woohooo!! my first "gain"

[debtmamma]

I tries using my ameritrade account yesterday, look:

Cost Gain($) Gain(%)

80.94 3.39 4.19

I put in the order in yesterday afternoon I guess the price went up a little before it opened, LOL how did that happen.

[DHK]

After hours trading on international exchanges.

[jq26]

Because stocks trade in afterhours trading (AH trading). In fact, many stocks trade around the clock on multiple exchanges around the globe.

You own the stock now? Nice first day!!!!! It feels good. The single best thing I ever did was change from a consumption mentality to a savings/investment mentality.

Congrats-

[debtmamma]

ohhhh ty

[debtmamma]

Thanks!!! I'm so excited!!!!!

[gypsie]

The single best thing I ever did was change from a consumption mentality to a savings/investment mentality.

You couldn't have said it better. I wish I had made that mentality change when I was 25....and if I could only get my DH to think that way too.

[debtmamma]

woohoo up 5% since I bought it. I made over $1 today.

[ctfudge&bankofC-ville]

It is a great feeling, isn't it?

I hope you are not looking again today, or I hope you bought some lucky kind of security that went up today.

I bought some shares of Potash corporation a few weeks ago and immediately saw it printing money for me. It was an investor's dream scenario - I have a streamer and could see the share price growing like a weed, by the minute. Days or weeks later it got the air knocked out of it. Today it has recovered some.

I also used an odd amount of cash that I could not reasonably do anything else with, and bought some shares of Etrade because I saw that they were trading at around $2.00. If I lose that money, it will be no big whoop. If it goes up a lot, I'll feel clever. It has gone up about 25% since I bought it two days ago.

The amount of money I have riding on Etrade is lunch money. THe amount on Potash is more than 100x that, so I'm rooting for Potash more than for Etrade.

I said I did not like to mess with stocks but I guess that is not completely true.

Good luck with your investment(s)!

*oops, we posted at the same time. I am glad your stock went up 5%! As usual, some of mine went up and some went down (more went down)

[brokeinok]

The single best thing I ever did was change from a consumption mentality to a savings/investment mentality.

Care to share or elaborate on the steps you took to get there???

[jq26]

Total 100% lifestyle change. Live modestly, save every penny I can, both in 401k, taxable accounts, and save for rental property. I drive a beat up Civic that costs me next to nothing to own and operate every year. I live in a small home and keep bills down. Salary hasn't increased much since my BK7 in 2004 (same employer, same position), but these changes over time have been key to changing my life. Slow but steady.

When I BK'ed, I knew it was time to study every aspect of money. I learned a lot of the core building blocks right on this site and then built on that foundation. Life has definitely improved from those days when my rent was due and I was broke and my phone was ringing off the hook from collectors!

[debtmamma]

May I ask a question?

If it says it's changed in the positive 6%, that is 6% from the purchase price not like 6%/12 like interest, right? So if it's $100 on Monday and Wed the gain it's 6% then you made $6 in those three days, is that right?

[ctfudge&bankofC-ville]

Yes, ma'am!

Can you help, though, by providing specifics? Just to double-check. Like: Stock price on Friday: $100 per share. Stock price at end of today: $106 per share. Gain would be 6% in one day.

[Hedwig]

Total 100% lifestyle change. Live modestly, save every penny I can, both in 401k, taxable accounts, and save for rental property. I drive a beat up Civic that costs me next to nothing to own and operate every year. I live in a small home and keep bills down. Salary hasn't increased much since my BK7 in 2004 (same employer, same position), but these changes over time have been key to changing my life. Slow but steady.

When I BK'ed, I knew it was time to study every aspect of money. I learned a lot of the core building blocks right on this site and then built on that foundation. Life has definitely improved from those days when my rent was due and I was broke and my phone was ringing off the hook from collectors!

Good for you!!!

You are doing some of the things I expound. Drive your car into the ground. I sometimes buy new cars because I do a lot of driving. Sometimes I'll buy a low-mileage used car--it depends on what is available. Unless I had an accident or something, I don't think I've ever had less than 200K miles on a car when I got rid of it.

I also tell people to take lunch instead of buying. Cancel the cable. Once you get used to not having TV, you'll be surprised how liberating it is. I'm not going to get on the soapbox right now, I'm sure some day someone here will need it.

I paid off about $77K of debt I got stuck with in a divorce. I didn't BK and didn't even have any chargeoffs, although I did have a lot of lates. I have since recovered.

