My investments have been doing well, lately, but aren't getting me rich.
I sold my Polypore when I saw that DuPont was getting into their business. There might not be room for both of them. I bought Ford stock. I also got out of AEM which is a gold mining company and bought the silver ETF's options for January at a strike price of $20. I felt that the gold run might be a little tired, and since silver is an industrial metal, it might go longer. It's a bit risky but I'm an old commodity trader.
I now have 9 stocks and some options on an ETF. They are: Caterpillar, Cognex, Ford, Freeport-McMoran, Lazard, Nucor,Nvidia, At&T, and Whole Foods.
I'm trying to be diversified but most of the stocks move when the market moves up. The silver and Freeport-McMoran move with the price of metals like gold, silver and copper. Lately the market has been moving up so I'm doing well. I think we've turned the corner on the recession and the market will keep moving up. Another factor is that the developing nations are expanding and that will keep our markets moving up. At least that is my hope.
I've been following the teachings and guidance of Jim Cramer. He has a television show on cable named Mad Money. He advises doing your own homework and I'm grateful that I've been able to spot situations like Dupont getting into Polypores business. I also bailed out of 3M a week ago because they were buying other companies. I'm afraid that their stock prices might get diluted.
My brother-in-law died the other day and my sister is rather distraught. I've been keeping in touch with her by phone. She lives in California, a little North of San Diego.
I hope that she comes out for a visit when she gets a chance.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Rent assistance
I've been taking forms for rent assistance to their office in Postville. They needed a copy of my birth certificate and a copy of my proof of payment from Social Security. I'm at the top of the list. I hope I qualify. It will save me around $200/month. I got lost on the way back from Postville. I missed a turn and wound up going south about 10 miles.
I'm still invested in the stock market. I sold my Conoco stock today and bought Nucor. I read an article on the Internet about how Iraq is increasing their oil output by leaps and bounds. Cramer recommended Nucor. He said that China is stopping the production of steel for a while. He feels that Nucor is positioned to take up the slack. I lost $220 today, mainly because gold and copper went down. I'm having doubts about my investing. I need a steady movement in the up direction for it to justify buying stocks.
Today I interviewed for a job as a file clerk at Spectrum Industries. They provide jobs for the developmentally disabled. I'll hear in a few days about whether I get the job. Tomorrow I'll go to see about a custodian job at NICC. That's the college that I'm attending. It involves cleaning bathrooms so I've been putting off applying for it.
I need the income so it will be worth it. Disability doesn't go far enough to live on month to month. And frankly I have doubts that investing in stocks will make up the slack.
I'm doing well at school. I'm taking accounting and keyboarding. I'm already typing over 40 words a minute so I'm acing keyboarding. Accounting has been easy so far.
I've got 6 computers ready to sell. I have doubts that I'll be able to sell them. Computers, even laptops, have gotten so cheap that I might have to give them away.
Well, that's it for now. I'll try to get my $20 camera working again and post some pictures. Lately, it's been rather dark and dreary. Maybe Sun will be out tomorrow.
I'm still invested in the stock market. I sold my Conoco stock today and bought Nucor. I read an article on the Internet about how Iraq is increasing their oil output by leaps and bounds. Cramer recommended Nucor. He said that China is stopping the production of steel for a while. He feels that Nucor is positioned to take up the slack. I lost $220 today, mainly because gold and copper went down. I'm having doubts about my investing. I need a steady movement in the up direction for it to justify buying stocks.
Today I interviewed for a job as a file clerk at Spectrum Industries. They provide jobs for the developmentally disabled. I'll hear in a few days about whether I get the job. Tomorrow I'll go to see about a custodian job at NICC. That's the college that I'm attending. It involves cleaning bathrooms so I've been putting off applying for it.
I need the income so it will be worth it. Disability doesn't go far enough to live on month to month. And frankly I have doubts that investing in stocks will make up the slack.
