Studying away!

I'm studying away for my Series 65. There is a lot of material, but fortunately passing is only 68.5% :)

The market is doing well. I closed some of my positions though as I think that the market is going to pull back a bit.

I ordered a couple Mac Books from Apple and they have delayed shipping them until at least Tuesday so that sucks. :(

Not really much going on today.

God bless!

I sold my Yahoo.

I was just sick of it. So I sold, I lost around $15,000 on this! I'm sure now that I'm out it will go up. :) But I'm pretty sure it will never get back to the level that I bought out, so better for me to get on with life with another stock :)

Will Yahoo completely disintegrate?

I'm currently down over $15,000 on my Yahoo purchase from a couple months ago. I generally have the philosophy of "never sell at a loss". But it is actually, unless you are doomed anyway :)

Yahoo seems to be able to go down even on days when 90% of stocks are going up.

I don't really want to sell now that it is at the lowest in eons. But, of course, it will probably go even lower soon, so why hold :(

And, generally when a stock is down I can still sell options for a little income every month. But Yahoo is so down and hated that the options aren't even worth much. That's generally not a good sign.

I took a day off from studying yesterday, today I'll go hard at it again and probably hard every day until the test.

God bless!

Updated list of blogs I'm following

I figured I'd put shout outs to the blogs that I regularly follow:

worshipwell.blogspot.com (The Perimeter Church blog.)

http://beanie11111.blogspot.com (Some good stock info. He tends to focus on option buying.)

http://explosive-stocks.blogspot.com (Some more good stock info. He covers a lot of stocks so it is a good site to find other of the diamonds that are out there.)

http://lvblog.blogspot.com (A guy that posts exact trades on his site and the performance by month. It should be interesting to compare with.)

These guys are posting about 1 post a month, if they don't step up I'll remove them:
http://bradfallon.com (A former business partner of mine that has some good info about Search Engine Optimization)

http://freeiqtips.com (A guy I met doing business. Dan has some good info about affiliate marketing.)

I'll add others in the future as I see others that I would like to follow.

Apple rollercoaster

Man do I wish I was a savvy day trader. Some people are probably making 3%+ every day right now!

I'm a lot more conservative than that, and I almost always pick incorrectly in the short run :) So I would probably day trade away my capital in a week or two.

But, I did cover my call options yesterday and it looks like I can resell them for profit today, so that's still cool :) Not a 3% gain, but a couple hundred bucks is nothing to sneeze at.

I've finished round one of my studying. I'll spend the next week doing some sample tests to make sure I have everything down. I feel pretty confident about it now!

I am going to try to help out with the dishes going forward. I've been a real bum about housework and I think it is time to step up to the plate! I know my wife would find it a very loving gesture!

God bless!

Studying away!

I've dedicated quite a bit of time over the last 3 days to learning what the Series 65 is actually about. It contains an astonishing amount of economic information that you need to be familiar with!

I've been primarily using the "Pass the 65" book by Robert Walker. His books are really wordy but they seem pretty decent thus far. I have several other study aids that I'll also try to cover prior to the 5th of September :)

I sold some put options on TSL yesterday, it is way down despite looking very poised to be one of the solar winners. Plus, the stock would have to drop below 35 to excercise, an additional 10% drop after yesterday's 5% (or so) drop. In either case, I'm not leveraging at all right now, so if it drops into range, then I but which I think is a pretty safe entry point.

An analyst this morning said that Google is looking very buyable. I definitely agree with that. Right now, though the market is still having a good deal of its capital removed by skiddish investors so Google could go down a little more before it goes way up when they announce earnings in October. I think I will probably get in within the next few days though, at least with a small option play or something.

God bless!

I admit it, I was ignorant!

I have been studying the stock market heavily lately. I have been reading tons of books and studying to become an actual stock broker.

In doing so, I have come to the realization that I was ignorant. I see amazing flaws in my old "strategies". I look over the good trades I did and see "luck" and the bad trades and see several obvious signs that it was often my own fault!

I probably cost myself at least $30,000 this year alone with my lack of knowledge.

