Looking for 5-8 year stock investments....New Investor?

Nowadays its hard to tell which financial companies are the safest bets. I personally have avoided Citigroup because of all the capital injected into the company. The other companies you named up there are all relatively strong.

You might consider replacing BoA with Wells Fargo or Northern Trust. I like Caterpillar moving forward, especially with a democratic president. Toyota is a solid company, however if your looking for more of a speculative play, Ford will survive this detroit meltdown. Ford has the most cash and is the only of the major three makers not to accept government funds. JPMorgan is a strong Financial firm as is Morgan Stanley, the latter of which I own.

One problem with your portfolio is that there is minimal diversification, which means if there is problem in the financial sector, your portfolio will be killed.

My suggestion is to remove JPM or BoA and replace it with a shipping company such as Diana Shipping (DSX). This is a financially sound, fiscally responsible managed company that will benefit as the baltic dry index rates rebound.

I am also a holder of Visa stock (V). If you'd like you could replace it with MasterCard as well, however I believe Visa has much more growth potential and is overall a stronger company, as it is the largest distributor of credit and debit cards worldwide.

Good luck with everything, I hope this has helped. If you have any other questions, feel free to e-mail me!

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I wouldn't recommend buying banks. Of the financial companies you've mentioned (Citi, BofA, Morgan Stanley, and JP Morgan), I personally think JP Morgan is the safest.

Toyota has consistently performed better than the American car companies. Car sales have been slow lately due to the economy, but Americans can't put off buying new cars forever. There may be an explosion of new car purchases in the future (autos are a cyclical industry) due to the cars people are currently putting off purchasing.

What service/goods you use? you want to use? have to use? every time I invest in stock. I ask myself that question. I know will worth alot more 5-8 years from now because my money will be going there.

The companies you are looking at could all go bankrupt I would look at Bank shares.The main reason for the late bank losses is because they have chosen now to write off many years of accumulated debts.Watch them next year or es early as the end of this year.

The banks also have a guardian angel [The government]

Citigroup, Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays Bank

There's a new tech boom emerging in the next few years. I think Intel might be good.

Most of your list seems okay. I'm just not sure about Citigroup. Its been doing a lot of cost cutting, but made a huge loss last year.

look for undervalued stocks that are paying a decent dividend now - in 5-6 if they still increase their dividends every year, you'll be getting a pretty good income yield, plus probably decent capital increase in that time too. utility companies are stable and in Penna, the rates will start being uncapped in a year or two, driving up utility prices 20-30% - more income for the utility (PECO and PPL in eastern Penna) - utilities in other states may be in the same situation

If you are serious to invest, you can google for HSFX Asset Management and start making consistent 3% to 10% monthly!