(no subject)

[cblj_backup]

So, I decided I wanted to learn more about the stock market.

Well, it's always struck me as a terribly irrational way to run an economy, but if I'm going to dislike it I should understand why. And really the only way I learn is by doing, so I asked Nakki about it, since I knew she did a little investing, and she pointed me to the RobinHood app, which lets you buy and sell stock in realtime for no fee.

I threw fifty bucks in and built a portfolio, just to kind of see what’s what, and today I made my first sale -- I bought Grubhub at $18 in late January and just sold it for $25. Probably I shouldn't have sold, but the whole thing's an experiment, not a wealth-building exercise, and seven dollars' profit is a bonus.

Plus it freed up just enough cash to buy into Fitbit. :D We'll see how well my picks continue....

Comments

[madripoor-rose.livejournal.com]

Something I need to learn my way around too. We've got some Exxon-Mobile stock with dividends that just about pay for a tank of gas, and I've tried to talk Dad into putting money behind something slightly less evil.

The whole thing seems unnecessarily complicated.

[sherylyn]

One of my favorite stock market stories ever came from a "business computer science" prof I had a million years ago in under grad (the very "title" of his degree/field should give you an idea of how long ago this was!!). When *he* was in undergrad (in the '50s), one of the assignments in a class was that they were supposed to pretend to do some stock trading by picking a handful of stocks and tracking them, etc., as if they'd literally invested. So after the semester, when he went home to the farm (literally) for Christmas break, he asked his dad for something like $1000 to invest in a stock that he reallllly thought was going to actually go somewhere, from what he'd been studying for that class assignment. I *think* his dad talked him into doing something like buying a piece of land or something, instead, b/c it was supposed to be a "safer" investment. I was in his class in the early '80s. Wanna guess what stock he wanted to buy, way back when??

IBM.

Yeah.

Not exactly the same now as it once was, perhaps, but still... can you imagine what that stock would've been worth by the '80s???!! o.O

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was doing a report on one of the founders of an international biotech firm last week, and stock in the firm was at $3 in the early 90s. It now trades at $150 or thereabouts. *sighs*

[sherylyn]

Yeah, those types of scenarios are kinda mind-blowing, but it sure makes you wonder what some of today's stocks might do eventually!!

[aunty_marion]

I have very little idea of how the stock market works. (Anywhere in the world!) But I do still have a very few shares - some years ago (well, a couple of decades now...), most of the UK utilities companies went public (if that's the term) and sold shares cheaply to all and sundry. The first one was British Gas, with an advert that wanted you to 'tell Sid' about it. Well, I had gas, and electrickery, and water shares, and some when my building society converted into a bank, and some in British Telecom. Over the years, they've either withdrawn the shares, or been bought out and the shares have been forcibly sold, or combined with the new company, and I have just been informed that my 172 shares in British Gas are now 76 shares in Royal Dutch Shell PLC, and I have a cheque to pay into the bank for the balance on the convoluted transaction. The electricity and BT and water shares have long gone - some transferred/sold, and some I got rid of because they counted as 'capital' against me when I was claiming benefits. The building society/bank ones still exist, and I think I get something daft like about £15 a year dividend from them. Since that account only has about £200 in it (if that), I just count any dividends as 'interest'.

[hungrytiger11.livejournal.com]

So, I actually do a stock market unit with my GT elementary students (like what we cover is suuuper basic, but I've got one ten year old whose REALLY into it and he'll tell me all about what Sprint or the Steel group or SEED is doing on Yahoo.Finance each day), but we did have a guest speaker who was a day trader. He recommended to the kids that a good rule (for them as new traders) was sell if the stock price got lower than 10% or reached 30% or higher. Conservative guideline, but helpful and you did that!

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

HAH yes, that is a good rule! Good on you for doing that with your students, too. They're lucky -- they have so many more accessible ways to monitor the stock market. Back when I was a kid it was the stock page, which told you next to nothing about anything unless you had an MBA.

[a-phoenixdragon.livejournal.com]

They deliberately make it overly complex, just so the 'little people' won't get involved. If anyone could do it, what is the point of the punters? LOL!!

Good luck, though. Seems you have rather the hang of it. And I like that idea - if you dislike something, learn as much as you can about it!

*HUGS*

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

I do think they've worked very hard to make sure nobody who might actually need the money can invest :D

[jaseroque.livejournal.com]

Hmm, yeah, I've been thinking of doing similar. I should look into Robin Hood.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

I've found it extremely intuitive; there are things I'd change (I wish they'd list my purchase price on my stocks right below them, instead of only in the "orders" page) but overall it's quite easy to use.

[glorafin.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't say the stock market is a way of running the economy. It would be best described IMO as a parasitic form of life feeding on real economy. :)

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

Perhaps, but the economy fluctuates based on it -- when the market crashes, so does the economy. One could argue the market responds to signals in the economy that are about to cause a crash, but I don't think it's incorrect to say that most depressions and recessions have been caused by stock drops. Which is fuckin' insane.

[equityresearch.livejournal.com]

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