Friday, August 24, 2007

Links for Friday

This Week's Links:

A Post from the Past:

Friday, August 10, 2007

Updated Performance and Transactions

I sat down today and updated my performance and transactions spreadsheet (check out the right sidebar). It is pretty interesting how quickly the market has changed over the last month. With the S&P only up 1.71% this year, I am pretty happy with my current year-to-date performance.

Many of my readers can attest to my recent personal finance binge and the lack of investment posts. That currently does not mean I have stopped trading! I thought I would detail some of the transactions have I been negotiating in an effort to shield myself from this volatile market.

Deal Arbitrage:
I presented several opportunities mergers and acquisitions offer to investors last month. Some privatization deals are particular lucrative to small investors, such as the MCBF trade. While there are certainly some risks with these trades, deal break-offs and shareholder disapproval, statistically, these trades are pretty sure investments. If you are looking for stable returns in-excess of fixed income investments, these deals are a good place to start.

Aggressive Hedging:
I may do a more formal write-up detailing what hedging means, but for now I will simply explain the strategy individuals can implement in this uncertain market. The idea is simple, purchase a stock you feel is going to simply outperform the broader index, maybe it is undervalued or showing great technicals, and short the index that closely follows that stock. If the broader market goes down, your long position in your stock may fall, but your short position in your index will net positive returns. The reverse strategy can be implemented as well.

In short, risk-adverse investors should look for sure-things in this market environment. In order to appropriate protect yourself from this variable market, I would suggest taking both short and long positions. Good luck and happy trading!

Links for Friday

This Week's Links - Firefox Extension Addition:

A Post from the Past:

Friday, August 03, 2007

Links for Friday

This Week's Links:

A Post from the Past:

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

24 Goals to Accomplish in 240 Days - UPDATE

It has been nearly three months since I shared my goals for the rest of the year. I have detailed the status of each of the goals below:
  1. Make the maximum contribution to Roth IRA by July 4th ($4,000/$4,000) - Complete
  2. Successful open up Hedge Fund account by June - Complete
  3. Hedge Fund account value greater than or equal to $10,000 by August ($10,800/$10,000) - Complete
  4. Hedge Fund account value greater than or equal to $20,000 by January ($10,800/$20,000)
  5. Roth IRA account greater than or equal to $9,000 by January ($6,700/$9,000)
  6. Have 150 blog posts by December (82/150)
  7. Create Fund website by July 4th - Complete.
  8. Read five books by August (5/5) - Complete
  9. Create two more portfolio’s in my Virtual Stock Exchange league (1/2)
  10. Do 75 push-ups without taking a break (40/75) - No progress
  11. Run 2 miles in 12 minutes - I have been running, but no measurable progress
  12. Increase my net worth by 80% this year (33%/80%) - Increased by 8%
  13. Play a set of tennis without double faulting - 4 double faults is my new average
  14. Achieve Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) certification - Deadline passed; goal failed
  15. Secure a full-time job - No progress
  16. Convince five people to start investing (3/5) - Added my sister!
  17. Establish and record 500 phone contracts (140/500)
  18. Establish and record 1000 email contacts (240/1000)
  19. Learn how to drive a manual transmission - No progress
  20. Achieve 1000 lifetime trades (380/1000)
  21. Complete my portfolio management spreadsheet and submit to sourceforge.net - No progress
  22. Attend a University of Michigan basketball game for free - Potentially
  23. Master double-digit multiplication and division - No progress
  24. Give blood - No progress

Looks like the goal process is going well. Due to summer employment commitments, I have not been able to attack this list as much as I wanted to this month. So far I have managed to complete five goals, while only allowing one to slip away.