How To Invest In Legalized Marijuana

[t-pain]

all on the otc market. not something I would recommend

[+washtenaut]

many cannabis companies are crashing hard again today.  For example, TRTC is down about 50% since the election two weeks ago

[+washtenaut]

Article on some companies mentioned here.  The worst cannabis stocks in 2016

 

http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/12/02/the-worst-marijuana-stocks-in-2016.aspx?source=yahoo-2&utm_campaign=article&utm_medium=feed&utm_source=yahoo-2

[+washtenaut]

More bad press for Insys Therapeutics (INSY)

 

http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/12/09/this-marijuana-companys-in-hot-water-with-the-doj.aspx?source=yahoo-2&utm_campaign=article&utm_medium=feed&utm_source=yahoo-2

 

Ongoing investigations into the marketing of its once high-flying fentanyl spray, Subsys, have taken a lot of the luster off Insys Therapeutics' (NASDAQ:INSY) attempt to reshape marijuana's use as medicine. Today, investigations by the Justice Department led to the arrest of former Insys Therapeutics employees, including former CEO Michael Babich, casting more uncertainty on this company's future.

[bax]

INSY at a 1 year low. might be good time to buy.

 

but those asshats campaign against medical/recreational mj so screw them.

Edited December 9, 2016 by bax

[+washtenaut]

http://247wallst.com/consumer-products/2016/12/27/10-largest-marijuana-companies-2/

 

The 10 largest marijuana companies

[cristinew]

http://www.thedailychronic.net/2014/37614/hemp-oil-hustlers-project-cbd-investigates-makers-of-rsho/ 

[+washtenaut]

The 2016 Election Was A Tipping Point For Marijuana Stocks

 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenkam/2016/12/30/the-2016-election-was-a-tipping-point-for-marijuana-stocks/#6f0fa1001591

[Restorium2]

Interesting piece. More about investing in biotechs than legalized marijuana though.

 

Like he said;

 

It takes expertise and a lot of time to stay on top of clinical developments. This is why sector funds are a better way to play the biotech field for most investors.

 

I like to buy mutual funds that have exposure to biotechs. They have been doing good since Trump won.

[ChrisGearhart]

I've been researching cannabis penny stocks and such. I admit, I know NOTHING about buying stock. Seriously. 

Can anyone tell me how to easily buy some stocks? Is there a person or phone number to contact? I am really confused and want to give this a shot. 

Another question is this....can a poor person do this? 

[bax]

yeah, if you just want a cheap way to get in, talk to scotttrade customer service. there are other similar online stock trading websites where you can make trades for $8 fee per trade.

 

or if you have a bank account, ask them for some financial advice.

 

for all new investors i recommend just get a yahoo finance account and make a portfolio. track your virtual stocks, NO MONEY NEEEDED. then you can see if your stock bets payed off or not before you invest real money.

 

also marijuana stocks are bad, i wouldnt recommend them. we are still waiting for the DEA/SEC to come down hard on business stocks that deal with illegal substances. i'm sure it will not be pretty when this happens under jeff sessions watch....

Edited December 31, 2016 by bax

[+washtenaut]

This article tries to be balanced about the risks

 

http://www.fool.com/investing/2017/01/01/3-myths-about-marijuana-stocks.aspx

[Restorium2]

I've been researching cannabis penny stocks and such. I admit, I know NOTHING about buying stock. Seriously. 

Can anyone tell me how to easily buy some stocks? Is there a person or phone number to contact? I am really confused and want to give this a shot. 

Another question is this....can a poor person do this? 

I started buying stocks when I was 12 back in 1975. My mentor was my step grandfather who started his own gas company in Saginaw and it ended up being so big it ended up on the DJI. He told me I had to use my own money and buy stocks that represented products I liked. So my first stock was Heinz because I liked Ketchup. 

So a poor person can do it. I used money from mowing lawns to do it. 

 

Fast forward 40 + years and now your investment options are much better and easier to access. You can open a free account at Fidelity and buy mutual funds from them for free(no fee). Each mutual fund shows about 30% of the stocks the fund manages. Look through the mutual funds and see which one holds the kinds of stocks that represent products and services you support and use. The fundamentals are still the same. You have more ways to diversify your risk using mutual funds. They make it so you can't totally lose your arse if the economy downturns or a single company has a problem. 

 

Modern example; I have one fidelity mutual fund, contrafund, that I put $9000 in back in 1993 and now it's worth $60000. So the grand economic disaster of 2008 everyone talks about as their excuse for failure was just a bump in the road to success if you invested right. 

 

Get in the market! With the government we have right now everyone should be getting in the market. It's the perfect storm to make some money. Money isn't everything but it's going to feel good to be part of American business success, don't be left behind. 

[Highlander]

You speak wisely. Too many people want to be day traders and buy stocks with the expectation that they will sell the stocks in a year or two and clean-up. The other philosophy is that you buy stocks based on dividends. This is the responsible approach. And it's mostly recession-proof. You actually get to a point where you hope the value of the stocks drop so you can buy more at a bargain rate.

 

As an example, I bought $2000 of stock in a real estate management company in 1998. It has consistently paid close to 10% dividend yearly since then. I don't care what the stock is worth because I'd be a fool to sell my shares.

