Well. . .my first speculation was today.

[Scanner]

I bought a silver mining co 6700 shares trading at $.75.

I do have a large position in the metal but there is a close bottom on it ($21 on SLV) so I don't feel as exposed any more. IF it continues to rise, I'll place a $3 differential bottom on it.

So, out of gambling, day trading, options, futures and penny stocks, I guess penny stock won (microcap, not penny stock). I did seriously look at backgammon gambling though.

This represents about 7% of my portfolio but I'll put a bottom of $.30 on the stock probably.

I have a confession to make though. . .this is actually my second speculation in my life. When I was 24 years old I bought $1000 worth of Atari, thinking it was going to make a comeback when they introduced a 64 Bit gaming system.

LOL @ myself! My first venture into the investing world. . .I didn't know speculation from trading from investing.

[Scanner]

Now, here's trick for me. . .this will either be a winner or a complete 100% loser. . I may lose 1/2 my money and that's to be expected.

The question I have in my mind is. . .how do you keep speculating and keep it an ongoing process (an important one) as part of your portfolio?

I also have another related question. . .tax question. . .for a different thread I guess. . .I guess I'll just keep it here actually.

If let's say you have $50,000 in a Roth and $50,000 in a SEP-IRA - which account would you tend to speculate in? I would think the Roth. . .because if over the long term that will be the biggest account, you would get that money distributed tax free, no?

Is my tax-thinking right?

[KTP]

[QUOTE=Scanner;273924]Now, here's trick for me. . .this will either be a winner or a complete 100% loser. . I may lose 1/2 my money and that's to be expected.

The question I have in my mind is. . .how do you keep speculating and keep it an ongoing process (an important one) as part of your portfolio?

QUOTE]

For myself, I decided to only speculate in my IRA (non roth unfortunately) and I have come up with a foolproof way of doing it. I am setting aside an amount of money that I will never ever speculate with, and putting it in a high growth Vanguard fund (which I guess is kind of like speculating, so I fail). With the remaining money I am free to do whatever I want...I could put it all on black in Vegas if I so desire. Each year I will take 10% of any profits and place them in the Vanguard fund. My wife agreed that this plan makes sense, and I like it because it leaves me with some play money for awhile (until I lose it all or make so much that I don't need to invest anymore )

So for me, I went clean slate (even though my IRA was only funded initially with $1700) and placed $30,000 in the Vanguard fund and I am keeping $15,000 to go crazy. Hopefully by this time next year it will be $30,000, then I will put $1,500 of it into the Vanguard fund and continue to play. When I have lost it all, then I stop.

[Scanner]

So you speculate with 50% of your monies in the IRA? Is that 50% of your portfolio?

I am only speculating with about 7-8% of my portfolio money. I am certainly long term with other part of my portfolio, aggressive, but I am diversified.

7-8% of my portfolio right now is riding on one stock though.

[KTP]

33% actually. The amount is not fixed as a percentage though. What is fixed now is the portion of my IRA that I will not touch to speculate. Currently that is about 66% of my IRA, which used to be less than 1% of our portfolio, but has now grown (through speculation) to about 5% of our total net worth.

[Scanner]

And people here think I'm aggressive

Actually, 33% speculation isn't that wrong (unless you have 3-6 losses right in a row and then you'll wonder).

To me, I think you can be super aggressive under a specified portfolio amount.

Like for me, $100,000 is the "magic mark" for me where I now have "a lot" of money. Is it really a lot? No, 100K won't go far in retirement. . .but it's a mental flash point for me. So, you'll see me get fairly boring after that probably (although who knows. . .speculation may become addictive). I actually still may speculate with 5-10% of my portfolio, but you'll see me going pretty boring with the rest (Vanguard Wellsley fund I have tracked for years but never owned).

[disneysteve]

33% actually.
my IRA, which used to be less than 1% of our portfolio, but has now grown (through speculation) to about 5% of our total net worth.

And people here think I'm aggressive

Actually, 33% speculation isn't that wrong

Scanner, KTP isn't playing with 33% of his money but rather 33% of his IRA, the total of which represents 5% of his money. So 33% of 5% is 1.65%, not a very aggressive amount of speculation at all.

That's like us having 75% of my wife's 403b plan in a gold fund, but that 403b account is only about 2% of our total invested assets.

[KTP]

Scanner, KTP isn't playing with 33% of his money but rather 33% of his IRA, the total of which represents 5% of his money. So 33% of 5% is 1.65%, not a very aggressive amount of speculation at all.

That's like us having 75% of my wife's 403b plan in a gold fund, but that 403b account is only about 2% of our total invested assets.

Yes, DS is correct. I am playing with 33% of my IRA, which is roughly 1.65% of our investments. The percentage might change if my speculation does very well or very poorly, but I will leave the non-speculative portion of my IRA money alone (except to add 10% of my speculation profits to it each year). It is thus my hopes that eventually I am speculating with 99% of our net worth

[Scanner]

Ah yes, that's why JimOhio does the math.