Disqus - Latest Comments for Jorge

Re: Options - What are they?

Jorge — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 08:01:08 -0000

I've lost about $20 right now. The potential for the market is huge. Just yesterday I saw some folks on a message board I visit turn $100 into anywhere from $600-$1000 overnight. If you time it right it's amazing how much someone can make (or lose). I'm learning more than anything right now so I don't mind if I lose $20 here or there. Maybe I'll get lucky and hit it big like some of the big shots!

Re: Dow Jones Industrial Average Closes Down Over 280 Points

Jorge — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 19:05:16 -0000

You know, I've only been investing for a little over a month, and it's disturbing to see the level of manipulation people on Wall Street have over common folks and their finances. We, as the general public, don't have much of a chance against the folks that run hedge funds, brokerage firms, etc. and it's rather scary.

Re: Top 7 Reasons to Invest in the Market

Jorge — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 14:32:12 -0000

It was something I came up for fun. I'd actually like to create a more serious list on why folks (like you and I) need to invest in the market and not be so afraid of it. That was my biggest issue. Fear and panic only lose you money.

Re: If you could ask the White House economic team one question, what would it be?

Jorge — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 08:35:30 -0000

Heh.. I seriously doubt it, especially that *now* is when the Feds have realized our housing/financial sectors are in a rut.

Re: Fed Injects $12 Billion in Temporary Reserves Into The Banking System

Jorge — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 21:33:40 -0000

Here's the thing. I've only been investing for about two months now. In the two months I've been investing, I've seen the market top out at 14,000 and then slide up and down wildly and almost without warning. At first I had no clue what the heck was going on. Then a couple of days ago, my fiancee told me that her dad lost his job as a homebuilder. That pretty much summed up everything and put the market in perspective. If something isn't done to help those that are going to lose their homes and increase liquidity for mortgages, I think the economy goes from perhaps mildly inflated to a rapid deflation. I'm not saying we'll see an outright depression, but it's not going to be good. It's definitely not as easy to make money as it was at the start of the summer. The problem is I haven't been in the game long enough to understand everything that's going on.

Re: Discount Online Broker Review - Zecco

Jorge — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 21:12:57 -0000

Rawr! Thanks for the acceptance! I've really enjoyed Zecco, but do you get what you pay for. They had some nasty downtime about two weeks ago. They were very quick to apologize, however, so little harm done. Good luck!

Re: The UpDown.com Portfolio Challenge

Jorge — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 11:12:43 -0000

Not a problem. Check your inbox. Good luck!

Re: The UpDown.com Portfolio Challenge

Jorge — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 15:48:14 -0000

There ya go! Enjoy!

Re: Discount Online Broker Review - TradeKing

Jorge — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 22:30:23 -0000

You can send me a message at investingadventures@gmail.com or leaving a comment here works as well.

Re: Disclosures

Jorge — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 09:00:11 -0000

Sure thing. Sounds like a plan. Good luck with your website!

Re: Welcome to InvestingAdventures.com!

Jorge — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 07:38:25 -0000

Thanks for the compliment. I'm actually really interested in real estate especially house flipping. Problem is two-fold. First, I'm a college student so the amount of cash I have is close to zero. Second, the real estate market is so bad right now in terms of selling property, it's really easy to get stuck with property for quite some time. I actually hate those TV shows that deal with house flipping because most of the time they're either from the early 2004-2005 period where the market was hot, or they don't tell you how long it took the flippers to sell their property. It's just too risky right now to play with.

Re: Masters of Science in Finance

Jorge — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 07:00:22 -0000

Yes I did. I actually faved you a few weeks ago from JohnChow's blog :-D. User name is nuclfusion4 rawr!

Re: Discount Online Broker Review - Zecco

Jorge — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 17:51:43 -0000

I've actually been using Zecco for a couple of months now. Besides an occasional hiccup here and there I haven't had any major problems with them. Now, I haven't attempted to withdraw funds from them since I haven't had a need to at the moment. Their site is definitely not user friendly but I guess you get what you pay for. I'm not too worried if they do go bankrupt or merge with another company since they are a member of SIPC which is a major factor in any broker I do business with. I think we'll know in a few months whether or not Zecco can survive on $0 commissions.

Re: Down Days of Summer

Jorge — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 20:28:56 -0000

Hah! I figured that out. That's the problem with being such a new investor like myself. I'm slowly learning the cycles. Thanks for the tip by the way. Even though it's normally warm here in Florida, it's a lot cooler than most other places in the US right now. Go figure.