I guess the stock market is a microcosm of life. Just like when I was 18 and thought I knew everything and then when I was 30 I realized that I knew twice as much but only knew about 30% of everything. The same has finally occurred with the stock market, I thought I was "the man" and now I see that I was not. I now know a lot more and know that I have a ton more to learn!

It's good to find that out while I still have some money :) Actually, I've done fine over the years, but I see that I cost myself a lot of money!

I love learning all this! :)

God bless and keep learning!

Friday

Well it feels like a good Friday. Work is going well and the stocks seem to be down but not inordinately so.

Although the markets seem stabilized I've been very conservative lately and I will probably remain so today. For one, I'm trying to program in my statistical analysis and that takes time :)

I really need to get studying for my Series 65 though, I'm behind on starting that!

God bless!

New books!

I purchased a bunch of new books on a variety of technical stock analysis subjects. I plan to digest as much of this information as I can so that I can quickly to help augment my trading!

The stocks look ready for more uptime again. In reading articles yesterday I noticed that LEND (Accredited Home Lending) had cut is workforce significantly and suspended all new loan apps in the US. This naturally sent the stock down. I checked it out and noticed that the price was around $6 and that the put options at $2.50 were going for $0.25. A 10% premium on an option over 50% out of the money! Wow, I thought this is a must sell! Then I checked the Yahoo financial data and they had a "price to book" of 0.29 or something! That generally means that the breakup value is worth over 3 times the value of the stock. Which generally indicates that even in bankruptcy the company is worth buying.

I was convinced this was a shot to take, but I figured that there had to be more behind the numbers for such a massive premium.

So I read through the past news items and through the rest of the numbers and it looks like LEND will just as likely be out of business completely by the end of the option period as anything else. They are losing money so rapidly that they could have more defaulted debt than their book value any day now.

And, of course, they are late on their Nasdaq filings which is always bad. And this is their 3rd time this year, so they either put up this month or they will be de-listed. That generally drops the stock about 50% or more I'd say!

The only thing holding LEND in place appears to be that they are essentially suing "Loanstar" to force them to continue with their merger plans which Loanstar has bailed on due to the fact that LEND has no value whatsoever. The odds of LEND winning that suit seems minimal and if it doesn't the odds of them falling below 2.5 seems pretty good.

Anyway, before you buy or sell make sure you know the company well! If not you will get burned.

God bless!

Stocks soaring :)

My stocks are doing quite well. Apple is above 130 again which puts me up on some of my stock. I'm still down on the majority of my position though, but this bodes well for me to be up on all of my Apple soon :)

Google is looking good as well, though not much movement in it. I think I'll look at possibly adding some positions to Google as it has languished lately and I think the next earnings should rocket it up quite a bit.

I haven't had much time to study for the Series 65 yet, but I plan to dedicate time today and tomorrow. I have the test on Sept 5, so I need to get on it soon since I have a lot of other stuff to do as well :)

God bless!

Yahoo's real time quote service!

By the way, I signed up for Yahoo's real time quote service yesterday and it is really well done.

I use Yahoo Financial a lot, so it is a great addition to my growing arsenal.

Stocks looking fine, bones hurting

My primary stocks are all holding nicely. I'd prefer they jump way up like they did down last week, but oh well :)

I'm nearing completion on a pretty comprehensive technical analysis system to assist with my stock picks.

My bones were hurting pretty badly the last few days. I went to the doctor this morning and he said I just needed to strengthen certain areas to reduce the stress on key areas.

I didn't get a chance to study for the Series 65 yet. But, I did buy some additional study guides and books, so I should have everything I need at my fingertips.

God bless!

I passed!

I took the Series 63 Saturday night and I passed! That is a huge step in my quest to become an investment adviser.

Also, the stocks held up well on Friday. Based on the 1/2 point federal rate cut, I think the plummeting should be done. I don't know that the stocks will rise quickly, but they definitely won't fall as rapidly.

I spoke with an old friend from high school, Felix Gilbertson, last night. He is farming in Montana and is doing an excellent job of it. He owns around 7,000 acres which is a huge farm! Most of that, he built up by himself, with loans and hard work!

The Series 65 test is in two weeks, so hopefully I find time to study for it :) I'll just pull an all-weekender during the Labor Day weekend probably :)

God bless!

