Investing While In College Part 1.
Many students fail to plan for life after graduation. They are so concerned over getting assignments done, going for internships, and looking forward to breaks from school that they completely forget to plan for life outside of college. Freshman year is the start of college and graduation seems so far ahead. before you know it, you are a senior and you are about to graduate. Some students have a job lined up, others don't. Getting a job is only half the battle. You have to find a way to live until your first paycheck. This is where investing your money wisely during college comes in handy.
Lets assume you have a work-study job. I wrote about a few jobs that are good to have while in college, so read that post if you are curious. The average pay is about $7 an hour. If you work 10 hours a week, that is roughly $65 after taxes. Multiply that number by 4 and you make about $260 a month. Paying for books and bills comes first, obviously. On the off chance that you do have some spare money, instead of blowing it on tickets, clothes, or other things, invest it.
A good goal to have is to invest at least $50 a semester and about $100 a summer. That adds up to $200 a year. You should be saving more than that but this is money that you are going to have work for you. What are you going to do with this $200 a year? You could do swing trades like I did earlier in the year and turn that $200 into a lot more. A safer route, especially for those not as experienced, is to invest in long term stocks. These stocks are not volatile, have growth potential, and the ideal ones pay out dividends. By starting to invest your freshman year, that $200 you put in could turn into $300 by the time you graduate. After four years, of safe investing for long term, you could have turned that $800 into $1000+.
That doesn't seem like a big gain, but that is enough money to get you through your first month if you have been saving the entire time. That $1000 could help pay for your rent for a month or two depending on where you live. Now, this plan is only for those who want to invest $200 a year. Many students work full time during the summer so you could invest more. Instead of $100 during the summer, why not try to invest $200. The earlier you save and invest, the more money you will have later. When you graduate, you won't be surprised and caught without money.
This is just a brief overview to a plan you should consider about investing throughout your college career. These small steps will accumulate into large leaps. I will discuss more later about investing strategies.
WIWS
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Investing While In College: The Good
I am going to start a little series of articles on why I invest while in college. I will discuss the good, the bad, the ugly of investing your money while in college. Everyone who tells you it is a great thing is only partially right. There are some sacrifices that are made but I think the personal benefits outweigh the costs. More coming soon.
WIWS
WIWS
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
How To Make Millions In One Year.
Apparently, you just have to be one of the best.
Trade aggressively at Citigroup's expense.
Mr. Hall aggressively traded oil and is expecting a 9 figure bonus. The problem is that Citigroup is supposed to pay it to him. The problem of ethics becomes evident. Mr. Hall earned the money, but should he be paid in tax payers money? Citigroup was bailed out by the public and that money should not go to paying bonuses. Mr. Hall may just have to wait to get his paycheck.
WIWS
Trade aggressively at Citigroup's expense.
Mr. Hall aggressively traded oil and is expecting a 9 figure bonus. The problem is that Citigroup is supposed to pay it to him. The problem of ethics becomes evident. Mr. Hall earned the money, but should he be paid in tax payers money? Citigroup was bailed out by the public and that money should not go to paying bonuses. Mr. Hall may just have to wait to get his paycheck.
WIWS
Is The Recession Nearing An End?
I have been reading these articles to try and gauge what the market's behavior is going to be like. With so many mixed signals, it is pretty hard to tell.
People think the recession is ending, but it may not be true. This article talks about how even though people's sentiments about the economy are changing, the after-math from the credit fallout are still able to take us down.
New jobs, less money? People may be getting jobs, but they also will be getting paid less. This may not be a bad thing. With a slight deflationary economy, the value of each dollar will go up. When the rest of the economy turns around, we could face some substantial growth that is not primarily dominated by inflation. The real growth after a deflationary period could match or out do the nominal growth.
People are gaining their confidence back. This article shows how people are spending more even when their wages have been cut. I guess consumerism still is king.
WIWS
People think the recession is ending, but it may not be true. This article talks about how even though people's sentiments about the economy are changing, the after-math from the credit fallout are still able to take us down.
New jobs, less money? People may be getting jobs, but they also will be getting paid less. This may not be a bad thing. With a slight deflationary economy, the value of each dollar will go up. When the rest of the economy turns around, we could face some substantial growth that is not primarily dominated by inflation. The real growth after a deflationary period could match or out do the nominal growth.
People are gaining their confidence back. This article shows how people are spending more even when their wages have been cut. I guess consumerism still is king.
WIWS
New Hot Stock
I have been looking at other stocks, incase our plans with AKRX do not follow through. I have found a new promising stock, SYNM.
SYNM is a reliable and good preforming stock. It has been acting favorably in this market, especially with its pattern. SYNM has regularly hit the $2.90 mark and promptly gone up to $3.00. On a few occasions it has gone below that but support it at the $2.80 and $2.90 level with a possible major support being formed at the $2.90 level.
SYNM is an undervalued stock. Its value is far above its current price. Buying in at these levels, I believe, is a good idea. I would like to get in at around the $2.90 level and make a quick flip and sell around the $3.10 level.
The Syntroleum Corporation is an energy company that is taking steps in the right direction with trying to create renewable energy solutions. A quote from their site, "Syntroleum is also utilizing its Bio-Synfining™ technology to produce renewable synthetic fuels with the same superior qualities."
