Reply #21: 45% a year not outlandish... [View All]

[bejammin075]

for an individual investor, but for a fund, it's hard to make that much when you have so much money to move around. As an individual invester, I'd be disappointed with less than 50% a year, but what I do is risky and not recommended. If your timing is good with stocks, you can make a lot.

During one year, I used a regular, taxable account to try an experimenal investment system that I devised, just for shits and giggles. Basically, I traded the same stock over and over again (about 40 times during the 1 year), and made 230% profit, even after paying the equivalent of 100% of the original capitol in transaction fees. If I didn't have to pay fees (or if the money was large enough that the fees were relatively much smaller) I would have made well over 300% profit, as in doubling the money about every 6 months. After each trade, I reinvested all of the money in the next trade. At the end of the year, I made $$ on 90% of the trades, lost on 5%, and tied on 5%. In my case, I think I have a gift or instinct for timing stocks, and a psycho risk tolerance. Unfortunately for me though, I don't care about $$$ that much anymore, and I don't have time to play stock market games. But do I attend to my retirement account just enough to get what most would consider some outstanding returns.

I have a friend who manages several hundred million for a hedge fund on Wall Street. Those funds are relatively unregulated, and for those who have at least $1 million to invest. They have computer programs analyse world markets for opportunities 24 hours a day. I'm not sure what his rate of return is, but it's a lot. Whether the market goes up or down or sideways, he's always making money for his clients. That's what many people don't realize. The rich fat cats aren't hurting when stocks go sideways or down.