I'm doing well at school. I'm taking accounting and keyboarding. I'm already typing over 40 words a minute so I'm acing keyboarding. Accounting has been easy so far.
I've got 6 computers ready to sell. I have doubts that I'll be able to sell them. Computers, even laptops, have gotten so cheap that I might have to give them away.
Well, that's it for now. I'll try to get my $20 camera working again and post some pictures. Lately, it's been rather dark and dreary. Maybe Sun will be out tomorrow.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
I'm back again
I haven't posted anything for a few months, now.
My investing has picked up since I started using Jim Cramer's advice. I'm now into several different stocks, per his advice to diversify. They are Agnico Eagle mines, Three M, A T&T, Lazzard, NVIDIA, and Whole Foods. My biggest holding is Agnico Eagle. Cramer said that gold would go up thru September and so far he has been right. I'm using the profits from that to buy other companies.
I paid off all of my credit cards. Most of them settled for 40% of what I owed them.
A computer and my camera was stolen from my car a couple of weeks ago. I still have the $20 camera so I'll be posting some pictures, later.
I'll have to come up with a computer for the person who owned the stolen computer.
I'm doing well at school. I'm trying to get a work-study job. That would justify going to school in the first place. I have an interview tomorrow for an IT job.
I'll get back to posting more blogs. I have to tell my sister and brother to go here and leave comments.
Later
My investing has picked up since I started using Jim Cramer's advice. I'm now into several different stocks, per his advice to diversify. They are Agnico Eagle mines, Three M, A T&T, Lazzard, NVIDIA, and Whole Foods. My biggest holding is Agnico Eagle. Cramer said that gold would go up thru September and so far he has been right. I'm using the profits from that to buy other companies.
I paid off all of my credit cards. Most of them settled for 40% of what I owed them.
A computer and my camera was stolen from my car a couple of weeks ago. I still have the $20 camera so I'll be posting some pictures, later.
I'll have to come up with a computer for the person who owned the stolen computer.
I'm doing well at school. I'm trying to get a work-study job. That would justify going to school in the first place. I have an interview tomorrow for an IT job.
I'll get back to posting more blogs. I have to tell my sister and brother to go here and leave comments.
Later
Friday, May 14, 2010
Going to Jason's class tomorrow
I'm taking a class on starting an Internet business, tomorrow and Sunday. I've taken his classes before, but this one will include sections on selling on E-bay. It might be new to me. So far I haven't come up with an idea of something to actually sell on the net. That seems to be the key to making money. Maybe I could write such a riveting blog about investing that people would pay to read it but I can't see that happening. I even lose money in stocks.
Talking about investing, I took my money out of Treasury Inflation Protected T-bills and I bought gold today. I used the GLD ETF. It invests in the actual metal. So far I'm doing well. I made close to $100 today.
Monday, I start my new job at Northeast Iowa Community College. I'll be a custodian as part of the work-study program. It'll be good to have a little extra income. I'll be saving up for newer car. I've really been strapped financially lately.
I gave a laptop computer to Brent, yesterday. It was working very well for such an old Gateway. I've been struggling to get another one going, but I failed today.
Nate told me to try Slackware for a Linux version that might work with old laptops. I'll have to download it at home since the Internet is too slow here at Java John's.
I paid off my last credit card yesterday. Being a deadbeat paid. I was going to pay them a $4000 settlement for a $9000 debt. I lost the papers in the move and I didn't know their address. They sent me papers for a $1500 settlement on $10000 debt. I took them up on it and now I'm debt free. It felt good. Now I hope I can make money on my investments for a change.
It's sunny and I should get the camera out and get some pictures.
Later.
Talking about investing, I took my money out of Treasury Inflation Protected T-bills and I bought gold today. I used the GLD ETF. It invests in the actual metal. So far I'm doing well. I made close to $100 today.
