InvestorGeeks

Thanks. :)

by Steve

I just wanted to thank all of you readers for making IG an interesting place for discussions and arguments and rants about my favorite topics.

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas,

Invest in peace…

End of Year Calculations

by Christian

Based on seven months of investment our ROI is 26% as that is when I jumped in this year. I have to say that I am very happy about this. This ROI is based on funds, stocks, and bonds throughout Europe, and the America’s.

As of today my positions are as follows:

What About API N?

by Christian

In reply to my automated trading blog entry I have had people send me emails asking what about this or that toolkit? This made me think that I should be doing some reviewing of products and toolkits.

Therefore if anybody wants to send me your toolkit WITHOUT RESTRICTIONS I will do a feature by feature comparison and review of your product on my blog and Investor Geeks. And if any reader wants me to focus on some products or toolkits please tell me and I will get in contact with the vendor.

Ok, sound interesting?

Wary Of Google

by Christian

A while back somebody asked me what I thought of Google stock. My thoughts, then as now is; good company, but I would not trade their stock. Today I read something in Business Week that confirms why I am not a fan of Google stock.

The article talked about how employees will be able to sell their options instead of stock. Interesting idea, but I am not completely happy about it. The following comment from the article bothered me quite a bit.

Under Google’s Transferable Stock Option program, employees could sell their stock options on the semi-private marketplace much the way public options are sold today. That would let employees potentially reap more than if they merely exercised and then sold the securities. Say an employee holds an option with a strike price of $400, meaning it can be purchased for $400 and then resold at a higher price. If Google’s stock is trading at $500, an investor might pay $150 for that option, betting that the stock will rise well past $500 during the life of the option. The employee selling the option could net an immediate $150. An employee exercising and then selling the same option would net only $100, the difference between the strike price and the current price.

How about a game of Risk?

by Steve

When people talk about investments, they tend to leave out a missing value that everyone ignores when figuring out their investment strategy. That little tidbit of information would be the massive elephant in the room called: risk.

Year-End Thoughts: Don’t Lose Out On Free Money Next Year!

by Vince

Investors come in every shape and size, as well as risk tolerance. That last quality can really vary depending on whom you’re discussing the subject of investing. So let’s approach today’s rant in a way that should appeal to you whether you’re ultra-conservative or a daredevil risk taker.

One of the things to do during this holiday season after you’ve completed your shopping, should be to plan out your finances for next year. Most people I know put more thought and time into planning for their vacation than they do for their retirement. I’m guessing the majority of IG readers hold down a job somewhere so the first place to look at planning are your company’s offering of retirement plans. And I’m also guessing that most of us will not be able to say we spent a larger portion of our life taking vacations vs. being in retirement.

Retirement Plans Are Not Built Equally!
Complaints about one’s own retirement plan from disgruntled friends and family are common. My reaction is to ask them how much time they spent studying the features of their company’s offering? Too many people have the misconception that all plans are built equally. Throw that out right now! Ask for your company’s retirement plan prospectus and scrutinize it. Don’t say it’s boring, because you’re just giving yourself an excuse to fail. And if you can’t accomplish such a simple task, you really have no one but YOURSELF to blame for your future. (more…)

E*TRADE Rollercoaster: Anatomy of a Merger

by Jason

Bellow are some screwy screenshots from my E*TRADE account (you’ll also get to see what my E*TRADE portfolio looks like). Early this week, I setup a trade in Lucent Technologies (LU). It was a complete chart play. I haven’t been monitoring the stock fundamentally lately, but I recall my last analysis of it was something like “undervalued because people are still scared of the name.” Feel free to ask me more about my rationale behind the trade (or any of the others), but this post will focus on the odd things that were happening with my account as the merger between Lucent and Alcatel (ALA) played out today.