Re: Yesterday’s Selloff

Jorge — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 19:07:40 -0000

Yeah there has to be some buyers. Although I heard from the financial websites that today's rally may have been due to the Fed cutting rates on Friday. I think that's what bothers me the most about playing in the stock market. Any little rumor can swing stocks one way or another. But at least it's fun when you're on the winning side!

Re: Yesterday’s Selloff

Jorge — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 19:56:32 -0000

Yeah I just caught your reply on your blog a little while ago. My main problem's my inexperience. I've been buying on the way down with a couple of stocks (XTO being one of them). The purchases themselves aren't bad, the timing of the purchases is.

I'm down about 10% so far which is not a good thing. Thankfully it's 10% of a relatively small amount (under $2000). I'm using this time as more of a training exercise, or tuition even, until I start playing with real money. Good luck tomorrow. If the rumors of a Fed cut are true, I might make back that 10%!

Re: The UpDown Investing Challenge Update

Jorge — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 19:49:11 -0000

Not a problem. I've edited my comment. Enjoy and good luck!

Re: Labor Day Advertising Contest

Jorge — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 20:30:05 -0000

Thanks for the review. That was a good 20 questions. Looking forward to the next one!

Re: Labor Day Advertising Contest

Jorge — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 21:01:46 -0000

Awesome. You're entered! Good luck!

Re: Labor Day Advertising Contest

Jorge — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 21:30:55 -0000

September 7th is the last day to enter so sometime after midnight September 8th. I haven't been sleeping much lately so I wouldn't be surprised if the results were posted around 1 am on the 8th.

Re: Contest Updates

Jorge — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 18:23:01 -0000

Anytime sir. Bloggers stick together hah! Have a great Labor Day!

Re: Hurricane Felix - Category 5 within 36 Hours

Jorge — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 19:45:48 -0000

Haha yeah I just got it. Thanks sir. Good luck!

Re: Portfolio Progress - September 3, 2007

Jorge — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 21:42:20 -0000

I's a great story. Luna would really appreciate it. In case you don't know, that's the family dog. Here's a picture of her: http://www.sheltienation.com/welcome_to_sheltie...

Good luck with your writings!

Re: Portfolio Progress - September 3, 2007

Jorge — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 21:56:27 -0000

I goofed with GME and sold extremely early. It's just a pitfall from learning I suppose. I'm getting there though. I've learned to have patience, especially with my spec LVLT. Patience is definitely a virtue. Good luck in September as well!

Re: Portfolio Progress - September 3, 2007

Jorge — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 12:38:50 -0000

Sure I wouldn't mind. I just started out as well. I'm pretty much giving myself a crash course on how to do this stuff. I do know a few things on what to do and what not to do though. We can talk about it later! How was your Labor Day weekend?

Re: Labor Day Advertising Contest

Jorge — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 07:41:55 -0000

Thanks for entering! I'll sort out the winner sometime after midnight tonight as long as I don't pass out. Going into work at 5 am is hard sometimes.

Re: 11 Hours Left!

Jorge — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 17:04:05 -0000

Thanks for the compliment. Everything's slowly coming together which is nice. It's always a great feeling to see things you've started grow and become better than you anticipated.

Re: And the winners are..

Jorge — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 10:52:52 -0000

When you linked back to my contest post in your blog it entered you into the contest. I can accept a text link though. Leave me a message or an email with your link text!

Re: Portfolio Progress - September 9, 2007

Jorge — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 21:53:22 -0000

Some people think we're in a recession already. Even if the Fed cuts rates, I think it takes about 6 months for it to run its course in the system which may be too late. It'll be curious to see what the Fed does this week if they call for a rate cut early or if they wait until next Tuesday during their meeting.

Re: Portfolio Progress - September 9, 2007

Jorge — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 07:12:44 -0000

It has been. Monday was extremely slow.. very little action. Yesterday was nice. I enjoyed the tech bounce. As a result, I have a special Portfolio Progress coming up. First time I've turned a profit in the market. That's huge for a newbie hah!

Re: It’s Time … For a Special Portfolio Progress!

Jorge — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 14:34:52 -0000

Not a problem sir!

