Fantasy Stocks

I know this is two in one day. I want to stress that this is an anomaly. I don't want to build the expectation that I will blog daily, let alone twice a day. Because then I will think that you are judging me when I don't post every day. I judge myself pretty critically, so I don't want to assume the judgment of my millions (OK, tens) of readers.

Just so no one accuses me of creating my stock portfolio retroactively, here it is, based on the price at the close of the Market yesterday. What I am trying to accomplish here is to study more closely my investments, what my trade triggers might be, etc. Should I trade based on graphs, volume, percent increase, decrease, etc. I am going to adhere somewhat to the "rules" of: 

How to Make Money in Stocks: A Winning System in Good Times and Bad by William J. O'Neill

This book was recommended by my stock guru, Stacy. One of its basic tenets is that if your stock drops 7%, sell. If your stock gains 20% sell. There are lots of other suggestions about buying and selling, but that's one of the easiest to follow. Stacy told me there's an old saying, "Bulls make money. Bears make money. Pigs get slaughtered." Well, I haven't quite held to that on my real account and it's worked out OK with me because I made some good picks on some companies that are really growing. But I still know it can bite me in the ass any time. So here, I'm going to go by the rules. 

How did I pick my stocks? Well, mostly by stuff I've read in the newspaper which is why many of them are "local" in some way to the Raleigh, NC area. I was lucky to start doing this with our 401Ks at the right time. Not because I'm some guru and can predict such things, but because I just felt like I had been thinking about doing something with our stocks and decided to start at an opportune time.

Date	Name	Symbol	Shares	Price	Total
04/29/10	Cree	CREE	27	$75.990	$2,051.73
04/29/10	Ford	F	75	$13.250	$993.75
04/29/10	GlaxoSmithKline	GSK	26	$37.440	$973.44
04/29/10	Inspire Pharm	ISPH	151	$6.770	$1,022.27
04/29/10	Red Hat	RHT	65	$30.619	$1,990.24
04/29/10	Talecris	TLCR	105	$18.840	$1,978.20
04/29/10	Verizon	VZ	34	$29.129	$990.39
					$10,000.00

So, if you have stock picks to suggest, post a comment. Hopefully when I rapidly gain 20% and sell, I will be looking for something in which to invest my winnings, I mean gains.

I'll post occasionally...can't commit to "every Tuesday and Friday" or "every third Wednesday" or something. It will be pretty much when I feel like it.

DiHi - Di Housewife Investor

Comments

[amy]

After visiting katie at boulder last week, i think you should invest in any pizza parlor within a 5 mile radius of a college campus.

[Di]

OK...well get our researchers on that. Did they have pizza rolls?

Actually, I think Dominos would be a good buy right now they are redefining themselves with their new recipe and media presence. And the new recipe is actually quite good! Darn...I wish I had put some caveat in there where readers could contribute Fantasy Cash to be invested in my fund!

[Di]

Based on Amy's comment and Kip's comment on FB, I'm putting Domino's and Citigroup on my watch list. Oh...I'll blog about it tomorrow, but I'm also going to add $10K cash to play with. Hey...it's my Fantasy. Do you think I should make these two separate blogs? No way...I will never keep up with that.

[Vicky]

The husband watches (as I do occasionally) Jim Cramer's show. Cramer just had our CEO on his show for the third time last Friday.
I am intrigued by your Fantasy Stock Portfolio. How do you make your picks?

[Di]

I do like Cramer...he's fun to watch. Honestly...I do it mostly by intuition. I even bought Ford on Rory's recommendation...and have done quite well on it. I started buying Apple four years ago when Debbie Ellman bought her first Mac laptop. I figured she was a Maven (The Tipping Point), so soon other Moms-of-a-certain-age would be following...and certainly there were many more Debbies across the country. It worked out very well.