E, Student Investor

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Reboot
2008-04-25 16:54:00
Hey everyone... well, no one, actually, since I doubt anyone has continued to read this after I bailed for about 2 months.College, plus a full-time job have gotten be bogged down; it's the end of the semester, and finals are up. I do plan on restarting this Blog sometime in the early summer, so please - if you have this bookmarked or whatever, don't count me out yet. I do apologize, however, for not giving any updates - that should change soon.Anyway, I hope ya'll have had a great spring, and I look forward to the summer.The Man with the Golden Gun,~E

Not...exactly....Monday.
2008-02-15 04:32:00
Hey everyone!No, I won't explain where I've been. Nor why I'm posting on Valentine's Day, as opposed to every other day this week. No, that's not lipstick on my collar... I haven't been seeing other blog audiences! You know you're the only audience for me, baby...*ahem*I've got a definition for ya'll: Notes.So, what's a Note? A note is what you pass to that girl/guy you always liked in class, during class, to tell them to meet you in the broom closet for sweaty preteen making out... but did they ever come? no. They always stood you up, and laughed at you in the hallway, and slashed your tires...In terms of money, a note is a promise to pay - like a car note, or a house note, or a boat note. I won't go too much into the end-user part of a note (like, for the love of God, pay them off and don't get one you can't cover...) but I will say something interesting: If you do your homework and your research, you can buy notes - that's right, you can buy the right to have people...
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Right, so, where have I been?
2008-02-08 08:23:00
Hey everyone.I apologize for the lack of posting - I was hit with a really really bad virus over Superbowl weekend, and I still haven't shaken it. It's gotten to the point that I don't sleep for days, so that's a good thing.I also have had, without fail, a test every single day this week. So, my time and energies have been a little devoted, to say the least. I will resume normal posting schedules next week. Anyway, thanks for checking in, and I'll see you Monday!Unofficially running for President,~E

No post for you!
2008-01-30 06:28:00
Sorry everyone, but school is kicking me in the teeth right now, so I don't have the time to give you a thoughtful and insightful post (if you call any of the other stuff I've spewed onto this blog "thoughtful" ) I'll post tomorrow, though.-E
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Recessions and Market Cycles
2008-01-29 07:37:00
Alright, so, today we're going to learn about something that has created confusion and worry for years: The market cycle.And no, I'm not going to be able to condense all the information you'd need to know about it in one entry - unless you're willing to read 60 pages worth of rambling. No, today, just the basic of the basics. There are two types of markets, as you well know - Bull and Bear. There are also Troughs and Peaks - when the Bear market hits its lowest and the Bull market hits its highest.The most basic of all basic investment principles is "Buy Low, Sell High". In order to do this, you need to think like the populace: When the market is down, when we're in the middle of a recession, what do people buy more: toothpaste, or cars? So, would Colgate or Nissan's stock jump? The Correct Answer is, of course, Colgate. That is why, in the middle of a recession, DO NOT BUY COLGATE. I know. I came out of no where with that one.The must fundamental principle of a Bear Market is...
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What is a Bond?
2008-01-28 07:18:00
What is a Bond ? It is Sean Connery.But, probably less known, a Bond is basically a loan to an entity without a bank. I know, that sentence hurt me too when I wrote it, so let me try and clear that up.A Bond is a form of investment that is basically a loan to either a corporation or a government. They give out interest and principle payments, just like you do on your credit card bills. But, the benefit of this is, is that Bonds are usually much more secure, and you have a guaranteed repayment (more so than the stockholders) if the company starts to go under. The bad news is, if the company truly goes under, you lost your money. Not to mention, you (acting as the first national bank of retard helmet) ((remember that? I haven't used that phrase in a while.)) lose all your invested money - it's not like you can pull out like a stock and lick your wounds.Personally, if you want some super, super safe investment, go with a Government Treasury Bond. The Irony of this is that you're loan...

