karim0028

Yup, learned that shit in my CS degree... First weedout class of the degree program, hard as hell and backasswards... Car(car(ctr+1))) Got a C- and swore if i didnt pass i would switch majors, bc i wasnt about to take that again

Randy/Other Panama folks, How do you like life in panama? How did you come about your decision to move from the US to Panama? I hear great things about it, but have never been there and kind of wondering what drives folks to move there... What are the good, bad and the ugly about Panama...

Resurrecting this thread Has anyone with IB been able to negotiate better rates than what they post online? Looking at some of the other brokers i am seeing commission rates better by ~50-80c RT at other firms.... Trying to see if i can eliminate as much of the vig as possible Its not much but it can quickly add up....

No one knows who we are

Get a macbook pro, you will have a stable OS, a nice laptop and it will run windows better natively than a windows box (bootcamp) or virtually through vmware fusion...

Thats the point, i say you have no choice but be active.... if you leave it to a broker or a fund, then you get what you get, they will never care about your investments as much as you do.... Just ask half the country that sat through a 50% decline and then a 50% retracement of a 50% decline.... I dont ask a realtor if now is a good time to buy and i wont ask a broker (or anyone who makes money off me if i do buy) that question...

Thanks Brownie Just what i was trying to say; only coming from a previous insider... All you have to do is look at the blatant conflict of interest; if that doesn't spell it out for ya, i dont know what will...

I wouldnt consider you a lay person Sevensa..... Anyone involved in the markets is not a layperson... Great job by the way on your IRA.. You understand the ins and outs of the market; a layperson deposits money into his 401k and takes a shot in the dark at what to invest it in... BTW, in my case, there were no other options available... 100% invested in company stock, come hell or high water Due to the fact that it was the company putting in the money.... Trust me, i tried to go in cash, nope, not an option...

To add to it; i think a financial advisor should have a good understanding of monetary an economic theory not just parrot company pushed stock picks... A recent and pretty blatant example is gold, how many mainstream advisors have put clients into gold? Over the last 10 years gold has jumped 300-400%, while stocks went down by 50% and the dollar has gone down by ~20% this year alone.... I dont know any advisor aside from advisors for high net-worth folks who mention it.... Most, still know nothing of it... They will put you into what produces fees. I am of course talking about investing, nothing what so ever to really do with day to day trading... I am a big believer in doing my own homework....

Perhaps i am presenting it in a little of a jaded fashion... But, the markets by nature fluctuate and crashes do occur, i dont blame any body, quite honestly, i dont hold any equities and havent for several years, since for me the risk outweighs dividends and upside potential at this point, etc.. It just doesnt fit into my market view now... The account i was talking about was fully company funded, i manage my own assets.... Perhaps I am paranoid I started buying gold last year for a longer term hold against the soon to be debased currency.... What i am stating is that essentially, unless you follow some financial advisor who has proven himself like Marc Faber (or whoever you trust and makes sense to you) or someone along that caliber; some one from the likes of Fidelity (ie. cookie cutter) is usually just pitching his book (which he cant deviate from) and you will ride the rollercoaster up and all the way back down; erasing a generations worth of savings and profits..... Rarely will they ever tell you that its best to stay in cash, they dont make money keeping you in cash... A blatant conflict of interest... Obviously, not every advisor is an idiot, for every 4 idiots, there is that one diamond in the rough...

They go to the wolves.... Sorry, not trying to be coy or anything.... NO ONE has any incentive to make YOU more money than you; unless your Buffett your not going to get that kind of attention... The system is setup that way... Its made so that you are always invested and the pro's are the one's that make the money in fees and speculation..... I'll give you an example.. I had a 401k plan paid for by a company i work for, completely provided by them, i didnt add anything to it... I noticed the market beginning to turn and i wanted to sell it and go to cash, i wasnt allowed to, it had to always be invested.... I had to watch it lose half its value... Another example, i dont remember where i read this, but, Blackrock group is a private company setup by one of Bush's friends; made specifically to manage SS funds... How hard can it be to make money, when the company is setup specifically for that purpose and when that funnel of money is being pumped into your company every 2 weeks? Do they have to get a great return? Nope, just keep pace with the market...

I personally think investment advisors are a crock of shit, most of them, know nothing about fundamentals or technicals and are just pedaling whatever their firm tells them to push... For instance i have a friend of mine who works for Fidelity or one of these other investment services... He was telling me that now is a good time to get into 30 year municipal bonds.... Now, in my head, in the next 5-10 years shorting bonds at their present highs, is a no brainer, as they are a market like any other.... But, his take was where else are you going to get a 4-5% return.... True, but that is not so good when the value of the municipal bond tanks once Tbonds start providing higher yields as the markets are all inter-related... Looking at TBond prices, they are at all time highs, with interest rates (yields) essentially approaching zero... I spent alot of time explaining it to him and he still didnt get it.... He just kept re-gurgitating the "but where else are you going to get that kind of return".... I don't care about the "return" if there is significant risk of initial capital involved... Like missing the forest through the trees... Folks, going to advisors that have no clue about markets are like sheep being led to the slaughter..... If you have money, learn to invest it for yourself, dont delegate your money out unless you have seen a track record that proves the advisor knows what he/she is doing... Otherwise, the old saying goes; "a fool and his money are soon parted"....

