Gap Casting Call (free stuff link inside)
I’ve been looking for an excuse to take my kids downtown for the first time.
We’re going to the Third Annual Gap Casting Call. Because then I go downtown, do some interviews, host a giveaway, AND get professional pictures of the kids for future use. Beat that with a stick.
After you’re done beating with said stick, visit MommyBlog Reviews to learn more about the Gap casting call and enter the MommyBlog Reviews Gap giveaway. It’s a good one. You don’t actually have to go to a location to enter, either. It’s open to everyone with kids 10 and under. Even baby-babies are eligible.
Even if you don’t wear Gap clothing, you can put your kids in some free gear instead if you’re so inclined. Wondering what I’m talking about? Click the link up there and see what I’m giving away!
How to Start and End Your Day Happily in the Negative
Here’s the weird thing about a ShareBuilder account with ING.
When you buy the stocks, you buy them at the price they are when you buy them. Common sense, right? But the prices of stocks fluctuate overnight. When I bought my Lehman Bros last night it was at $.13 and Fannie Mae was at $1.78. So my bank account was charged a grand total of $277 because of what the pricing was when I placed the order.
When the actual Buy Order went through this morning it went like this:
Lehman Bros - $.25 x 100 Shares + 14.95 comission = $39.95
Fannie Mae - $2.01 x 100 Shares + 14.95 comission = $215.95
For a total of $255.90
But since I’d only agreed to pay a total of $227 for both of the stocks, I started the day with a negative account balance. The difference between the opening prices and the prices when I made the order. A difference of $28.90.
So when I first logged in this morning and saw that my account was -$9.90 I felt pretty good about it. I’d already made back much of my loss.
There was a way around it
I could have found a way to trade on another market to buy the stocks. Australia is getting up while we are going to bed. It is possible I could have purchased the stocks through the Australian stock market (I don’t know if one even exists, just so you know, this is only for the sake of example.) That would have assured my purchases would have happened at the prices I wanted to the penny.
I haven’t started researching overseas trade, but I imagine it costs a little more to execute than the $9.95 it costs with ShareBuilder from ING. Even if I wanted to do a phone trade with ING it would cost $29.95! I’m happy sticking with the Internet.
Where I ended up when the market closed
When all was said and done at the close of the market (4:30pm CST) I was down in my ShareBuilder account by $29.90. While you could look at that and say, “Wow. Don’t you feel all freaked out being in the negative on an account?” I don’t.
Because I started out at negative $28.90 and ended at negative $29.90. I lost a dollar today.
Considering the bailout plan got shaky during the last hour of trading I’m surprised I’m not down a whole lot more. When Twitter reports were coming through that they had made a bailout deal before McCain could even get himself to Washington, DC everything spiked (as expected) and at my highest point today there was a whole $49.60 in the account. Not negative, either. A positive balance of almost fifty dollars. (Had I cashed out it would have meant I made $78.50 - the combo of covering the negative I started the day with plus the profit at the peak of the day.)
I don’t generally think in terms of how much I made when I wasn’t even planning on selling, I just want to make sure I’m being clear how I can be happy ending my day in the negative.
That and you and I both know I didn’t buy these stocks to sell them today. I bought them this morning JUST IN CASE the bailout somehow went through today. Lehman closed at .33 cents today when I bought it at .25. Fannie Mae closed at 1.97 when I bought it at $2.01. The slight differences between opening and closing prices (basically my stocks for all intents and purposes are almost exactly where they were when the market opened) when the overall Dow Jones closed UP 196 points tells me the market and everyone in it are probably going to stay about the same until something happens.
Like, oh…I don’t know….a bailout perhaps?
How I want to play this
That means my job is to wait. Wait for news that will make a difference in how these stocks act. Something that will make people feel one way or the other about them.
For now they are just kind of sitting. Flucutating a little based on the day’s news and any whisper coming out of those bailout meetings. But that won’t make the big difference.
I don’t really expect to even consider getting rid of these stocks until Monday.
Until then I plan on watching the Fox Business Channel. The mix of Dave Ramsey on one end of the spectrum and Jim Cramer on the other helps me stay focused on where I want to be.
Stuck in the middle with you. Of course.
Falling off the Financial Wagon to Invest
I need to do the October budget today. Mostly because I think it will look a lot better than last month’s budget…but also because I spent about $200 out of the emergency fund.
Really, it was sort of an impulse buy. Well, I’ve been talking about it for months, so not entirely impulsive. My desire has only grown as constant talk about the woeful state of the economy has had a chance to really sink in.
Did you know that Bill Clinton’s Press Secretary bought 2,000 shares of Lehman Brothers about two weeks ago? That’s before there were whispers of a 700 billion bail-out package.
Now that the bail-out package is almost a done deal (I mean, who can say no with executive payment caps and judicial oversight?) I’m wondering if Lehman’s stock is going to see a jump if not a serious resurgence.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying it should. Lehman has already been (basically) broken up and what’s going to be left of Lehman is the bad parts. It’s not like the bail out package is actually going to Lehman…but just because you know that and I know that doesn’t mean every daytrader and investor knows that.
You know how much my 100-share gamble is going to cost me? You can take a guess…I’ll wait… (when you’re calculating your guess, make sure to take into account the $19.95 fee for making the trade - and don’t tell me e*trade is cheaper, I know it is.)