Everything better

With the Fed cutting rates, naturally everything is up. Not as up as it was down though, so things still have a fair amount to pop before things are good.

This should help mitigate the overall problem though, so the long term traders should be back soon!

God bless.

Wow, everything is getting crushed :(

Well, everything I own is way down. I'm going to have to take an "for real loss". :( By "for real" I mean, that the transaction will be closed with a loss. "On paper" losses I don't mind as much because while you hold you can still get back up :)

I guess I learned that this credit issue thing is a lot larger than I anticipated. My bad :(

Oh well, I'm still in the market, so I'll just batten down the hatches and try to inch my way back to profitability. I keep getting tempted to buy some Leaps right now :) The premium plus the current stock price is still quite a bargain compared to only a month ago!

On other fronts I'm ready for the Series 63 test on Saturday. I should do well.

God bless!

Looks to be another slightly down day

Well, the stocks seem to be pinging from slightly positive to down 1 or 2 percent. That's too bad. As long as Trina Solar stays above 50 for the week though, it will be a good week, so here's hoping.

I'm compiling a lot of historical data and will be running some more technical analysis in the coming weeks so that will be interesting to see the impact of that.

My little brother left for home today :( He had come to live in Atlanta to work, but he couldn't find a good enough job so he is going back to Colorado to finish his college degree.

God bless!

Tests setup

Well, I have my first securities test on Saturday! Then the next is 2 weeks later. That was just because the scheduling for the Series 65 was much more difficult. They had 2 or more tests every day except Sunday for the Series 63, but only 1 or 2 per week for the Series 65.

I took two practice tests that I have yesterday and answered 97 out of 100 correctly, so I think I'm ready :) And I looked up the reasons for the 3 misses, of course.

The stocks are trickling down a bit today. I imagine they will stay pretty much around the same amount for the rest of the week. I decided to sell some puts on TSL since they report earnings next week. I figure the extra premium should make the sale worth it. Naturally, the stock has gone down over 2 points since I did that. :)

My short term market estimation is routinely wrong. I think I will have to alter that slightly going forward :) Otherwise, I also get a 1 or 2 percent instant loss, which then, generally, recovers in the weeks to follow.

God bless.

Monday seems well

The stocks are all looking well thus far. That's good. I'm submitting my Form U10 to be able to do the Series 63 and 65 tests today! I don't know how long that puts until I'm certified, but it is a fun status :)

I've taken 3 practice tests and scored high enough to pass on each, so I feel pretty confident.

God bless

Actually a pretty good week :)

Apple, Google, and Yahoo all did reasonably well this week. Apple way down, but most of my position is in short puts at 120, so I'm still marginally safe :)

Have a good weekend all zero readers of this :)

Love to my wife!

Stocks down again :(

Well, I waited quite a while yesterday and got into some more Apple at around 129.40. I was thinking, yes buying below 130. Little did I know that it would fall like a stone right after.

Oh well, I'm in for the long haul, but I prefer immediate upside :)

On other fronts, I just filled out my form U-10. I'll send that in for the Series 63 and Series 65 tests. I'm very confident :)

Let's hope the stocks don't go down too much more as I'm mostly all in again. I always tend to jump in the middle, but oh well. Let's hope this reverses eventually :)

Everyone, love your family more today than you did yesterday!

Stocks going south! :)

I put the smiley on the subject because I just got out of almost all my positions except Apple, so now I can re-enter lower. That's always fun. :)

I think I'm going to watch more today and see if things go even lower (not a good sign) or if they stay at this level, which is still a bit higher than last week.

It looks like my old friend Eric Hooshmand from California commented on my blog yesterday. That's cool, I sent him an email so we'll see if we can touch base again.

I'm filling out form U-10 today, which allows me to take the stock tests I mentioned earlier. So, now it begins :) Cool!

God bless!

Going Mac?

The announcement by Apple wasn't major, but it shows yet again that Apple is very cool! The coolest :)

The more I think about it the more I think about "going Mac" finally.

Fortunately my company owns a pretty good Mac that is only a year old that the former employee that uses it is no longer using, so I'm going to plug it in and try it out today :) I'm going to try to like it and hopefully switch off Windows which I've been liking less for the last couple years.

