Stock Portfolio Report NYX

June 9th, 2007 by nagel

The stock portfolio report for my assets has been positive recently, at the same time fluctuating. As I had previously stated, I have pared down my portfolio several weeks back because of risk jitters. Soon there after I flip-flopped and took more money from cash and placed it in individual stocks. My stock portfolio performance has been very good this year save one stock.

That one stock is the New York Stock Exchange (NYX). It has dipped significantly since my original purchase in January, and I have even double and tripled up on it. Last week I took about 30% out because I needed to pay for taxes for an IRA transfer to a Roth IRA. I have faith that NYX will be a long-term success and I will not reduce that position until it turns around and is positive unless some extraordinary circumstances prevent that. Short-term, the New York Stock Exchange (NYX) might have more problems though will not dip below 80, however, it could jump to 100.

When and if this stock rises significantly my overall stock portfolio performance will rise with it. I do not expect this until quarter-earnings are reported in a couple months.

Posted in Stocks | No Comments »

Stock Market Crushed?

June 8th, 2007 by nagel

The last couple days of trading on Wall Street has been significantly down. Although the market has been hot for an extended period of time, this might be the beginning of a rush out of stocks. Wednesday the market slowly fell further down throughout the day.

Will this be the start of the crush where investors begin to jump out the windows on Wall Street to the safety of cash equivalents? Flippers have already turned away from the housing market as an investment once the housing market cooled. Will stock investors do the same, if a cool off is upon us?

Posted in Stock Market | 1 Comment »

Gifted Stock Portfolio Report: Conoco Phillips (COP)

June 6th, 2007 by nagel

Stock Portfolio Report

Recently, my wife was gifted Conoco Phillips (COP). I began tracking the stock in April before the transfer of the gifted stock. Since then it is up around 15%. The actual transfer came about in early May and since then COP has increased around 12%. This is the good news.

The bad news was the because the stock was gifted it was automatically put into an account with Mellon Investor Services. I do not have a problem with Mellon, but I have never dealt with them before. The letter my wife received stating the gifted stock transfer occurred was short and vague. My wife signed up for online access to her account and that has not offered any answers. We have sent an email proposing some specific questions and their support team did not directly answer those questions. Therefore, it has been a bumpy start to the financial relationship. Now my wife will need to call their 800# and get the answers we need so we better understand our new account with Mellon.

Posted in Household, Stocks | No Comments »

IRA Account Transfer

June 3rd, 2007 by nagel

In the last several weeks and months my stock portfolio has had some major and minor changes. Last week a transferred all my family’s IRAs into Roth IRAs. You might wonder why I did this. I thinkn the current tax rate for income are very low, mainly because of the Bush Administration’s tax cuts. Because of the current and future financial mess the country is in, I do not think tax rates will be this low again in my lifetime. Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security are a mess; defense spending is ridiculously high, we are borrowing more and more money to fund these prgrams along with the costly War on Terror. I do not think the economy will grow to the point where it will just pay for itself on the current tax rate and programs we have.

Paying the taxes out of the traditional IRAs and rollover IRAs will be a short-term loss in the value of our retirement portfolio. However, in the long-run this will be a huge gain for us because all the retirement money we have now will not incure any tax consequences once we remove it for our retirement.

Many might disagree with this strategy, but that is my story and I am sticking with it.

Posted in Household, Retirement, Stock Market | No Comments »

Savings: Money Tips II

June 1st, 2007 by nagel

We have started a discussion on methods of saving money. Below are some saving money tips.

  • Bring your lunch to work
  • Cut or color your hair less often
  • Look for rebates to your favorite stores
  • Buy used cars
  • High interest yield accounts
  • Eat healthy and exercise

Add your own money savings tips to the discussion.

Posted in Household | No Comments »

Stock Market Rocket

May 31st, 2007 by nagel

The U.S. stock market most mostly unchanged most of the day yesterday, overreacting to the some “bad” news from China and in anticipation of the release of the minutes from the latest Fed meeting. At the end of the trading session the Fed news was interpreted as very positive and stocks roared at the end with indices ending up about 0.8% up for the day. The S&P500 broke through its all-time high set several years back.

These signals point to a higher return for this morning’s trading session. In the long run it adds to the bullish arguments out there stating the stock market is primed to make a big move.

Posted in Investing, Stock Market | No Comments »

Stock Market Thoughts

May 30th, 2007 by nagel

The stock market has continued its climb and showed only small signs of weakness. Can it keep going up? Will it rise further?

There are many pessimistic investors out there, however, there is just as many positive signs as negative. So what does it mean? Again, I have said I am being conservative, but I am reconsidering because so many investors are so bearish. I am interested in value investing and contrarian thinking so I have put a little bit more money into the market. And if the market dips I will try to take advantage of it.

Posted in Stock Market | No Comments »

Savings Money Tips

May 29th, 2007 by nagel

Let’s face it, Americans have a big problem saving money. The saving rate in the U.S. has recently become negative for the first time in recorded history. So we need some help. Periodically, I will list some examples of potential methods to use to save money.

Save Money Tips

  • Load up on necessities at the dollar store
  • Load on on non-perishable often-used items when they are on sale
  • Buy generic if you can
  • Try low cost entertainment alternatives such as: walks, tennis, go to the park, etc.
  • Eat out less often

These are just a few of the many to come.

Posted in Budgeting, Household, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

How to Get a Better Job

May 28th, 2007 by nagel

Everyone knows somebody who does not like their job and wants a better job; it might even be you. But how do you go about getting that better job that you love? It is not as difficult as you might think.

It takes . . .

Motivation
Typically, that great job you love is not just come to you without you looking for it.

Time to Determine What You Want to Do
Consider what that dream job is
Brainstorm about things you already like to do

Preparation

  • Prepare your resume
  • Use online job sites
  • Get the word out: Network

Passion
Your passion will keep you going in order to ultimately find that job

A great resource is: Dan Miller’s 48 Days to the Work You Love
It is a great podcast to learn how to find that job you love.

Posted in Household | No Comments »

Why Save Money?

May 25th, 2007 by nagel

Why save money? Seems like a simple straight-forward question, but you can have a long discussion on the benefits of saving versus not saving money. My wife and I make a genuine effort to save as much money each month as we possibly can. We want to have an emergency fund, a hefty retirement account balance and be able to travel.

Here are some reason why you should save money.

Saving money can . . .

  • Give you an emergency fund when times are not so good
  • Give you a sense of accomplishment
  • Help you reach life goals
  • Allow you to splurg on something you always wanted without the worry
  • Make your future brighter
  • Help you family’s future be brighter
  • Mean retireing early
  • Working less, not more
  • Free you from wanting to keep up with the Jones’s
  • Help you sleep at night
  • Keep the bill collectors away
  • Help give you a positive attitude

Why save money? These are just a few reasons why.


What are your reasons?

Posted in Household, Uncategorized | No Comments »

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