My Last Night With The Rx400h

[uthorns1976]

SW03ES may be a youngster but he understands the importance of "invest first, buy second".  If you learn to manage your money at a young age, you'll be able to purchase more of the things that you're passionate about throughout your lifetime because you'll take care of your financial planning first and therefore cover all your bases regardless of what life throws at you (health problems, job loss, career issues, spouse problems, etc.).

I love nice houses, vehicles, and toys as much as the next guy.  But I've worked hard, invested well, managed our assets professionally, and been prudent about what we need vs. what we want.  The result?  We were debt-free by age 36.  We owned our home, our vehicles, our property, and everything else free and clear and its been that way ever since.  We finance nothing.  If we want another house, we pay cash.  If we want a new vehicle, we pay cash.  If we want a piece of property, we pay cash.  We'll never have to worry about retirement and paying for our old age.  Our only real concern is staying healthy enough to enjoy what we've worked hard to do and build.

If I had not managed our finances the way that I do, we would not be in this position.  And that's why a professional understanding of financial planning and money management is so crucial for everyone.  Too many people work hard all their lives, make a great deal of money, but still manage to accumulate more debt than assets.  That is very sad and completely avoidable for anyone with discipline.

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RX...how about starting a stock tips thread?? Maybe in general discussion forum?? :)

[RX in NC]

I don't offer stock tips because in order to become a long-term successful market trader and investor, you must first put in the time and effort towards understanding market mindset, discipline, and technical analysis. This takes the average person three to five years. There is no magic stock or best stock, and there is no "right" stock that applies to everyone across the board. Your path to long-term market success comes from picking two to four "expert stocks" that you follow and learn and track daily without fail. You must keep a daily journal of these stocks and record where they open, how they track during the market day, and where they close - EVERY MARKET DAY WITHOUT EXCEPTION AND THERE ARE NO EXCUSES FOR NOT RECORDING THIS INFORMATION IN YOUR MARKET JOURNAL EVERY DAY FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE - period. Documenting this information takes about five minutes per day once you get good at it, and it will take you a few months to get good at it. As you build this stock activity history (that's really what you're doing), your market journal will become the most valuable possession you own because it will show you in black and white what your stocks did during all market conditions during all trading zones during all market events year after year after year. That is absolutely priceless information and I cannot begin to make you understand how important that information will become to you as you make your buy/sell/call/put decisions in the future. If your house catches on fire and you have time to retrieve only one item before your home burns to the ground, that one item you save will be your market journal. You won't even think about anything else. You don't believe that now, but it's true.

My four "expert stocks" are right for me and they may not interest you at all. You will eventually come to know your chosen "expert stocks" as well as you know your own children. You will learn how they react during earnings season, during warnings season, and during all three trading zones throughout the year. You will instinctively know when your "expert stocks" get up in morning, when they go to lunch, when they rally, when they flag, and you'll be able to correctly predict within a few pennies of where they'll close each day (barring a 9/11 or London bombing event, etc.). You will be able to make money by trading options off of your "expert stocks" because 80% of the time you will be able to correctly predict which direction they are headed over a one-week to four-week period, and you'll be able to play calls (when the stock is heading up) or puts (when the stock is heading down). But this takes some damn hard work, discipline, the ability to control your own fear and greed, the commitment to always follow the market rules and never break them (because the market is always right regardless of what you think and will take your head off if you try to contradict it). You must understand that this is a lifetime process and commitment, not a get-rich-quick scheme. There is no shortcut or easy money out there.

What I can offer is a recommended reading list of market and mindset books that can get you started in the right direction. You can find most of these books at your public library or through amazon.com. Take the time to read and study them and your market knowledge and understanding will begin to appreciate dramatically. Here's the list, in the order that you should read them:

"Rich Dad, Poor Dad" by Robert Kiyosaki

"The Cashflow Quadrant" by Robert Kiyosaki

"Introduction to Technical Analysis" by Martin Pring

"Rich Dad's Prophecy" by Robert Kiyosaki

"The Disciplined Trader" by Mark Douglas

"Japanese Candlestick Charting Techniques" by Steve Nison

"The Market Maker's Edge" by Josh Lukeman

"Getting Started in Options" by Michael Thomsett

"Boomernomics" by Sterling and Waite

This list is the initial part of a massive reading list that consists of more than 300 books compiled by one of the most dedicated and successful investors that I've ever met. He lives here in North Carolina and he has a remarkable ability to teach anyone willing to dedicate themselves to becoming a student of the market how to identify their own personal strengths and weaknesses and how to go on from there. He's also filthy rich and he walked away from his job in his mid-30s (he's now 45, I think). It makes no difference whether you are a high school graduate or a PhD - with hard work and discipline you can become as astute in the market as you choose to be. It's all about learning to combine the "art" of investing with the "charts" of technical analysis, but it takes years of dedicated effort. It is truly a "by yourself" thing - no one can do it for you. You get back exactly what you put into it. You become a lifelong student of the market and you can always improve your trading skills, investing skills, charting skills, and there is always more to read and study. But it eventually becomes second-nature to you. Some people choose to watch TV (my wife falls in that category). I think it's a waste of time and I choose to spend that time doing market analysis and reading more books on options or techniques or mindset or whatever I'm interested in learning about at the time. Warren Buffett once said "if you want to be rich, do what rich people do - read." He was absolutely 100% on the money with that statement.

Check out these books and you'll begin to understand where I'm coming from. But you must first understand that "trading" and "investing" are two completely different concepts and strategies. In a nutshell, you must first learn to trade so you can glean the money that will then allow you to invest and grow your wealth. You use your trading earnings to consistently grow your vault and that is what leads to wealth, usually built on no more than five to ten trades per month.

Go find these books and over time you'll make yourself a far better trader and investor than you ever thought you could be. I hope this long response has been worthwhile for you. Following this process has made me financially independent over the course of the last fifteen years. I know it works. But I admit that it is damn hard work and not everyone has the discipline and commitment to stay with it. Best wishes to you.

[katzjamr]

RX it is clear you have a talent and passion for what you do, it comes through in your post. Regarding LexKid, there are days i dont think he has a fleet of seven (+-) Lexi and one BMW and hes just pulling our leg, and there are days i think we dont know the whole story he really has the cars and there is family money available to him where it just doesnt matter what he does or affect his family adversely. Your cautions about spending ring true for our government as a whole as well as individuals. Being on the waiting list allowed me to save half of the cost of the 400h, the rest is paid through our family business. There are days i feel guilty spending this much one one vehicle, and at the same time it has energized me to work harder to be more successful.

[LexKid630]

I don't know what everyone's arguing about...How hard is it to believe??

- I didn't pay a dime for our house.

- My wife and i have been working since we got married (22 years, and i'm 45 now). I was a general surgeon for 11 years, and am now in pharmacy. My wife has been an attorney for 17 years.

..the only expenses we have had are college (which thank God for scholarships) and food + electric+heat bills etc!!

I didn't start buying expensive cars since 1990 when i had enough saved up so i was able to. My 3 kids need cars to drive; so there's the 03 LS, 04 ES and 03 RX. The ES330 is my wife's, the Rx330 is my main vehicle, and the BMW and GS are just "ours." since i drive so many miles a year i bought the GS and BMW to even them out a little...+ i just like them!!!

If i had to pay for ALL of my kids college and the $800,000+ for our house, i probably wouldn't be able to afford even one car!!!

[RX in NC]

I for one believe you. I just don't agree with compulsive spending instead of professional investing because I'm hard-wired that way. But that's your choice and I wish you the best.

[SW03ES]

I personally also have no reason not to believe you Lexkid. Ignore the people that don't, you're not going to be able to convince them and really why even bother?

Can't add much to what RX in NC has said but you'd be surprised how much wealth you can amass just by being smart with your money even at a young age. You'd be surprised how much money I have and thats not a boast. It surprises me. Even people who don't make a lot of money if they budget well, learn to buy things that they can afford to pay for instead of borrow for, and save the rest even if you aren't as savvy an investor as RX in NC you WILL have abundance I promise you. You can borrow, certainly leveraging your assets through strategic borrowing can be a smart business move but SMART is the key word there. I'm not a savvy investor at all, but I do have a good financial planner that I trust.

The attitude "Life's short, if I want it I'll buy it and damn the consequences" is ultimately self defeating in the end, always.

