Motorola spin off - Freescale & Eruo/Dollar talk

[Zeno]

On Dec. 2 the long awaited spin off of Freescale Semiconductor happened. I received some shares based on the amount of holdings I had in Motorola. Mr. Zee, if he is the smart man I know him to be, held on to his shares of MOT so he must have received a large chunk of Freescale (FSB) and reaped the benefits of holding stocks long term.

This is all beside the point really, as I owe Mr. Zee a big thank you. He first pointed me in the Motorola direction, along with general investing wisdom, and his advice has proved to be sound, wise, and very fruitful for me.

The Dollar/Euro situation is in flux. Heard some news about this and was wondering what others take on this is. I think it has already been discussed in this forum but have recent indicators changed anyone's outlook etc. Will the EURO replace the Dollar? Will Europe and Japan buy up dollars to prop up the price? Is this a good long-term strategy? Is economic chaos just around the next bend? Etc.

Of course no one really knows firm answers to all this but some ideas may help. I have to decide where to put more IRA money next year or possibly switch some investments around etc.

-Zeno

[Ray Zee]

sorry to say i havent followed the spinoff stuff. i still have the large chunk of mot i bought way back when. i usually but not always, buy when i see a change in a company. and hold until i think i have seen all the upside or see another change i dont like. then i sell or short it.
with mot i just parked it as i keep seeing some new stuff that has promise. so i am still holding. but i wouldnt buy at these levels if i could find something better.

zeno, playing currencies is playing with fire. you are always late to the party. if you have an opinion one way buy or short stocks in that country's industries that will be most affected. the euro must at some time have lots of problems as different countries will do just like our big companies do. cook the books for their short term benefits. when that starts happening choas in the euro will take place. when i dont know. my ball has a crack in it.
japan must help the dollar. whether they can have a longer term effct on it is unlikely. so look for short up bursts followed by decline. unless something else happens which it will.

best investment now is to pay down debt to easily manageable amount especially if older and wiser.

[Phat Mack]

best investment now is to pay down debt to easily manageable amount especially if older and wiser.

I don't know about this. The last time they had a war that they didn't want to pay for by raising taxes (late 60's - early 70's), they set off a binge of inflation. If you've noticed, nobody in Washington is paying the bills. If the inflation starts again, fixed-interest debt might be a good thing.