Just bought a Tesla... stock.

[cdub]

Not the car. I wish.

Going to buy some Nissan stock soon too.

Maybe eventually my investments in that will eventually allow me to buy a real Tesla.

 

[abasile]

I hope this represents only a small percentage of your overall portfolio. For the great majority of people including myself, I believe it is safer to stick with highly rated mutual funds and generally avoid individual stocks, especially small company stocks which tend to be volatile. Most of us do not have the time to understand the market and individual companies well enough to beat a quality mutual fund. Further, many would argue that it's best to stick with index funds and not even try to outsmart the market.

Holding a modest amount of Tesla or Nissan stock as a vote of confidence in EVs might not be a bad thing, though.

 

[coqui]

abasile, I respectfully disagree.

A mutual fund is NOT "mutual" per se (mutual - for the benefit of all who buy into it). It IS beneficial to those for whom management fees are generated.

If cdub has done his/her research and feels the stock is a potential winner, technical indicators, balance sheet, income statement, etc, and assuming sufficient diversification, and stop losses to protect him/herself, then by all means do it.

 

[charlestonleafer]

I'm a Tesla stock holder as well. It's not the majority of my portfolio, but I genuinely believe it to be a winner. As for Nissan I'm not so sure, they produce a lot more ICE cars than electric. I love my Leaf, but I want to see more before I invest.

 

[abasile]

A mutual fund is NOT "mutual" per se (mutual - for the benefit of all who buy into it). It IS beneficial to those for whom management fees are generated.

That also happens to be part of the argument in favor of index funds, which usually have very low management fees. (That said, I personally do not own index funds.)

 

[cdub]

I hope this represents only a small percentage of your overall portfolio. For the great majority of people including myself, I believe it is safer to stick with highly rated mutual funds and generally avoid individual stocks, especially small company stocks which tend to be volatile. Most of us do not have the time to understand the market and individual companies well enough to beat a quality mutual fund. Further, many would argue that it's best to stick with index funds and not even try to outsmart the market.

Holding a modest amount of Tesla or Nissan stock as a vote of confidence in EVs might not be a bad thing, though.

Chill out guys.

I just bought $100 worth. I have a index mutual fund for my IRA... this is my "fun money" for investing.

 

[TonyWilliams]

Many, many moons ago, I took a class about investing in Orange County. Of all the things he said, one stuck with me. Don't gamble on something just because you recognize the name, or you "like" the company.

He used an example of Disney. He asked his young daughter what company to invest in and she said Disney. He then noted how Disney went up significantly after her recommendation. :mrgreen:

I own 1,000 shares of Tesla, and yes, I fully hope that it will go up to make that down payment on a Model S or X. I do not believe it to be a "safe" investment, however. The stock lost 20% last week when two key guys quit (and who were being replaced).

The stock went back up. And so it goes. Don't invest it if you can't afford to lose it.

 

[DaveEV]

If you're in to EV related stock - look at A123 - stock is at an all time low right now - could buy a good number at a low price and hope they finally land some big EV and grid-storage contracts.

 

[cdub]

I own 1,000 shares of Tesla, and yes, I fully hope that it will go up to make that down payment on a Model S or X. I do not believe it to be a "safe" investment, however. The stock lost 20% last week when two key guys quit (and who were being replaced).

The stock went back up. And so it goes. Don't invest it if you can't afford to lose it.

Never said it was a safe investment. This is my playing around money. I've never bought individual stocks before... just index funds... so testing the waters so to speak.

 

[abasile]

Chill out guys.

I just bought $100 worth. I have a index mutual fund for my IRA... this is my "fun money" for investing.

That's cool! Your approach seems very sane. Forgive me if I overreacted. It's just that I've made plenty of (thankfully nonfatal) investing mistakes, and I've seen others get carried away and later regret it, big time.

 

[linkim]

If you're in to EV related stock - look at A123 - stock is at an all time low right now - could buy a good number at a low price and hope they finally land some big EV and grid-storage contracts.

There is a good reason why A123 stock is so low. They are burning through their money at a rapid clip, and they are not able to get any large contract with a major auto company (yes they are now tied up with GM for their new EV, but competition is heating up). In fact, one of the major venture capitalist here in Silicon Valley predicted that A123 would not be around in 10 years. That was not received well by the audience to whom he was talking to. If anything, A123 and Tesla are better for short term traders than investors, IMHO.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

nearly all "green" tech stock is very low. most of it is still viewed as a "rich man's" game and for the most part, you do have to have the money to make the money.

solar, wind, EVs, etc. are having tough times. few have recovered from 2008 and 9 out of 10 never will get back to that level.

as far as A123; they have to show me something. they have no real product history other than a bunch of DIY Prius owners building plug in kits and there is not a lot of "good track record" there either.

it appears it will take years before the Volt does anything and i dont know of any other EV manufacturer that is using them

 

[mitch672]

If you watch this weeks episode of "EVTV" http://www.evtv.me/index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
you will see they build a battery pack using 40 of the A123 pouch cells, this ends up being a 3KW pack @ 40 volts, they put 3 of them together in series (120V) to run their EV.. He is saying they are getting them from a supplier in China for about $20 each, with shipping and duty costing them about $25.50 each. The thinking is A123 had a chinese mfr contract mfr these for some automotive companies that are not meeting their commitments (can we say Fiskar Karma..), so the chinese mfr are dumping them on the market for a little over cost to recover some of their money. If you watch the last few episodes of EVTV, they like the pouch packs, gives them about 18-19AH (rated 20AH supposdely), each cell is about 3V.

anyway, thought I would chime in with what I heard about the A123 pouch cells, and give you a look at the world of build your own EV...

 

[Herm]

Typical chinese contract manufacturing practice.. the cells could also be rejects from the line they run for A123 or could be cells built on the same line to some unknown quality spec.

 

[TNleaf]

If you watch this weeks episode of "EVTV" http://www.evtv.me/index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
<snip>

I know this is slightly OT, but I had to comment and thank you for posting that. I know its bad, but I couldn't stop grinning at the guy's mannerisms and accent. Not that I didn't listen to what he said, but I could basically engineer/nerd out listening to this guy with a grin on my face. He does go off on a few TOO many tangents though.

 

[mitch672]

If you watch this weeks episode of "EVTV" http://www.evtv.me/index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
<snip>

I know this is slightly OT, but I had to comment and thank you for posting that. I know its bad, but I couldn't stop grinning at the guy's mannerisms and accent. Not that I didn't listen to what he said, but I could basically engineer/nerd out listening to this guy with a grin on my face. He does go off on a few TOO many tangents though.

Yes "jack" is quite a character, I also like how he introduces his partner "my consiguleary brain notto", EVTV is a great weekly video blog, if you are curious as to how to convert an ICE to an EV,
They work on a couple of conversions at a time, currently it's a huge Cadilac SUV (with 78KWH of battery), and a small VW. You can learn a lot from Jack Ricard...

 

[Nekota]

If you're in to EV related stock - look at A123 - stock is at an all time low right now - could buy a good number at a low price and hope they finally land some big EV and grid-storage contracts.

One of our favorite authors has an interesting post discussing A123. If you like investing and battery technology this is a good read.
http://seekingalpha.com/article/321200-a123-clear-sector-leader-in-lithium-ion-battery-space" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;