Buy and hold has been dead for at minimum the last 10 years.... What we went through was 2 bubbles, one stock and the other housing...... I think its never a good idea to buy and hold (better aptly called, buy and pray ).. I believe that if you have positions in a portfolio (ie. not necessarily trading money) you need to have stops when/if the floor drops out, i would say 10-15% under where you bought (at the widest, as long as you bought around a support zone)... You can always buy in again, also keeping in mind that you should move to lock in profits, not just stop loss at break even... This does require that you track the market on a somewhat regular basis... But, if you have money in the market, then you should be watching at minimum semi-regularly

Dinero, what is their commission structure?

Novice, you are doing pretty well for just starting out... I've seen at least 3 or 4 days in a row where you are making about 250.00, that shows your at least doing something right... You're getting to consistency pretty quickly there.... Good Job.

EB, Can you post an example of one of your conquests ? From today for instance... Or something you saw before and snapped a screen shot of?

IB's entire platform blows... Their CS staff cant even figure out how to enter a simple order... If you use IB as a broker; you seriously need a different platform... I like their commissions, so i will keep my account open... But, i have accounts at IB (great rates), TOS (great platform overall, great charting, horrible futures commissions) and am thinking of opening an account with futurepath trading... Their photon trader platform is really really nice, probably the best, most adept and simplest i have seen to date (it costs $50/month)... Futurepath trading Customer service is amazing, flat out, the nicest and most knowledgeable and responsive i have seen... Also, right off the bat, FP's commissions are in line with IB (sometimes better).... FP is a futures only house. FP and TOS really impressed me in their own ways... I will stop now, bc i am beginning to feel like an infomercial, and i dont even have an account there yet

Unless you are bernie madoff, and screwed half a country; i highly doubt it.... Too long and complicated process...

I am neither a lawyer nor an accountant; so take it for what its worth... I would say no real advantage... In the US if you are a US citizen there is not such thing as anonymous when it comes to banking or brokerage; essentially anything tied to liquid "digital" assets... But, if you have a Costa Rican Passport (ie. dual citizen), then you would have an advantage in that no one in the US would have any idea about your financial accounts; as you would be listed under a corporation with a foreign director... You can report tax any which way you please; but as a US citizen you are obligated to report income especially since you are in the US.. If you are outside the US, i think there is a tax exemption for the first 70-80K of income... But, theoretically you would get "anonymity" from any US legal claims; since as a US person you would have no assets in the US... In other words you would be "off the grid"; and if you appear to have no assets less likely hood of getting sued bc some one thinks you are mister money bags... I always think that if you live in one place it is always prudent to have assets outside the jurisdiction for whatever reason that may come up... Think of it as a business owner would; you are "limiting liability"... Again, not a lawyer nor an accountant...

You can try bullionvault.com for holding physical gold outside the US.... Pretty solid and audited. I am still looking for the same things you mentioned above.... Essentially the mechanics of going offshore and trading (at least creating an account offshore).

Funny, that same thing happened to me IRS levies any and all accounts linked to you... They levied one account with a large sum of money in it for a $300 dollar amount they stated i owed them for a property tax refund that my accountant claimed incorrectly... Talk about power Now that is power... Luckily i had other accounts that i could access, but if you keep all your money/assets in a single place you cannot fight, bc what lawyer is going to work for free once they have you in that kind of bind? You are essentially screwed..

Sevensa, you assume that everyone who wants protection is doing something illegal.... Lawsuits can happen at any time and for any stupid reason, if your assets are out of reach lawsuits can be settled quickly and for little cost.... If they are domestic, contingency fee lawyers see $$$$'s and wont settle... Hunter1, do you have any tips on jurisdictions, entities, offshore brokers, etc...?

Yeah, seriously, i cant believe i have to have a customer service rep give me a call back the next day to tell me how to setup a bracket order on chart trader.... He literally had to check it out with other folks to be able to tell me how to make it work properly... I am almost positive its buggy... The most convoluted POS software i have ever seen.... Autotrader works way better, and thats free.....

yeah, i dont use them for charting either... Seriously, their charts are not even half way usable... But, i thought i could at least use them for order entry.... I was trying to use chart trader as an entry tool not as a charting tool... Guess i was wrong thanks i will take look at those other utils...

Hey Guys, This may sound like a dumb question as im not a newbie..... But, i recently opened an account with IB to test out the firm and see how their commissions work, etc.... Essentially to get a taste for them... Long story short, for the life of me cant get it to process an order the way i want it to... I am in chart trader and trying to fire off a buy stop with a bracket order profit taking order and a stop loss; all while trading off the chart.... This is about the most back asswards platform i have ever used... I sat for about an hour on the phone with support and each time they put me on hold to "confer" with colleagues... How f'ing hard is it to put together an order... I swear i called in about 3 times and each time they tell me they need to double check with someone and each time, no single person has been able to get it working properly... Anyone have any luck with this platform?