[Unlisted]

the facts that he constantly post trivial info over repeatedly {like mileage or more importantly price he paid} is a weak attempt to make his stories believable.Not one post lacks any depth in detail on any Lexus other then what has been read here or observed peering through the car window.Pyschology 101 Or he just happens to be an immature, rich pharmacist who drives 40k miles a year but always finds time to post, and shop for cars. Thats not that part that bothers me. Im not here to attack someone. The posts where he goes on about tranmissions troubles and the Rx 300's not being made well although he has had 5, I dont bleieve him and find the fact he posts things that effects other peoples views in anyway damaging to the forum. Ban me for trying to keep this forum imformative for curren,past and prospective Lexus owners.

[LexKid630]

the facts that he constantly post trivial info over repeatedly {like mileage or more importantly price he paid} is a weak attempt to make his stories believable.Not one post lacks any depth in detail on any Lexus other then what has been read here or observed peering through the car window.Pyschology 101 Or he just happens to be an immature, rich pharmacist who drives 40k miles a year but always finds time to post, and shop for cars. Thats not that part that bothers me. Im not here to attack someone. The posts where he goes on about tranmissions troubles and the Rx 300's not being made well although he has had 5, I dont bleieve him and find the fact he posts things that effects other peoples views in anyway damaging to the forum. Ban me for trying to keep this forum imformative for curren,past and prospective Lexus owners.

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I do what i can on this forum to help others in their problems. The transmission issue is just one of the things that i have experienced, so i just try to "inform" others. i'm not an engineer or a car mechanic so i can't really help anyone as far as engines go. I do what i can.

And for me driving 40,000 a year and "finding time to post"....i usually leave my house 5am and arrive at work at around 6:30. I have a computer at my home and at work. When i have downtime, i take the time to look on LOC to see if i can help anyone out... I'm just trying to be a good citicen you know; there really isn't much more i can do. If you would like me to leave LOC then i will. I really don't appreciate being called an "immature liar" when you know absolutely nothing about me or my family. I really don't know what your problem is.

[RX400h]

Wow! That was some of the best stock investment advice I've ever read. Sadly, most people will read savy advice and just continue to live their lives as they have. I once worked with a woman whose husband invested in apartment buildings here in San Diego since the early 80s. During the early 90s, he advised me to start buying apartment buildings. Boy, am I sorry I didn't persue this form of investment! As most of you know, real estate has skyrocked more in California than almost anywhere else in the nation.

It should've been a no-brainer for me at the time. But, as RX in NC stated, you have to make a commitment and persist.

[SW03ES]

Unlisted has been banned for two weeks. I've warned him four times now to leave LexKid alone or take issues with him up in private. He has a right to post here, and we have no right to pass judgement on any aspect of his life. There's no way we'll ever know if he or any one of us is for real or not, and I will not moderate or ban members based upon my or anyone else's intuition that they may be "disgenuine"

Leave keeping the forum as it should be to us, thats our job. Being rude and insulting to your fellow members does not help keep the forum anything for anyone. If you want to help the forum, discuss with us in private issues you may have or buy a gold membership.

See ya in two weeks.

Now, this has become a good discussion about financial planning and I don't want to close it, so lets drop this whole thing about LexKid and what he may or may not have.

[JasonATL]

Since SW03ES has suggested this as a "financial planning" discussion, I thought I'd weigh in.

First, my background: I have a PhD in finance and teach portfolio management at a major university business school, which also houses one of the best financial planning programs in the country. I have also consulted for professional money managers and regulatory agencies.

Second, my reason for posting: I wanted to provide a bit of a counterpoint to RX in NC.

Let me first say that I don't doubt RX's success that he/she has experienced. I also strongly endorse RX's and others' views that financial discipline can be rewarding.

The counterpoint is that RX's approach simply is inconsistent with what the overwhelming amounts of research (both theoretical and empirical) tell us about successful investing.

One of the few "truths" in investing is that diversification works. Holding/trading 2 to 4 stocks is risky. What is worse is that this isn't a risk that is rewarded over time or on average. It is only in a diversified portfolio of assets (stocks, bonds, real estate, etc.) that risk is rewarded over time. I know this sounds boring and it isn't as intriguing as there being some secret code that can be disciphered from studying charts and reams of data, but it is what has been established in both practice and theory by minds far greater than mine.

Investing and saving (different things, by the way) are marathons. Investing is not a short-term thing. If there was some simple (or, at least straight-forward) way to be a hugely successful trader (which is what RX is really talking about), then why wouldn't everyone have taken this path to riches? The fact is, that for every RX in NC, there is a "Kia in AZ" who tried this approach just as carefully and learnedly as RX and, perhaps just by chance, failed.

