Citi sells hedge fund businesses to SkyBridge Hedge Funds - MarketWatchSo I'm skeptical about stocks in spite of bounce back which sems to have everyone enthused. I got killed in our index fund and took the emotional exit, dropping out, cementing my losses. That's what you're not supposed to do. Another way of looking at it is that I'm paying for my heart. I'm angry, very angry, and it's likely I'll remain angry.
On the other hand, I had good luck in playing around with small quantities of individual stocks. The first thing I did was buy and sell a local bank stock. I held it for over a year so it would be taxed at a lower rate but I made about 23 percent in profit. Not bad for a rank amateur.
Continuing my blunders, I tucked away a portion of those earnings and put a bit into (you'll laugh) Ford. Essentially, I could only afford "beat up" stocks--cheap. Everyone laughed at me. It was hard to believe the amount of scorn to which I was subjected if I announced this to anyone. I got lucky in the timing. I sold the Ford at a good profit...don't remember exactly.... but then it dropped in price so I bought it again. Again, I made money. I sold Ford short, however; I would have made a lot more if I'd held on to it but still I was happy. A bird in hand. I felt like I'd got over. And then I bought Citi--- Well, I thought they'd finally got me. Citi dropped, dropped further, and kept dropping. I felt bad, afraid to mention it to my wife who had set a strict gambling limit. I bought some more Citi stock.
It took a while, but not Citi "C" is being productive--in its own way. It's not earning anything--has no P/E and no EPS. But the price jump has put me into the black and then some. It's likely I'll hold on for quite some time as the whole business takes too much time. I think Citi will be good investment in the long term.
Citibank announced today it was selling its hedge fund to Skybridge. Good riddance. I hate hedge funds (though they're necessary) because they always make me think of George Soros.
Anyway, here's the story from the Wall Street Journal. Click on the headline--it'll open up.
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