Monday, I start my new job at Northeast Iowa Community College. I'll be a custodian as part of the work-study program. It'll be good to have a little extra income. I'll be saving up for newer car. I've really been strapped financially lately.
I gave a laptop computer to Brent, yesterday. It was working very well for such an old Gateway. I've been struggling to get another one going, but I failed today.
Nate told me to try Slackware for a Linux version that might work with old laptops. I'll have to download it at home since the Internet is too slow here at Java John's.
I paid off my last credit card yesterday. Being a deadbeat paid. I was going to pay them a $4000 settlement for a $9000 debt. I lost the papers in the move and I didn't know their address. They sent me papers for a $1500 settlement on $10000 debt. I took them up on it and now I'm debt free. It felt good. Now I hope I can make money on my investments for a change.
It's sunny and I should get the camera out and get some pictures.
Later.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
I haven't posted a blog lately
I just feel that it's time that I posted a blog.
Not much is happening. The weather is great. Thank God for global warming.
I'm getting good grades at school. I got a job, starting in a couple of weeks, with the school work/study program.
My bonds did well, today, but the options went down. They conteracted each other so I'm doing OK.
Dave W. got approved for health care at the VA. Now he can see if he'll be approved for mental care.
I don't know how much longer his unemployment will last but when it runs out he should be eligible for the War pension. I think the only thing stopping him from getting that is that he's getting unemployment.
I'll post a picture from Lake Meyer
Not much is happening. The weather is great. Thank God for global warming.
I'm getting good grades at school. I got a job, starting in a couple of weeks, with the school work/study program.
My bonds did well, today, but the options went down. They conteracted each other so I'm doing OK.
Dave W. got approved for health care at the VA. Now he can see if he'll be approved for mental care.
I don't know how much longer his unemployment will last but when it runs out he should be eligible for the War pension. I think the only thing stopping him from getting that is that he's getting unemployment.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Made some money at Etrade
I've been doing well at Etrade lately. Both my oil options and the Treasury bonds are going up.
The bad news is that I got a bill from a credit card company that I didn't know that I owed. I'll have to pay them $1200. I think I'll sell some of my bonds to pay that off.
I got another laptop working. It's a Gateway 9300. I was going to trade it for Dave W.'s Thinkpad. It'll be a bit faster than his. The trouble is that I'm having trouble with the Wi-Fi module. If I can get something working with his Wi-Fi I'll trade him.
If I can get his Thinkpad working well I'll donate it to Community Action.
I'm going to add a picture from last winter during the hoarfrost. I couldn't find my pictures from Lake Meyer.
The third Eagle hatched at the fish hatchery lately. I'll make a link to their webcam.Eaglecam
The bad news is that I got a bill from a credit card company that I didn't know that I owed. I'll have to pay them $1200. I think I'll sell some of my bonds to pay that off.
I got another laptop working. It's a Gateway 9300. I was going to trade it for Dave W.'s Thinkpad. It'll be a bit faster than his. The trouble is that I'm having trouble with the Wi-Fi module. If I can get something working with his Wi-Fi I'll trade him.
If I can get his Thinkpad working well I'll donate it to Community Action.
The third Eagle hatched at the fish hatchery lately. I'll make a link to their webcam.Eaglecam
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Made back some of yesterday's losses
I'm going to include a link to the Eagle Cam at Luther College. It's a camera watching a pair of eagles and their offspring. The last that I heard, one of their eggs hatched. There are 2 more eggs in the nest. I went to that site earlier today. It wasn't very clear. I think some of the rain got on the lens. It was unclear. Here is the link.
I passed the test on data bases today. I didn't do as well as other classmate did but at least I got a B.
I'm posting a picture from Lake Meyer today. It turned out that one of my flash drives isn't working very well with my desktop Linux machine. I used another flash drive and it's fine. EagleCAm
I don't know why my text went blue for a couple of paragraphs. I was trying to change the background colors but apparently I changed the text instead. O well.
Later
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