Wednesday, August 6, 2008
A good article that proves that $100 can score you big!
I found a really awesome article which outlines 10 companies that have struck it big over the past 20 years. The site allows you to put in how much your initial investment into the IPO would have been and how much money you would have in your account today. You should head on over to the Quicken Website to check it out.
Wow, have you checked out my spreadsheet lately!
You haven't? Well go check it out! I have been playing around with the GoogleFinance function in Google Docs and it's proving to be quite useful. With it, I have been able to monitor my stocks pretty well and know how much i have lost or gained (ok, only lost). This is on a daily basis, weekly basis, and monthly basis... pretty cool huh?
I also put in some charts to graphically represent my portfolio and it's proving to be a bit useful. So go check it out and tell me what you think. If you want to use it, let me know!
I also put in some charts to graphically represent my portfolio and it's proving to be a bit useful. So go check it out and tell me what you think. If you want to use it, let me know!
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
June 2008 Statement
Alright, I'm trying to figure out how to read this statement. I know I made $2.27 in dividends, but I also lost about $20 in the process. My ending balance was $280.20, major bummer. Hopefully this month will turn around a little for me, otherwise I might cry. I hope my investments in AGG and the 2 inverse ETFs will save me from losing so bad.
This Month's Investments
Yesterday at the end of the day, I made 3 investments totally $200. I put $50 in AGG, an agricultural ETF that has been doing really well over the past couple months, and it's practically exploded since the flooding in the midwest. Corn should be expensive all summer as well as other crops because so many were lost so this stock looks to be a good investment over the summer months.
I also put $75 into DXD and QID each. These are inverse ETFs that are supposed to double the inverse of the performance of the DOW and NASDAQ respectively. I bought these as insurance more or less. The market has been in a slump especially since oil prices have been rising. Monday and Tuesday the market is strong and then it drops a few hundred points each day on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I'm only going to keep these guys around until the market does a turn around since the problem with these bad boys is they lose when the market does well (like today, argh).
Sharebuilder screwed up my account and charged me $4 per trade even though they were supposed to use the credits left over from last month (well that's what the lady said). I called and they gave me $12 back and put it in my money market. Make sure you check these because they do make mistakes too!
I also put $75 into DXD and QID each. These are inverse ETFs that are supposed to double the inverse of the performance of the DOW and NASDAQ respectively. I bought these as insurance more or less. The market has been in a slump especially since oil prices have been rising. Monday and Tuesday the market is strong and then it drops a few hundred points each day on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I'm only going to keep these guys around until the market does a turn around since the problem with these bad boys is they lose when the market does well (like today, argh).
Sharebuilder screwed up my account and charged me $4 per trade even though they were supposed to use the credits left over from last month (well that's what the lady said). I called and they gave me $12 back and put it in my money market. Make sure you check these because they do make mistakes too!
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Agriculture is the Key
Hey guys, I'm back again and I have an idea. I was watching some show on CNBC last night about the stock markets and they mentioned a few things that might look good to invest in.
They were talking about the droughts in the South and the flooding in the midwest has left this years corn crop looking pretty dismal. The price of corn is expected to skyrocket. As a result, almost all agricultural stocks and ETFs are raising quickly.
I did a quick search to see what some of the best agricultural ETFs were. I found my exact answer here. Now the problem is, Sharebuilder only offers DBA, but I was still able to check the trends of other other 5 on their site. as it turns out, since the beginning of June all of these stocks have jumped over 10%! DBA has almost reached it's its highest point that it did back in March.
Now I have a decision to make. I know that we're in a little bit of trouble this year because of our bizarre weather activity in the US. I'm thinking of putting only $50 into it my next investment time (Along with 2 inverse ETFs for a grand total of $250 invested in July). I'm worried though that with this ETF being almost at its highest price it's been in the past year, it will end up crashing and I will lose dearly.
Again $50 isn't a lot to lose, but it's still $50 that I wouldn't mind keeping. I've thrown it on my Watchlist until investment day comes. Then I can make my final decision. If anything, I'll probably keep it in my portfolio until just before the end of the harvest season and then trade it for something that isn't so high risk.
They were talking about the droughts in the South and the flooding in the midwest has left this years corn crop looking pretty dismal. The price of corn is expected to skyrocket. As a result, almost all agricultural stocks and ETFs are raising quickly.
