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MilitaryToFinance

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Everything posted by MilitaryToFinance

  1. MilitaryToFinance
    How long are you planning on holding USLV? These levered ETF's don't work at all like people seem to think. They have daily rebalancing, the roll on the commodity futures will kill you. It is guaranteed over the long term to see this thing decline to $0(technically it won't hit 0 because they will keep reverse splitting the stock and starting the decline over again). If you're trading it over a few days or maybe a week then that's fine but nobody should be holding levered ETF's to express a long-term thesis.
  2. MilitaryToFinance
    I don't need to read the newsletter to know the inherent danger of shorting naked puts. If you don't know what gamma is or understand why negative gamma is incredibly dangerous in a portfolio you have no business trading options. Lots of people thought it was a great idea in early 1987. They thought it was a great idea during the tech bubble too. Then the market plunges, the IV explodes, your negative gamma makes the options explode in your face and you end up with not just a $0 balance but a very negative balance when the margin calls start rolling in. Options are not inherently dangerous and there are lots of good strategies retail investors can use with options to enhance their portfolio returns. However retail investors shorting naked puts is not one of those strategies.
  3. MilitaryToFinance
    This works great in a bull market but do you have any idea what negative gamma can do to a portfolio when you're wrong? There are lots of former traders out there who used a similar strategy.
  4. MilitaryToFinance
    Sorry but this isn't true at all. You have a lifetime ban from make representations to the federal government. However you can work for the company and help prepare another individual to present to the government. There are 1 year and 2 year bans from receiving compensation from companies under various scenarios but there is no lifetime ban from working for a company. I was an acquisitions officer and left the AF just over a year ago.
  5. MilitaryToFinance
    Could be worse...
  6. MilitaryToFinance
  7. MilitaryToFinance
    Do they still have the stupid bluetooth CAC reader? I was under the impression blackberry were the only ones certified for encrypted emails.
  8. MilitaryToFinance
    You are going to have to network like hell and find somebody who knows somebody. All the major consulting firms and banks recruit from top MBA's into their Associate programs. Offers for full-time jobs starting in June of this year were wrapped up a few months ago, summer internship offers for this year are going out right now. So you're already late/off-cycle. Unfortunately you already have an MBA because that is the best path into these jobs. Like Square said above, it will depend a lot on your goals and what you really want. You mentioned both consulting and finance in your post which have very different career paths, work-life balance and recruiting. Consulting could also range from strategy consulting at McKinsey to internal corporate strategy at a F500 company. The latter will be easier to get but I'm assuming when most people say Consulting they mean strategy consulting at McKinsey/Bain/BCG type place and when they say Finance they mean Investment Banking. Please correct me if I'm wrong. If you are looking at the middle market banks or boutique consulting firms that will make life easier. Goldman Sachs has a Veterans Integration Program but you missed the application window. You can also check out Veterans on Wall Street and American Corporate Partners to get started. **Qualifications: Separated last year to start a full-time MBA at a top program and am recruiting to work in hedge funds. We have a strong military group and send 5-8 people into consulting and 5-8 people into investment banking each year.
  9. MilitaryToFinance
    Take this for what it's worth but I've seen lots of people with CFA and CFP designations in the industry. I don't remember ever seeing anybody with ChFC and in fact have never even heard of it before. I would stick with one of the two but they are very different. CFP is for financial planning, this is helping people plan for retirement, balance their portfolios, save for kid's college, etc. The CFA is truly a financial analyst designation, this is what people working at mutual funds will get, people who want to understand equity research, corporate finance and valuations. What is your goal and why do you think you want one of these designations?
  10. MilitaryToFinance
    How many people buy "specialty" ammo? For target practice I usually bought the cheap stuff because it didn't really matter but I would imagine for personal/home defense some of the pricier ammo might be worth a little more. I have to admit I was browsing the Winchester Ammo website and was blown away by the number of options and "new" types of ammo they are producing.
  11. MilitaryToFinance
    I tried the same thing when I separated because they will pay for certifications needed to transition to a new career. However CFA was not one they would pay for. I tried to convince them but never succeeded.
  12. MilitaryToFinance
    Thanks. Sadly no, just got to NYC last August and will be here at least another 16-18 months. The irony is of all the places I've lived now is where I probably need the gun the most (living in Harlem) and yet am the most restricted in my ability to own one.
  13. MilitaryToFinance
    Since moving to the fascist city of NYC I haven't had much need to buy ammo anymore but just out of curiosity are supplies still as tight as 10-12 months ago? I know people were stockpiling like crazy for a while, has it slowed down?
  14. MilitaryToFinance
    If you want something with more meat on it and not the typical stuff like you mentioned then ignore Ramsey, he is worthless. Here are probably two of the best books to start from. Intelligent Investor: https://www.amazon.com/The-Intelligent-Investor-Practical-Counsel/dp/0060155477/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1388771737&sr=8-3&keywords=intelligent+investor Security Analysis: https://www.amazon.com/Security-Analysis-Edition-Foreword-Editions/dp/0071592539/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1388771785&sr=8-1&keywords=security+analysis For a modern take on this style of investing I recommend Greenwald's book. https://www.amazon.com/Value-Investing-Graham-Buffett-Finance/dp/0471463396/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1388771814&sr=8-1&keywords=bruce+greenwald There's also Peter Lynch's classic. https://www.amazon.com/One-Up-Wall-Street-Already-ebook/dp/B006YDFYW6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1388771861&sr=8-1&keywords=one+up+on+wall+street
  15. MilitaryToFinance
    I've had Vanguard accounts since 2001 and they are great. If you want passive funds with low expense ratio and no-load fees they are the best option in my opinion. As to the main question of the thread, I had a net worth of about $200,000 shortly after pinning on Captain but then I separated from the AF, moved to NYC and started graduate school. So I'm guessing when I turn 30 and graduate I will be starting back from $0 again if not a negative net worth.
