50 Ford Shares Purchased in My IRA
This probably isn't something I really want to buy because of the struggle of the US auto industry. However, I made this one-time purchase today in my IRA account.
Before transferring my IRA from Scottrade to Vanguard, I have four Vanguard funds plus a non-Vanguard fund, BRSIX in my account. Since Scottrade charges commission for mutual fund trading ($17 per trade), I set up automatically quarterly investment of $200 into each fund to reduce the cost to $2 per trade. One of the Vanguard funds, Wellington (VWELX), closed to investors who invest through brokerage firms such as Scottrade in early 2006. I didn't realize this change until I already had about $380 in my account that were supposed to purchase VWELX shares. So what should I do with that $380? Leave the money as they are will be a bad choice, but I also don't want to pay $17 commission to buy some more BRSIX. I want something that is cheap (so I can buy more shares), pays dividend (so it can generate money in addition to price appreciation), and has the potential to grow (so the money won't be wasted). Without too much research, I picked Ford (F) and purchased 50 shares at $7.5 per share with $7 commission.
Time will tell whether this is a good move or bad one. Either way, the impact will be very limited.
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Why Ford? Just a gut feeling?
That’s one reason. It’s kind of gamble (with a small money) as everybody else suggests dump shares of US auto makers. But it’s cheap ($7.5/share) and still paying dividend (yield 2.70%). Maybe they can turn things around if they can get some help from Japanese company such as Toyota, though nobody knows if that’s gonna happen.
Ford seem to be in a slump earlier, since it’s CEO resigned and been replaced. They may pick up in the 4th quarter. Maybe next quarter they will pick up.
But in the future FORD maybe be a good stock. They plan to invest in Brazil through 2011.
http://www.forbes.com/markets/feeds/ap/2007/01/04/ap3299745.html
Buying 50 shares is not too much of a risk.
Sun,
On turnaround stock purchases like these, I like to plan for exiting after a certain percentage return (e.g 10-20%). I think Ford (and GM) will have significant challenges leading to future stock price declines. However, the price will likely pop up initially and enable you to make a good profit.
Good luck on your investment.
Super Saver: Right now Ford’s share price is not far away from its low nearly four years ago. I don’t know how low it can still go, but I probably won’t settle for 10 or 20% gain considering the small number of shares I have. I want to hold it a little longer (several years maybe) and see where it goes.
I don’t see Ford making a turnaround until 2009 or so. But if you’re investing for the long run, it’s a great stock pick.
A couple days ago, I attempted to count the number of Americans Cars vs. Foreign Car makers on my block.
Around 80% of the cars were either Honda or Toyota. Ford is becoming a company of the past, but they aren’t dead yet.
Ford CEO Alan Mullally turned around Boeing, and I believe he can revive this sunken stock.