For some more information, check out their Investor Presentation.
WIWS
Disclaimer: These are not recommendations to buy or sell. Invest at your own risk. Where Is Wall St. is not responsible for your own decisions.
SYNM is a reliable and good preforming stock. It has been acting favorably in this market, especially with its pattern. SYNM has regularly hit the $2.90 mark and promptly gone up to $3.00. On a few occasions it has gone below that but support it at the $2.80 and $2.90 level with a possible major support being formed at the $2.90 level.
SYNM is an undervalued stock. Its value is far above its current price. Buying in at these levels, I believe, is a good idea. I would like to get in at around the $2.90 level and make a quick flip and sell around the $3.10 level.
The Syntroleum Corporation is an energy company that is taking steps in the right direction with trying to create renewable energy solutions. A quote from their site, "Syntroleum is also utilizing its Bio-Synfining™ technology to produce renewable synthetic fuels with the same superior qualities."
For some more information, check out their Investor Presentation.
WIWS
Disclaimer: These are not recommendations to buy or sell. Invest at your own risk. Where Is Wall St. is not responsible for your own decisions.
Some Late Night Reading
I am still up and just doing some reading about the markets and their performance.
CNN has an article about the rally.
It says that traders and investors are starting to believe that the markets have stabilized. The measure of how strong this rally is going to be is the consumer confidence. A quote from the article, "On Tuesday morning, the Commerce Department releases its June readings on personal income and spending. Also Tuesday morning, the National Association of Realtors releases the pending home sales index."
It is a good sign that Berkshire Hathaway closed above $100,000.
Berkshire Hathaway is a decent measure as to trader confidence. It was, after all, built by one of the greatest investors.
That is all for tonight. I plan on waking up tomorrow and possibly making some trades.
WIWS
CNN has an article about the rally.
It says that traders and investors are starting to believe that the markets have stabilized. The measure of how strong this rally is going to be is the consumer confidence. A quote from the article, "On Tuesday morning, the Commerce Department releases its June readings on personal income and spending. Also Tuesday morning, the National Association of Realtors releases the pending home sales index."
It is a good sign that Berkshire Hathaway closed above $100,000.
Berkshire Hathaway is a decent measure as to trader confidence. It was, after all, built by one of the greatest investors.
That is all for tonight. I plan on waking up tomorrow and possibly making some trades.
WIWS
Monday, August 3, 2009
Improvement
I improved the site a little bit by changing up the options on the side. Be sure to favorite and follow the site!
WIWS
WIWS
Interesting Articles
These articles are worth reading.
Swing trading. I found the fourth point in this article depicted the current market sentiment pretty well. Long-term trading is currently not the predominant technique. There are more traders now than investors. The difference between the two is that investors are in for the long-term while traders are in to swing trade for profits. With the recent instability people are trying to protect their assets and taking profits when they can since many companies seem liquid then go bankrupt. In my opinion, the current market is being influenced more by traders than investors.
The power of numbers. this is a pretty self explanatory article.
Bank of America has been punished. The SEC did something. Surprising.
WIWS
Swing trading. I found the fourth point in this article depicted the current market sentiment pretty well. Long-term trading is currently not the predominant technique. There are more traders now than investors. The difference between the two is that investors are in for the long-term while traders are in to swing trade for profits. With the recent instability people are trying to protect their assets and taking profits when they can since many companies seem liquid then go bankrupt. In my opinion, the current market is being influenced more by traders than investors.
The power of numbers. this is a pretty self explanatory article.
Bank of America has been punished. The SEC did something. Surprising.
WIWS
Random Prices?
I thought I would post this article since I was talking about the random prices of AKRX. It talks about how some things that are random may actually have a pattern to them. It is a very interesting article worth a read especially considering the randomness of the current market.
WIWS
WIWS
AKRX Part 2
Akorn, Inc. did not release any PR last week but there are still good sentiments following this stock. As a result, it went up $0.13 to $1.48. There is supposed to be some news coming out concerning Akron, Inc. I will continue to follow this stock, however the price action is not trending as expected.
AKRX looks as if it will go up with a new floor in the low $1.30's. I may buy back in depending how the stock moves, but will start looking for new stocks to look into. This stock is a highly speculative one, it hasn't been following normal conventions. When there was good news, it went down and when there was no news it went up--as in today. I will monitor this stock but it may be time to move on to new ones soon. This week will be important for AKRX and also decide if we buy back in or not.
WIWS
Disclaimer: These are not recommendations to buy or sell. Invest at your own risk. Where Is Wall St. is not responsible for your own decisions.
AKRX looks as if it will go up with a new floor in the low $1.30's. I may buy back in depending how the stock moves, but will start looking for new stocks to look into. This stock is a highly speculative one, it hasn't been following normal conventions. When there was good news, it went down and when there was no news it went up--as in today. I will monitor this stock but it may be time to move on to new ones soon. This week will be important for AKRX and also decide if we buy back in or not.
WIWS
Disclaimer: These are not recommendations to buy or sell. Invest at your own risk. Where Is Wall St. is not responsible for your own decisions.
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