I did a quick search to see what some of the best agricultural ETFs were. I found my exact answer here. Now the problem is, Sharebuilder only offers DBA, but I was still able to check the trends of other other 5 on their site. as it turns out, since the beginning of June all of these stocks have jumped over 10%! DBA has almost reached it's its highest point that it did back in March.
Now I have a decision to make. I know that we're in a little bit of trouble this year because of our bizarre weather activity in the US. I'm thinking of putting only $50 into it my next investment time (Along with 2 inverse ETFs for a grand total of $250 invested in July). I'm worried though that with this ETF being almost at its highest price it's been in the past year, it will end up crashing and I will lose dearly.
Again $50 isn't a lot to lose, but it's still $50 that I wouldn't mind keeping. I've thrown it on my Watchlist until investment day comes. Then I can make my final decision. If anything, I'll probably keep it in my portfolio until just before the end of the harvest season and then trade it for something that isn't so high risk.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Sorry for the lack of Updates
Truth be told, when I keep losing money, I don't really feel like talking about it. I've been checking my account less and less now. I usually check it at the end of the day to see if I'm not a big ol' loser again.
It looks like today, things are turning around, but every time I say that, the market crashes and burns and I lose $5. Currently IYM is the only ETF I have that is above my original investment. EFA is my biggest loser, where I have almost $4 less then what I originally started with.
In a couple weeks, my next round of investments go into effect. Like I mentioned in my last post, I'm going the route of Inverse ETFs. It might be be a wise decision in the sense of making money, but it definitely will prevent me from losing money. Once the market grows a little stronger, I'll dump them and invest that money into a bit of a higher risk fund to see if I can make some money a little more aggressively. If it works, I'll reinvest all that into some more stable funds so I don't lose as much as this month.
It looks like today, things are turning around, but every time I say that, the market crashes and burns and I lose $5. Currently IYM is the only ETF I have that is above my original investment. EFA is my biggest loser, where I have almost $4 less then what I originally started with.
In a couple weeks, my next round of investments go into effect. Like I mentioned in my last post, I'm going the route of Inverse ETFs. It might be be a wise decision in the sense of making money, but it definitely will prevent me from losing money. Once the market grows a little stronger, I'll dump them and invest that money into a bit of a higher risk fund to see if I can make some money a little more aggressively. If it works, I'll reinvest all that into some more stable funds so I don't lose as much as this month.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Inverse EFTs
Alright ya'll, the market seems to be in a slump. Oil keeps going up, factories keep shutting down, and the stock market is as low as it was back in March! How do we fix it? Well we can't really, we can just "insure" our investments.
A commenter pointed me towards inverse EFTs. I did a little research and found out these bad boys are great for times like these. When the market goes down, these things grow. But they are a double edged sword, so be careful, when the market goes up, they lose their value.
My Plan
So my investment strategy goes something like this next month: Instead of putting more money into what I've already purchased and continue to lose (I'm down to about $289 of my original $300 EEK!), I'm going to stick $200 into 2 different inverse ETFs ($100 each). This includes DXD and QID, which both reflect how the DOW and the NASDAQ do respectively.
Now I've learned, sometimes I can come out ahead even when both markets go down some, what I'm hoping is that this phase of investments will just keep me in check. I might end up just being even or making tiny amounts of money over the next few months, but it's better then losing money at the rate I am now!
My next investment isn't for another couple of weeks which will give me time to watch how the market continues to perform and how these individual funds will work out for me. Thanks to sharebuilder, there are a bunch of tools to figure out how the funds will help me so I'm not going into this round completely blind.
A commenter pointed me towards inverse EFTs. I did a little research and found out these bad boys are great for times like these. When the market goes down, these things grow. But they are a double edged sword, so be careful, when the market goes up, they lose their value.
My Plan
So my investment strategy goes something like this next month: Instead of putting more money into what I've already purchased and continue to lose (I'm down to about $289 of my original $300 EEK!), I'm going to stick $200 into 2 different inverse ETFs ($100 each). This includes DXD and QID, which both reflect how the DOW and the NASDAQ do respectively.
Now I've learned, sometimes I can come out ahead even when both markets go down some, what I'm hoping is that this phase of investments will just keep me in check. I might end up just being even or making tiny amounts of money over the next few months, but it's better then losing money at the rate I am now!
My next investment isn't for another couple of weeks which will give me time to watch how the market continues to perform and how these individual funds will work out for me. Thanks to sharebuilder, there are a bunch of tools to figure out how the funds will help me so I'm not going into this round completely blind.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)