$38
That’s right. For the same price I would pay for a large pizza and a 2-liter of coke I bought a completely speculative stock. I’m hungry, but very excited. I also need to find a cheaper pizza place.
Sure, I’ll have to keep an eye on it, but you know as well as I do that I don’t wander very far from a computer at any given time. So I’ll be up close and personal with my new baby - the reviled, the detested, the one and only…Lehman Brothers.
I cannot wait to see how this plays out.
In order for me to make a profit on the stock it needs to go to about sixty cents a share.
Where the rest of the money went
Since only $38 of the $200 I spent went to Lehman, I should let you know where the rest went. It too went to buy 100 shares of another company stock.
Are you ready to laugh? Good…
Fannie Mae
I figure there are only three potential outcomes for this stock
- Somehow I lose all my shares. The government makes it private, it goes bankrupt, it explodes taking all files with it…whatever. Somehow I could lose all my money. It is a stock, after all.
- It shoots up after Obama and McCain get together with Bush today and they all hold hands and sing campfire songs about how great the bail-out package is with the new tweaks. If it shoots up too high (like, more than it should for a normal comeback) we sell the crap out of it.
- The company stays open, stays public, does not make a huge resurgence and eventually balances out to what the stock price should be. I keep it in my brand-spanking-new portfolio till I retire.
The way I see it, two-thirds odds for what most people will spend on Halloween (I already have costumes for the girls. They are going to wear those scrubs ’till they don’t fit anymore. I love Princess Linens) is not that big of a risk for the potential return.
I really think by Monday the markets will start to rally. It all depends, though, on when that bail-out goes through. If they wait until Sunday like they have for everything else the past few weeks then maybe it won’t rally on Monday but on Tuesday. It’s difficult to tell.
But there will be a rally, because once everyone gets over being angry about the government bail-out they will realize they aren’t so afraid of another depression happening and the pain and anger will fade quickly. People just want to live and not worry, the government giving them something to do that will be a cooling salve on the burn of giving people money that may not deserve it.
Why I didn’t just put my money in a mutual fund
A good mutual fund has a diversified portfolio. Even a tech mutual fund will have diversified tech stocks in it. As long as my stock portfolio is diversified, it is basically the same as a mutual fund, but without the fees. Oh, and with a manager at the helm that really cares about the companies and the money that is being traded or left to sit. That manager would be me.
See, mutual fund managers are paid a salary. They don’t make money for having a mutual fund that does really well, and people who invest in mutual funds are pretty risk-averse (or they would buy stocks.) That means the goal of a mutual fund is not to make as much as possible while balancing risk. Their job is to make sure that mutual fund beats 6% and that’s about it.
Mutual funds are glorified, slightly risky savings accounts. There is no wealth-building in a mutual fund.
But that is only my opinion. You will notice I have a brand new disclaimer at the bottom of this website since I’ve started talking more about finances and am now getting into stocks (so it seems.) Please be aware that I am not a financial advisor, and as such am not giving you advice. Just sharing what I’m doing with my life and why. That’s it.
These speculative stocks aren’t part of the mutual fund I’m talking about, though
Fannie Mae and Lehman are completely speculative stock picks. Buying Fannie Mae was referred to today on Mad Money with Jim Cramer as a “Sucker’s Play” - so…the experts aren’t with me on this one. Dave Ramsey always harps on aggressive growth and growth mutual funds so you know he isn’t on board with my idea either.
But…if there are two things I know about the economy and the stock market it’s this:
- Buy low, sell high
- When the economy is in the toilet, everything is on sale
So I bought some stuff on sale. It might turn out to be bad quality and fall apart, but you know what, that happens sometimes.
I’ll keep you updated.
All the Little Things Creeping Up
I’m trying to figure out what I want on my new business cards.
They’re going to be all about the www.jennydecki.com site, but by the time they are ordered I’ll have the Non-Toxic Networking book ready for purchase online. (I was going to do a book proposal, but have reconsidered and think I’m going to go through Lulu.)
The index for the book was completed last night! An index! For the book! Randy did it. Went through the book page by page – goodness only knows how because I’m just not that good at the tedious work. The index is what’s going to allow the book to be marketable to libraries – I want my book in a library more than anything.
But I don’t know if I can get away with having a freelance writing business card and merge a book on there. Writer and author sound good on the surface, but…it’s selling two different things. Writing services vs. Networking skills.
Gak.
Which stinks because I kind of know exactly how I want the cards to look and it’s going to be very similar to the banner on the jennydecki page. Simple, right? Well I’m all about the simplicity!
Ok, I’m done rambling. I just have to figure out if I’m making one business card or two business cards. I also kind of need to redo the website so it looks good. Maybe I’ll put it on the jennydecki site and then have the domain forward with masking to that same page. Not sure. Still working it through.
First, I’m going to go lay down for a few minutes. I’m exhausted.
Too many things that need to get done – all of which I’ve avoided while being buried in work. Now they are rearing their ugly heads and making me realize why I’ve buried myself so completely in work.
Oh. I could just add the book to the front page of the jennydecki site. Right now there is an RSS feed there for all three blogs, but that could be a book cover and a blurb in ten minutes.
So many things to think about! Yikes.
