$800 invested in more than 2-3 stocks? Man those commissions must be killing you! I hope you are using Scottrade or someone just as cheap...They have flat $7 trades and GREAT customer service.

Even with them, the commissions will still eat up a big part of your gains if you trade too often. You might want to consider an index fund ETF.

Decide whether you are bullish or bearish on the market, and take a position for the long term.

If you are a bull, buy ticker symbol IVV (to go long the S&P 500). This is the Ishares fund that tracks the index, and it only has a .09% annual expense ratio.

If you are a bear, buy ticker symbol SH (to short the S&P500)
This is the Profunds ETF that performs the opposite of what the S&P500 does on a daily basis.

To go long the DOW, buy DIA.
To short it, buy DOG (really)


Long ETFs

Short ETFs

Last edited by Capitalizt on Aug-01-2007 at 10:01

Cool, I'll take a look at those.

My 800$ is in TGA and EGY. I've spent $20 in commissions altogether placing 4 trades at 4.95$ with Tradeking. I recently switched to zecco $0 trades, but I have yet to fund that account.

Originally, i bought BJS, and TGA. Sold BJS, bought SUN. SUN plummeted, sold SUN, then bought EGY.

So I'm currently exposed to the risky oil exploration market, but TGA and EGY though small, have an excellent balance sheet. They also have so much land, TGA won't be able to explore all of its own land for years because they have millions of acres to look for oil. Any big big finds, and my 5$ stock will triple. But, I am exposing myself to risk, but this is money I can afford losing.

These stocks are a bit volatile to the oil prices and market conditions. Likewise, TGA has been a rollercoaster ride ever since I bought it at $3.93.


Both of my stocks TGA, and EGY, i bought when they reached a support level that held firm. TGA's was at $3.85, EGY, as you can see, hasn't crossed below $4.90, so I bought it when the price was close to that support.

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You want some bang for your buck, check out the ultra funds. DXD is double-short the DJIA. A great hedge against a down market. Proshares makes them for the NASDAQ and S&P500 as well. In theory, if the underlying index goes down 1%, your ultra fund would be up 2% (and vice versa if the market goes against you).

quote:

Originally posted by Shakka You want some bang for your buck, check out the ultra funds. DXD is double-short the DJIA. A great hedge against a down market.

Bang for your buck? Yep. Take a look at this beautiful chart. The orange is mine

I bought DOW and SH as shorting ETFs. Thanks for the alert. I wasn't thinking about short ETFs. I was just thinking direct shorts (margins).

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Check out this excel spreadsheet I made that predicts future portfolio returns.

Download sheet.

Here's how to use..

1. In the top left, you'll see Yearly Income, Cash, Stock Equity, Bond Holdings, and Dividends.

In the black boxes next to the labels, enter your yearly income, how much cash you have saved up or on hold in an account, the value of any stocks you have (stock equity), the value of any bonds, and enter the amount of stock dividends you've recieved this year.

2. Next to these number you enter, you'll see a bunch of percentages. I will explain what you enter into these boxes.

Yearly Income: Enter the percentage of your income you want to save.
Cash: Enter the interest rate of the account your cash is held in.
Stock Equity: Enter the current gains/losses(%) of any stocks you are holding and havn't sold.
Bond Holdings: Enter the bond yield of any bonds you're holding.
Dividends: Enter the average 5-year dividend yield growth of any stocks you hold.

3. Once you enter all this data, you'll get a prediction of your asset value for the rest of your life. According to my model, at the current rate that I earn money, save, invest, etc., I won't have my first $1,000,000 until around 2050. But that's with a part-time job earning chump change. I'm currently working on ways to increase my income.

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wow Krypt, with all the effort you are putting into this (and your spreadsheet skillz), it seems like accounting or financial planning is a good career choice for you.

Since you like stocks so much, you might also consider interning at a local brokerage house for a few months to learn the ropes. I honestly don't know if brokerage houses do internships, but it's worth a shot. Maybe if you speak to the managers at a few different places in town, and tell them you are very interested in the business, they might give you a chance to do some grunt work (assisting brokers, etc.)

Emphasize that you are willing to start at the bottom, and that pay is not important at this point. You are willing to work for FREE, doing anything needed just to get your foot in the door and learn as much as possible. This may eventually lead to a job and it may not, but either way, it will look great on your resume and give you some real world experience in the finance industry.

Last edited by Capitalizt on Aug-02-2007 at 12:04

quote:

Originally posted by Capitalizt wow Krypt, with all the effort you are putting into this (and your spreadsheet skillz), it seems like accounting or financial planning is a good career choice for you. Since you like stocks so much, you might also consider interning at a local brokerage house for a few months to learn the ropes. I honestly don't know if brokerage houses do internships, but it's worth a shot. Maybe if you speak to the managers at a few different places in town, and tell them you are very interested in the business, they might give you a chance to do some grunt work (assisting brokers, etc.) Emphasize that you are willing to start at the bottom, and that pay is not important at this point. You are willing to work for FREE, doing anything needed just to get your foot in the door and learn as much as possible. This may eventually lead to a job and it may not, but either way, it will look great on your resume and give you some real world experience in the finance industry.

Depending on which brokerage house, there are actually some VERY competitive internship programs that some of the top tier firms offer. I'm sure a lot of it depends on where you are geographically, but we hired an intern this summer and I checked with one of my sell-side contacts in NYC for compensation information and he told me that some of the most competitive internships (in NYC) pay upwards of $65K/year--for a fucking internship!

Since I work at a credit union, I can talk to a raymond james advisor whenever I want. This is basically what he told me when I asked how to get a foot in the door. Get an internship at a brokerage. I would go to raymond james, but their headquarters is in st. pete, about an hour from where I live. When I move today, imma be looking for a brokerage in the area.

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I'd also get that spread sheet of yours off the internet. If it works as well as it apears to be doing it's worth a good chunk of change.

I'll have to ask you more about it when I get finished my move.

Who would buy a spreadsheet? After 6 months of development, I have a full system of stock analysis in my blog HERE. Check it out, let me know what you think. It does fundamental analysis and places valuations. Look at it as a filter. Start out with a big list of stocks, and it helps you weed out the few that have great fundamentals.
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Talked to a board member of my credit union. She told me that when I intern at any brokerage, they'de probably start me off cold-calling. What fun!! Then, I'de have to get a Series 6 or 7. I think I'm gonna start on Series 6 certification because I heard it's easier to get.

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quote:

Originally posted by Krypton Talked to a board member of my credit union. She told me that when I intern at any brokerage, they'de probably start me off cold-calling.

They might--depending on which firm. Hey, you gotta start somewhere if you want to get your foot in the door. Cold calling blows.

quote:

Then, I'de have to get a Series 6 or 7. I think I'm gonna start on Series 6 certification because I heard it's easier to get.

Perhaps, but they're two completely different certifications. The 7 lets you be a registered securities rep. I think the 6 is just for selling mutual funds or insurance or something. If you're going to be in the general securities business--especially equities--you need to have the 7. It's not that bad, just a lot of material.