On the stock side, Yahoo finally went up yesterday. I don't see it lasting. I do think Yahoo will eventually rebound to 27+, but not today. I could be wrong, and I hope I am since I have a lot of shares :) Google seems extremely stable, which I love, and as expected by the fact that Apple didn't announce that they had perfected cold fusion Apple is a little down. I expect it to hover around the 133 to 136 range for a couple days or longer, but long term I think it is an awesome stock to own.

God bless

Apple's announcement?

Well the announcement coming from Apple should be fun as usual. The ironic thing is unless they announce something awesome (which they generally do) the stock will tank in the short term. In a sense, anyone on the sidelines should pray that they announce a red carrying case for the iPhone. That would drop the stock 10 points :)

I worked out again last night, I did an hour of "spin cycling" which I highly recommend by the way. Cycling is, I believe, the finest cardio workout that exists! It is zero impact so it is just you versus your legs and heart :) "Spin cycling" is the closest indoor activity to real cycling.

My wife went to the doctor again yesterday and she is going to be fine which is great! She had a fever over the weekend.

My stocks appear up this morning so that is good, we'll see if they hold on after the 1pm announcement by Apple :)

God bless!

Monday after eating unhealthy all week

Last week my grandmother was in town so I took the opportunity to stop working out completely :( and to eat like there was no tomorrow :(

Today, I'm back in the saddle and ready to eat right and work out! Most likely I've pushed my goal of not being "obese" back by a month, but I'm still going to persevere.

As usual for the past week or so the stocks look to go up this morning. It seems that they end up going down a lot anyway toward the end of day, but that's the stock market for you :)

My wife's fever broke over the weekend, but we are still having her see the doctor as she has a bit of a cough and her side aches. I'm praying constantly for her. I hate seeing her be ill at all!

May God bless your paths.

Wife sick

Stacie had a 103.2 fever last night so I took her to the emergency room. I had no idea how slow they were and I got upset at the guy helping us for now reason. I apologized to him, but I still feel bad for getting upset. I guess that's what happens when you are up past 3am worrying about your wife.

Yet again, the stocks are down today. I can definitely see why some people are on the sidelines! I'm still holding in the profit category, so I feel fine, and I don't really get concerned about short term losses, especially if the transaction is still "open". Until it's closed, there is still upside potential :)

My grandmother went back home today. It was nice with her out here. I wish she were here more but she is almost 90 and really carries her "independence" as a badge of honor.

Stocks - One Year At a Time

Too many people live their stock market lives out one day at a time. They jump for joy at a 2% increase one day, only to cry in their beers over a 2% decrease a few days later.

I'm in for the long hall. I pick companies I think are tremendous long term companies. Sometimes, in fact most of the time, they go down for a few days, maybe longer, right after I buy them. I'm patient though, and I employ a call writing strategy on all owned stock, so except for those occasions where I was NOT PATIENT I turn a profit in a reasonable period of time each time.

Patience and gambling have been my only loses during my trading. Every time I heard of a "big tip" or something or "bought right before earnings for the huge bounce" I lost money :) Why the smiley? Because I learned my lesson! :)

Now, I am conservative and I don't gamble. And I am in for the long haul.

God bless

Dale Carnegie, Stocks

Last night I completed the Dale Carnegie Training. For those unfamiliar, it is a 12 week course that meets once per week for 3.5 hours. And for those unfamiliar, it is terrific! I really enjoyed it and I actually learned quite a lot. And, I had already read "How to Win Friends and Influence People" previously.

I highly recommend that anyone that wants to do better in ANY business or career take this course!

In addition to the excellent course material, I met some really cool people and think some of them will grow into lifelong friendships!

Back to stocks, Apple dropped like a stone yesterday! That's why I tend to be conservative. If the stock falls, I still feel pretty good since I fell "less" :) So, it looks like my Apple short puts will definitely get exercised. That's fine as I'm super bullish on Apple long term. That's the key, in my opinion. Always buy stocks that you love and that if they go down 10%, 20%, 50%, you still love! "Long term" is the key.

If anyone actually reads this, thanks for your time!