[Restorium2]

That management company is making money and has an excess cash on hand.

 

Dividends need to be managed for taxes.

 

Last year I had 160K in a mutual fund in my brokerage account that pays dividends once annually. It paid $18000 in dividends. This amount gets long term income status on your tax return. So you can get nailed for income even if you reinvest it back into the same stock. Unless it's a 401k, then you would pay tax when you sold shares of the mutual fund(long term income). 

 

Day trading profits, short term(invested less than a year), get taxed higher than longer term investment profits. 

[Highlander]

Yeah. Short term capital gains (two years) are taxed I think at 15% regardless of capital losses on other investments. So in other words, you can sell stock at a $100,000 loss and sell other stocks at $100,000 short term gain in the same year. Then you can't claim a $100,000 loss to balance the two to result in zero income tax. You still pay 15% on your gain.

 

Do I have that right?

 

The tax scheme isn't favorable to people trading in the short term.

[Restorium2]

That's right, especially the last part. It encourages long term savings and that helps businesses and the economy. 

[+washtenaut]

Yeah. Short term capital gains (two years) are taxed I think at 15% regardless of capital losses on other investments. So in other words, you can sell stock at a $100,000 loss and sell other stocks at $100,000 short term gain in the same year. Then you can't claim a $100,000 loss to balance the two to result in zero income tax. You still pay 15% on your gain.

 

Do I have that right?

 

Not quite.  The divider between short and long term gains is the 1 year mark.  Also, you can offset short term gains with short term losses.

 

This document is a bit dated but I think it is still correct

 

https://www.irs.gov/uac/ten-important-facts-about-capital-gains-and-losses

[Restorium2]

Not quite.  The divider between short and long term gains is the 1 year mark.  Also, you can offset short term gains with short term losses.

 

This document is a bit dated but I think it is still correct

 

https://www.irs.gov/uac/ten-important-facts-about-capital-gains-and-losses

If you do your investing through one investment service provider, like Fidelity, they automatically offset gains with losses which helps with your taxes. Keep in mind that there are no gains or losses unless you sell, except for dividends. So if you are sitting on some mutual funds, and they pay dividends, then there's nothing to offset those gains by dividends paid out if you haven't sold anything that year, even though your balance may show a loss. So there's always some decision making at the end of the year. 

 

editing to add; That's what is nice about a 401K, you don't have to pay tax on those dividends, they automatically get reinvested and you only pay taxes when you take the money out of the 401K. So the money you normally would have to pay in taxes in a brokerage account stay invested for as long as you want to help your investment grow. Also, you can put money in your 401K pre-tax from your income. That way there's even more money in that account growing. All of these details make the difference between winning and losing. Day trading gets none of the advantages and all of the disadvantages. It's mostly a loser, or a very small winner, after a huge risk to your investment capital. Day trading is kind of like gambling at the casino.

 

I think the best advice I ever got on investing; Like the old boy told me, not having a 401K (if you have a job where you pay taxes) is like throwing money in the trash can every week. 

Edited January 3, 2017 by Restorium2

[Highlander]

Not quite. The divider between short and long term gains is the 1 year mark. Also, you can offset short term gains with short term losses.

 

This document is a bit dated but I think it is still correct

 

https://www.irs.gov/uac/ten-important-facts-about-capital-gains-and-losses

Thanks. I think I was confusing short term capital gains with interest income. If I understand correctly, interest income is taxed at 15% and can't be off-set by losses. I know a guy who had a buy-here-pay-here used car lot. An example transaction is he'd buy a van for $2500 and sell it for $8000 with $500 down and about 25% APR. The $500 down covered only tax, title, and license, and the first few payments (if he got them) were almost 100% interest so he was paying interest tax when he was not making any profit. Eventually the whole house of cards spiraled out of control and his business tanked due to IRS liens.

[+washtenaut]

Trump's new buddy (see the picture)

 

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/cannabis-thought-leaders-are-cautiously-optimistic-about-trump-185830246.html

[Restorium2]

Trump's new buddy (see the picture)

 

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/cannabis-thought-leaders-are-cautiously-optimistic-about-trump-185830246.html

I think that's an old pic. 

[Restorium2]

Yup. It's from 2011:

 

Snoop Dogg and Donald Trump attend the "Comedy Central Roast of Donald Trump," at the Hammerstein Ballroom on March 9, 2011 in New York City.

[Restorium2]

Good time to enter the market. There will be a double bump up later this week. First, the Trump speech and then the big banks are going to show the best profits in three years. Investing is all about when you buy and when you sell. Today is a perfect 'enter' point. Like money fo nothin'. 

[+washtenaut]

This one was interesting

 

http://realmoney.thestreet.com/articles/01/12/2017/fund-manager-high-marijuana-zinc-shelters-pullback

 

from this article

 

McDonald says looking at cannabis companies now is "like looking at Apple (AAPL) or Microsoft (MSFT) stock in 1985" in terms of growth potential and returns for investors. Marijuana companies only have been public for a couple years.

"There won't be a joint in every home like there is a computer in every home, but we're looking at a potential $40-$50 billion market cap from zero. I think the returns here (for investors) will be as strong as they were in the first three years of the PC."