And Penny Stocks can be a problem.
2008-01-25 04:29:00
Well, I seem to be recording my first loss here - MTTG went down $0.09 today. If I was a day trader (which sadly, I'm not), I would have pulled out my money this morning - when it peaked again. Sadly, it had a shaky downfall, back to lower than where it was before.The reason for this upswing and downturn is simple: looking at the financial chart for MTTG (can be found on Google Finance) you can see that the Press Release for the company, and the CNN News release shot the stock upwards - those kinds of adrenaline injections allow the stock to perform at super-human capabilities, but like most steroids, they cause you to crash shortly after.The general rule of thumb with Penny Stocks , especially for people like us, is to let it sit for a day at max - as you can see, if I pulled out yesterday I would have made a $32.00 profit (give or take) but by letting it sit for another day, I nuked my profits and a sizable chunk of my initial investment money.This is where limit investing comes i...
More About: Penny Stocks , Problem

A penny earned is a penny earned.
2008-01-24 06:40:00
Yeah, so, MTTG, if you invested in it last night with me, would have netted you a profit of USD $ 0,000,000,000.01 per share. In my case, with 200.00 invested at $0.86/share, that would have netted me a profit of $32.56, before dealer fees. Since I have a flat rate per trade, I would take out 9.00 - leaving me with $23.56 in profit. Now, that's not nearly enough to live off of, but for doing nothing to that stock, and making free money, I like that.For giggles I'm going to leave that money in that stock; it will be good to see how it performs over the week, yes?Now, I want to bring into focus a very important idea, one that I've been trying to figure out how to exploit for a majority of my lifetime: that of the Infinite Profit Margin. Try googling that - you'll never find it, because investors don't believe it exists. They're right, but not in the non-traditional sense.What happens if you aren't carrying any money on you, and you find a quarter on the sidewalk? by picking it ...
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Stock Pick, and Diversifying your Portfolio cont.
2008-01-23 07:57:00
Alrighty! Well... that's probably one of the longer titles that I've ever written, but then, there ya go.Today's stock pick, from Global Marketing Corporation, is MTTG. I'll dump a few bucks into this stock tonight (buy order for the morning) and we'll see how it goes, yes?Anyway, the diversification thing: Yesterday I was talking to you about diversifying the major points of your portfolio: the example I gave was putting your eggs into multiple fridges, not just baskets. Well, now it's time to stock those separate fridges with goodies - which I affectionately call "Mini Diversification".Please note, however, that this is a bit more of an advanced technique - it's more important to be broadly diversified. This is for those who have already diversified their portfolio: I'm now going to gently armor clad your investments.The basic principle of this armor plating is diversifying within the sectors you've invested in - so, if in construction, having money in performing companie...
More About: Portfolio , Stock , Pick

What is a diversified portfolio?
2008-01-22 06:48:00
Well, that's pretty self-explanatory, no? What do people usually consider a "diversified" portfolio, and what actually is?When you think diversified, the first thing to come to mind is "many eggs in many baskets", or as I like to say, "where did my eggs go, I just bought a carton yesterday!" to which my roommate usually replies with some pun of breaking eggs to make an omelet or something.True diversification comes at the price of putting your eggs not in multiple baskets, but in multiple fridges, so to speak. That's a bad example, but it illustrates my point quite nicely: Having different points of, say, construction covered (Real Estate Companies, Construction Companies, Construction Equipment Manufacturing companies) is still putting your eggs in multiple baskets, but in the same fridge.A diversified portfolio would take advantage of multiple markets: Tech Stock, Housing, Foreign, Precious Metals, etc. That's putting your eggs in multiple baskets - and when one is hit hard (l...
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What is a Stock?
2008-01-18 07:18:00
For today's post, I thought I'd give you something different. No homework, no rant, just a dictionary term that will help you understand Wall Street lingo. I call it Ebmonics. Don't laugh. >_>Stock (pronounced "stock" ((No, I don't know how to do those pronunciation thingies.)) )1) a suffix for wood, as in "woodstock". Hippy lingo.Woah dude, woodstock was so awesome! I like, took 10 hits of acid, I thought the ground was talking to me, man!2) suffix for chicken- or beef- or any other number of things. Makes delicious, delicious soup, but sadly the creature used in the stock may never taste it's own glory.Woah dude, chicken stock was so awesome! I like, took 10 bowls of soup, I thought that I couldn't eat any more, man!3) A non-concrete, imaginary, arbitrary slip of paper that doesn't really have any set value that may or may not give you some sway in a company. maybe.I say, good man, this here stock is quite astounding! I acquired roughly 10,000 shares at market value, I coul...