Investing in a diversified portfolio for the long-term is simple and effective. Will you become an overnight millionaire? No. However, if you keep your trading costs down, diversify your risks, and you don't chase trends, you will match the market and get compensated proportional to the risk you bear. I say this with confidence because I have decades of data and articles from nobel-prize winning economists to back it up.

What most have promoted here is saving and financial discipline -- very good advice. What RX is talking about mostly is an approach to investing. No number of book citations can establish the 4-stock trading approach as a sound approach that works for the average investor or even works on average, over time, for most investors. Will it work for some, almost surely. The lottery will work for some. But, that doesn't make it a good investment strategy.

[RX in NC]

What I do is a lifestyle more than a strategy. It works for me because I am disciplined and committed to it beyond the capability of 99.9% of the general population. But it does work. I retired at 49 because of this program.

[thesaintjim]

Well, you all should of saw the SIRI (sirius) stock and put in a few grand when it was about a buck. How do you think I paid for the majority of this car :D.

[91L3xus]

From what I have experienced, the stock market is a game of chance, and also of luck.

I say luck because about 2 years ago, my parents said that if I put $1,500 that I had saved up for quite some time into stocks, they would buy me a $1,500 computer (the one I still use now). I bought $1,500 worth of 2 stocks- XM Satellite Radio and Dave&Busters. Over the time of 9 months, I had made a $800 profit, after the costs of the trades, buying, and selling. I had the help of my parents yes, to carry out the transacions over the Internet, but selecting 2 stocks at random was the best decision I had made in a long time. I later sold the D&B stocks, combined the earnings of that sale with $400 of the $800 I had previously made, and bought some shares of Polo Ralph Lauren. Since I've bought those, they have also risen. In my case, it's dumb luck.

Because the SM is a game of chance, and once you reach an age where you can do it more frequently, you can end up like RX in NC, and retire at an early age, because you worked at it. I am not saying that at the rate I am earning that I will be able to retire at 39, but I believe that if I pursue the SM more in the future, it can lead to good things. My dad last night woke me up just to tell me that I was "one lucky SOB" that I picked the stocks that I did, also commenting on the fact most of the stockes he'd bought recently had taken a turn for the worse.

[SW03ES]

But its really not a game of chance. When you do it that way you're basically just playing a slot machine, eventually your luck will run out. The market has trends and with experience you will learn to read them over the years and will be able to make your investing pay off for you in the end. Its all about the kind of risk you want to leverage.

[91L3xus]

But its really not a game of chance. When you do it that way you're basically just playing a slot machine, eventually your luck will run out. The market has trends and with experience you will learn to read them over the years and will be able to make your investing pay off for you in the end. Its all about the kind of risk you want to leverage.

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That's why I've been consistent with the stocks that I originally bought. I'm not going to take any more risks as of yet that may jeapordize my success in the stock market so far; this means that I won't be experiementing with new stocks. I'm happy with my current stock's performance, and am confident that they will continue to thrive and increase in value, until I decide its time to sell.

[uthorns1976]

But its really not a game of chance. When you do it that way you're basically just playing a slot machine, eventually your luck will run out. The market has trends and with experience you will learn to read them over the years and will be able to make your investing pay off for you in the end. Its all about the kind of risk you want to leverage.

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That's why I've been consistent with the stocks that I originally bought. I'm not going to take any more risks as of yet that may jeapordize my success in the stock market so far; this means that I won't be experiementing with new stocks. I'm happy with my current stock's performance, and am confident that they will continue to thrive and increase in value, until I decide its time to sell.

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This is getting way, way off the subject and I hope I don't get my hands slapped. :P Do any of you guys and gals watch Mad Money with Jim Cramer on CNBC?? I have watched it a couple of times recently because someone told me about him. Is this guy nuts or what?? Wonder if he is ever right???

[indiasfinest]

lexkid....i believe you have those cars...i believe every word you have said and you have become an inspiration on my son...he looks at your garage and says to me "dad one day ill have the many cars in my garage..." and i think you help us all out..so screw all the ppl that think your a liar

[LexKid630]

lexkid....i believe you have those cars...i believe every word you have said and you have become an inspiration on my son...he looks at your garage and says to me "dad one day ill have the many cars in my garage..." and i think you help us all out..so screw all the ppl that think your a liar

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B) Thanks for your support ;) I'm glad i can help