Archive for the ‘stock’ Category

Funded a ROTH IRA

Wednesday, October 8th, 2008

I had been putting aside some cash to fund a ROTH IRA by the end of the year (I love Vanguard, but the 3K minimum is a bit much…).  I decided to scrape up all my loose change and go for it.  It will leave me a bit short this month but I can take a short loan from my emergency fund, and then I’ll be done with one of my goals for this year! 

Somehow, investing now seems like a really important thing.  I think I’m convincing myself that I’m buying at the bottom.  Plus it helps to be focusing on getting a bargin and ignoring what is happening to my other investments.  And buying a relatively risky investment means that swings in value are normal, so I can just go on pretending things are okay.

I know staying in the market, with the investments I already have, is the right thing to do.  This just helps me take my mind off of it.

Posted in retirement, saving, stock | 920 Comments »

Online Trading

Sunday, June 3rd, 2007

The Sun’s Financial Diary reviews his first trading experience with Zecco.   Verdict: annoying interface, cheap and fast trades.  I haven’t done much buying of individual stocks.  I own some stock of a former employer in a 401k because their company match was in the form of stock. 

I also own about $50 worth of a single stock in a sharebuilder account.  Normally I wouldn’t recommend trading that small of an amount ($4 to trade in and $15 to trade out eats up a huge chunk of $50) but they were doing a “free $50 after your first trade” promotion.  So I transferred $50 in, bought some stock, waited 30 days for the bonus and transferred $50 out.  Net cost to me: interest on $50 for 30+ days (adding ACH transfer time to the waiting time).  Net gain to me: $46 of stock, which has gone up a little since then.  I haven’t decided whether to keep the account and add more money, keep the account as is and ignore it for a few years, or cash out the stock and close the account.  Out of sheer laziness, I’m probably going for that middle option. 

Here are six tips to becoming a successful online investor.

Posted in stock | 8 Comments »