Why did IDGJ Jump? It had so much to live for...
2008-01-17 06:08:00
Yes, we all remember IDGJ, that little stock that no one believed in; it started out at a measly penance, and jumped so far up, that anyone invested in it would have surely been able to retire*.*please note that the author of this work is being very sarcastic. Anyone able to retire on just 100 USD must live in some sort of 3rd world country. If that is the case, then I welcome you and your glorious leader! May the hairs on your penguins grow large, and may your milksacks be bursting forth with honey and mirth. Welcome to the USA!So, once again, let's turn our heads back here, to IDGJ. We can see back at the beginning of the year (YTD to those just joining us) that the company had it's major explosion. What caused this?! Google finances is kind enough to point it out: Article B: IDGJ submitted to the SEC an application to be listed. That's it - but something that major gives a company a lot of leeway, especially if it's starting out.These are what I affectionately call "gerflerge...
More About: Live , Jump

1st Day of Class
2008-01-16 07:44:00
Alright class, settle down, settle down. I hope you've done your homework, because now it's time to turn it all in, and learn something from me for once.Today's stock is IDGJ: IDGLOBAL CORP. You can find a ticker of them here, here, and here.Now, with that out of the way, I would like you to take a look at that stock over a week's time, then the YTD time scale.If you've never read a stock ticker report, let me go ahead and clue you in: The small jabs and gaps are the market influences on IDGJ, and that subsequently raises and lowers the stock value. In the 5d time scale, (I.E. for day traders) time is crucial - they don't plan on owning it for long, and if they think it will peak in an hour, they'll already have their sell orders made. (more on that much later).Switching to the YTD scale, you begin to see the overall performance of this stock - at the time of writing this, it is currently at $0.16 a share. Anyone can afford this stock, no? But, please note what happened from ...
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Cleaning House 2: The Revenge of the Dirt
2008-01-15 06:06:00
Welcome back, reader(s). We left off yesterday with you creating a list of your incomes and cash assets, did we not? We've basically cleaned the floor of your financial home: now it's time to deal with the crap growing in the fridge.With your list, I would like you to take a cold hard look at what percentage, or dollar amount you decided to put away for investing. Please, and I can not stress this any harder, Please make sure that you're not cutting into your necessities: food, shelter, internet (so you can read my blog) and school all come first. This money you have written out is the Beer money. Remember that.So, let's say, for math's sake, you can invest $200.00 a month. Well, congratulations! Take that 200, think about it, and then imagine two scenarios: One where you give your 200 to a total stranger, and he gives you back 500, and another, where you give him 200 and he hands you back 50. Ask yourself if you're fine with both outcomes.The problem with investments, and inv...
More About: House , Cleaning , Dirt , Revenge

Cleaning House, Part One
2008-01-14 09:16:00
Well, I've done it - I've accomplished a feat every mother would be proud of: I've cleaned my room. This in and of itself is an achievement paralleled with man setting foot on the moon - I discovered that I have a desk, and it's made out of wood. Until now, I thought the sheer amounts of receipts were holding up my computer. I also now know how many business cards I truly do have - far too many. And you remember the Starbucks/iTunes deal a few months ago? The one with the "free song download every day"? I had about 50 of those cards.This got me thinking, "what state of turmoil is my financial house in?" (Yes, that's a crappy introduction to my main point, but pay attention anyway.) Where is any of my money coming in, what kind of situation is it in, and how can I best use it? To answer some of these simple questions, let me give you an illustration:Say for instance, at the beginning of the year, you take out a 5K student loan. Turns out, you only need 3K - which leaves you with...
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What is the purpose of E?
2008-01-13 06:15:00
Watashiwa E-desu. My name is E, and I am good.And, as you can tell, I am a student investor. I go to a traditional public college, and I work part-time when not going to class. After cutting out a lot of superfluous expenses in my life, I realized that I was in a wonderful position: I had cash. For any college student, that's a wonderful thing!After drinking for a few days straight, I realized a few things:I had to pee.Money is good, but there's only so much I need as a student.Women like money. They like men who have money.So, I set about finding where I can invest my extra couple-hundred dollars every month. Where I could make my money work for me, and where I can start building a financial future for myself where I can choose when to retire. That, and a couple of sports cars wouldn't hurt.I've spent months combing the Internet and magazines, financial institutions and my friends, trying to figure out what to invest in. And, as it turns out, there is nothing out there to help ...
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