Is Yahoo stock a good investment for my IRA?

Question

I am 55 years old.

Answer 1

Let me look into my crystal ball. Nope, can't find it.

There are tons of questions you should be asking before this one. How can we help you if we don't know your background info, where you are in the investing process, and whether you've asked critical questions. This question is not critical.

I don't wish to play the guessing game, so I'll skip "critical" to pertinent. "Should you be invested in 'any' stocks at this time?"

What is the current market climate? Horrible. Unstable. Risky. Perched on the edge of a void. The markets are down for the year, and still below the peak set in Jan 2000. That is a huge Double Top formation, and we've only just peeled off 900 pts in the Dow. This is called a Downtrend. Unless you think this is a market Bottom, you don't buy stocks or hold stocks in Downtrends.

"Buy and Hold" is a great strategy for brokers and fund managers, but it doesn't hold water if you have to consider when you buy. If you bought prior to the 2000 top, you would still be waiting for a profit after six years, and content to wait another six if you are truly a "Buy and Hold" investor. My idea of investing is earning money, not "waiting" to earn money for ten years or even 25 years if history is any guide.

If, and when you finally decide to buy, you really should try to diversify. The best way to do that is to buy the ETF's either on the Indexes like the Dow or S&P or Nasdaq (DIA, SPY, QQQQ), or the sector ETF's, like for the internet companies if you like Yahoo, and diversify across them all, or across the whole market.

Good luck.

Answer 2

This free advice, and only my opinion.

At 55, you probably should not hold any individual stocks in your IRA. No-one can forecast the performance of one security accurately enough to be sure where it will be in 10 years when (presumably) you will retire. What if the company you are holding is the next Enron?

You should probably split what money you have about 70% in equities (Broad market mutual funds) and 30% in fixed-income vehicles like bonds, a bond mutual fund, or the new inflation-indexed bonds.

In a great market, whatever you have in the 70% equity slice might double or more before you retire, but it might crash, too, so your other 30% is your insurance.

If you plan on only putting a tiny percentage of your whole money in Yahoo! stock for fun, though, go for it! Now might be a good time to gamble, since Terry Semel just agreed to swap a chunk of his (not inconsiderable) salary for options!


http://www.webpronews.com/financial/news/wpn-64-20060605SemelSwapsSalaryForStock.html

Answer 3

It depends. What other investments do you have in your IRA?
When do you plan to retire? Make sure that you IRA is well diversified! All stocks are risky.

Answer 4

No, because Yahoo have competitions from Google, Microsoft, and others. You should buy stocks that pays high dividends each year.

Answer 5

Yahoo is up and running and will be for years to come. So yes. Just like WALMART

Answer 6

Yes.

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