  16. MilitaryToFinance
    This can be very expensive. Be aware if you do this that money will be considered taxable income for the year. Not only will you pay taxes on the balance and any gains, if you are near a cut-off that extra "income" can bump you up into a higher tax bracket for the year. Make sure you run all the numbers for deciding to make the switch.
  17. MilitaryToFinance
    I see your partial retard and raise you a bigger retard. https://eagnews.org/parents-are-stunned-that-the-teachers-union-is-seeking-a-10000-severance-for-the-teacher-who-molested-their-son/
  18. MilitaryToFinance
    Yeah you mentioned diversification I just wanted to make it clear that just focusing on diversifying via beta isn't necessarily lowering the portfolio beta. As much as Taleb is a bit of an arrogant prick I agree that his book is worth a read. Really CAPM lost it's luster before 2008. Using beta as a measure of risk is stupid for many reasons. Mathematicians and statisticians love it because it is something that can be modeled to give you a false sense of security that your risk is lower than reality. Just look at LTCM for an example of incredibly smart people thinking their models are infallible. Think about it rationally, what is the risk when you make an investment? Is the main risk that your returns might be volatile? No. Your real risk is permanent loss of capital. What you should be focusing on is buying securities with a significant margin of safety between price and value to decrease your risk of loss of capital. Unfortunately there is no easy way to define this with a formula so we make up fancy statistics and then tell people the math is complicated so it must be true. If a good company with say $500M of assets is selling for an enterprise value of $600M, then the stock gets cut in half the beta will shoot up but now you can buy $500M in assets for $300M dollars. Has that stock gotten riskier? No, in fact the investment is much safer at the low price than it was at the high price.
  19. MilitaryToFinance
    This is mostly true but missing a key component. I'll spare this forum the details of Modern Portfolio Theory and Capital Asset Pricing Models but Beta is only a part of the equation. Beta defines the correlation and volatility of returns compared to the market. However to reduce your overall portfolio beta you also need to understand the covariance between individual investments. If you have 3 low beta stocks but they all happen to be an oil refiner, an oil pipeline and an O&G exploration company then combining the three is not going to reduce your overall portfolio beta by much because they will all be very positively correlated. Of course this is ignoring all the well documented flaws of CAPM and using beta to define risk in the first place but I won't go down that path tonight.
  20. MilitaryToFinance
    A low stock price does not make a stock cheap. I highly suggest you learn more about stock valuations before you lose a large amount of your savings buying "cheap" stocks.
  21. MilitaryToFinance
    Seriously? I know the story is no more real than Lord of the Rings but is it really necessary to make a Noah's ark story into a LOTR style epic?
  22. MilitaryToFinance
    In this market environment there is no low-risk way to make better than 3-4% a year. Typically people look at the 10-yr treasury as a risk free rate which is currently sitting at 2.6% but calling that risk free is a joke right now. We are in the middle of the largest bond bubble ever seen and in 3 years it is highly unlikely your bonds will still be at their current price. I would look for some decently priced stocks with good dividend yields. Sturm, Ruger(RGR) sports a 4% yield right now in a strong growing business. Philip Morris International (PM) also has above a 4% yield with a strong business. There are others out there as well. Bottom line is you have a negative real return on savings accounts and CDs, bonds are a massive bubble waiting to explode, you're really only left with stocks or commodities to invest in. And the reality is most people on this forum are nowhere near qualified to have an intelligent view on commodity prices.
  23. MilitaryToFinance
    There is a key component to the debt limit that most people overlook, it applies to the face value of the debt issued. So theoretically you could issue a new bond at a crazy high interest rate and take in far more revenue than face value to pay off debts and roll existing obligations. For instance issue $50B of 10-year bonds at 15% coupon. Since the 10-year yield right now is around 2.68% your $50B in face value bonds would actually get sold into the market for somewhere north of $250B. You can then use that money to pay existing obligations and roll $50B of expiring bonds out. Obviously the downside to this method is the government incurs a large interest burden in the out years but that is arguably better than the ramifications from a default.
  24. MilitaryToFinance
    Those are just the potholes.
  25. MilitaryToFinance
    You might not consider yourself a homophobe but you are. If simply talking to a person who has a lisp and shakes his head when he talks makes you uncomfortable then you are pretty far down the road of homophobia. You claim you aren't close minded yet you state multiple times that you are uncomfortable even being around a gay person. He didn't hit on you, you admit he did his job very well and you admit you really weren't bothered by the uniform violations. The only thing that actually bothered you is that he is gay. That is pretty much the definition of bigotry. So to answer your other question, yes. In fact it won't take 40 year, people today are more than willing to let you know that you sound exactly like your grandfather.
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