Re: Unexpected Job Loss in August

Jorge — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 18:14:04 -0000

Yeah it's not pretty. My fiancee's dad lost his job as well (was given 60 days to find a new housing contractor to work for). Both industries are not the best places to be in right now. Then again it looks as if it's extremely hard to find any jobs right now. My fiancee just graduated with her B.A. and has spent about 2 months looking for a job.

Re: Unexpected Job Loss in August

Jorge — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 07:06:11 -0000

You know, I honestly can't say. My instinct from my economics class back in high school (has it been over 7 years already?) is that we're already in a recession. The fact that we lost jobs last month isn't promising. Even if the government does something, the average time it takes for the economy to feel it is roughly 6 months I believe.

I think that's the problem with being involved with such economics, especially if you're at a federal level. My understanding is that you need to be proactive, a fortune teller even. If you don't act before the actually acting is needed, things can go down the drain rather quickly.

I knew I should have listened to my mother. Kids, when you go to college, don't change your mind about what you want to do. Go with your first instinct!

Re: Options Alerts Newsletter on TheStreet.com

Jorge — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 19:38:23 -0000

Well Zecco allows me to enable margin at $2,000. Once I hit that minimum limit I'll go ahead and have them enable margin, thus letting me trade options like the big boys. I've used that Options Alerts newsletter for a couple of days now and the writer's pulled about $10,000 while risking about $500. Granted, that won't happen every time, but it's good enough to impress me!

Re: Light Weekend Reading

Jorge — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 19:19:25 -0000

Not a problem. Not many folks know the downsides of a rate cut to the average person. Everything from savings to rates on CDs decrease with rate cuts which end up hurting those needing low risk interest income to support their day to day activities. Good luck with your blog!

Re: Light Weekend Reading

Jorge — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 15:55:53 -0000

The only benefit from the US$ dropping is that it becomes somewhat easier for us to pay our bills. I've read from some analysts that it's only temporary. Others think we're going into a depression as a result of the huge rate cut last week. This is where I wish I had a better knowledge base when it comes to economics. Eco 2011 doesn't cut it when it comes to in-depth analysis.

Re: Light Weekend Reading

Jorge — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 09:38:08 -0000

My fiancee has a lava lamp in our bedroom. Does that count? Hah! Thanks for visiting!

Re: Light Weekend Reading

Jorge — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 12:40:50 -0000

Hey not a problem. A lot of folks don't really realize how the workings of the market affect their everyday lives. Some folks such as my uncle, depend on CD and savings rates for steady income since Social Security doesn't do much. Any time a rate cut comes around, he has to save that much more in order to maintain his income.

Re: What a Monday!

Jorge — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 08:17:42 -0000

It's been a full week actually.. and it's only Wednesday. Somehow I ended up helping to plan my fiancee's bridal shower for the first week of November. And I need to apply for a passport, and finish the details on our honeymoon. There really aren't enough hours in the day for everything. Lately there seems to be less hours in the day than the day before if that's at all possible.

Re: What a Monday!

Jorge — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 18:16:59 -0000

Yeah don't remind me hah! There's so much to do and so little time. Thanks for the encouragement!

Re: Updated Portfolio Progress - Week of September 24, 2007

Jorge — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 17:49:49 -0000

Thanks for the visit. My content really depends on how much time I have during the week hah! Luckily, we haven't had many deadlines at work so I've had more time to invest and write for the blog. Next week should be the same. Hopefully I'll be able to continue the Adventure Series next week or at the very least another entry on options. Thanks again!

Re: End of 3rd Quarter

Jorge — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 12:13:03 -0000

This was a great quarter, at least from my point of view. I didn't realize investing could be so much fun. I'm sure it's not as fun if you're losing money though hah!

Re: Weekend Reading - September 30, 2007

Jorge — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 18:45:18 -0000

1. Thanks. I may have to use Adsense or other ad programs as placeholders to represent where ad spots would go.

2. Got it. Woke up sleepy this morning.

3. I'm working on my quarterly progress report. My graphs have full disclosure to my holdings. I'll include numbers this update.

4. I wish there was a golden bear picture. Oh well.

Re: Weekend Reading - September 30, 2007

Jorge — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 14:47:22 -0000

I was waiting for the video to be posted somewhere. I was upset because I'm a good college student and go to school early so I missed it. But yeah I caught the video. I felt really bad for the NAR fellow. They're so out of touch with what's going on it bothers me. I think I understand now why I don't really trust realtors. Great find!