that guy's organs for cash.

 

[swiftaw]

From looking at the attachments, it seems that you are not $15 in debt, but that you have -$15k of cash, if you cashed in all your stocks you would have $97.5k as your stocks are worth $113k

 

[Hummer]

Who the heck in your group picked LG?...looking at the charts I can't see anything promising about the trends. See if you accounting class has any kind of black market where you can sell of that guy's organs for cash.

Uhh... I asked a friend for advice and he replied to buy lots of LG. And the KE850 (mind you I know very little about the trends and what actually makes people buy stock) backed up his claims.

 

[TheAnswer]

Uhh... I asked a friend for advice and he replied to buy lots of LG. And the KE850 (mind you I know very little about the trends and what actually makes people buy stock) backed up his claims.

I think your main mistake was basing future stock performance on product announcements. Add to that, most of your portfolio is pairs of competing companies...for example if LG's phone takes off, that damages Apple's iPhone chances. ATT and Verizon compete in mobile phone, Time Warner and ATT compete in Cable TV. Toyota and Daimler...same story.

 

[WildCowboy]

Uhh... I asked a friend for advice and he replied to buy lots of LG. And the KE850 (mind you I know very little about the trends and what actually makes people buy stock) backed up his claims.

Well, for starters, you didn't buy LG Electronics. The ticker symbol "LG" belongs to Laclede Group, an energy holding company. LG Electronics doesn't trade on any US exchanges.

 

[Hummer]

I guess I'm bailing out of all of my stock.

 

[Sun Baked]

Hint: Hire and accountant to balance your checkbook and pay your bills in real life.

 

[Hummer]

This is my grade for a class...

and usually this is the highest grade on my report card. (98 for 2 quarters)

 

[Sherman Homan]

mind you I know very little about the trends and what actually makes people buy stock

It is counter-intuitive, you needed to buy AAPL when everyone was predicting gloom and doom. Buying it now ~90 seems like the right thing to do because everyone is all upbeat about it, but it probably isn't going to keep going up. Pick something that everyone "knows" is a dead loser. A year ago General Motors was pronounced dead and buried, of course it went up 83% over 2006.

 

[robbieduncan]

Do a Nick Leeson. Start selling options to cover your massive losses and flip it out the other way doubling your bets when the market goes against you. You'll either end a way up or bankrupting an ancient and proud banking institution

 

[Hummer]

I dumped all my stock except for apple which has been doing generally well.