There is another thing I tell people to do to help with savings. Whenever you get a salary increase, immediately put half of it into your 401(K) (if available). If you don't have one available, set up an automatic withdrawal (or an allotment payment if your employer will do it) into an IRA or even an after-tax investment account. You start putting it away before you've ever seen it. You get a small increase in your check and your savings gets an increase. I started with 3-4% going into savings and I'm over 20% now.

If your employer has a match on the 401(K), contribute enough to get the maximum match.

[debtmamma]

Cost is 80.90

Market Value is 87.18

Gain is $6.24

Gain is 7.71%

I'm not doing this, but if I sold them when the market opens, I would keep all $6.24 if that was still the MV? Like they wouldn't put 12 into 7.71% (or divide it by days) like they do the bank interest, right? It's just a % and $ value of how much it has increased or decreased from the purchase price?

[debtmamma]

LOL Is buying stock totally addicting???? I had $40 check today from a temp job I did a few weeks ago, I was in line at the CU today to deposit it and kept thinking that I could buy another share of my stock with it.

[ctfudge&bankofC-ville]

Yes, you can pocket the profit whenever you sell. But remember that there is a commission for buying and for selling (in most cases.) I don't know what your commission is. There might also be a minimum account balance.

Here's an example of something I did, if you don't mind hearing me brag (I won't be bragging if the value goes down - and I don't really like to sell - I like to watch value go up. So I tend to be stubborn about silently watching it go down and waiting for it to go back up.)

Back in the summer I bought and sold POT (no jokes please, I'm not into that stuff , it's Potash corporation of Sasketchewan) twice, and later I realized I should have never sold. I think I broke even or made a small profit. The per-share price was in the neighborhood of $73 at that time. In December I realized I should have left my purchase there, considering how well POT was doing (and has been doing for years.)

So on 12/26/07 I bought 44 shares of POT at $139.21 per share which came up to $6,132.19 total purchase. (6.95 commission was added in.) Do I usually buy this much of a single stock? Erm... no. This was a much bigger purchase than the one I made and sold in the summer. Anyway...

As of yesterday the price per share was $150.12. Which means my purchase was worth (yesterday, who knows what will happen today*) $6,605.28. Profit of $466.14 (it's unrealized profit - I didn't sell) (this figure represents the difference between purchase price and potential sale price, subtracting out $6.95 commission I'd pay to sell.) Just between Dec. 26th and now.

Yes, it's addicting, but it's also tricky - I put a lot of time and research into picking these things out, and it can be a stomach-sickening ride. I watched that stock go up immediately after I bought it, hundreds of dollars in a few days, and then weeks later it fell back down so that I was in the hole a few hundred dollars, before it went back up again. Of course I'm hoping POT will continue on the trajectory it's been on for years, but who knows? That's why stock investing looks easy, and can be fun and addicting and profitable, but can also sock people in the stomach (or wallet.) I don't have many individual stocks - mutual funds, if chosen well, can be "safer," and there are also ETFs. We pick the riskiest ones, to be honest, and we've done well but I cannot advise anyone else what to do because it's "caveat emptor," YMMV, and all that.

*Actually, while I don't know what will happen with POT today, beyond some near-certain sinkage, the whole market is about to go into the toilet today in about 3 minutes. If your share price happens to go down, just hold tight - there will most likely be better days ahead. This is why I don't let the days when I've lost a few hundred on POT get me down. Think long-term with your investments, big or small.

[pointman]

Cost is 80.90

Market Value is 87.18

Gain is $6.24

Gain is 7.71%

I'm not doing this, but if I sold them when the market opens, I would keep all $6.24 if that was still the MV? Like they wouldn't put 12 into 7.71% (or divide it by days) like they do the bank interest, right? It's just a % and $ value of how much it has increased or decreased from the purchase price?

Don't forget to factor in your purchase and sales fees! For TDAmeritrade, it should be about 19.98 total... Only then will you realize your true gains.

[debtmamma]

$13 to go!

[jq26]

Don't forget to factor in your purchase and sales fees!

If you are paying on a "per transaction" basis (most everyone is like this except maybe the sharebuilder method), then I recommend INGing funds and then make one purchase monthly. It cuts down on commissions.

In 2005, I had made over 200 transactions. Even at $7 clip (more for options purchases), the cost was over $1500. You can deduct it from profits on your schedule D, but it is a non-recoverable cost. In 2007, I think I cut that down to about 15 transactions, or $105.

Also, if your stock has a dividend yield, then you can not only make gains through appreciation of the stock price but through dividend payouts. Usually this is done quarterly for those companies that provide dividends. The great thing about dividends is that they are currently taxed at only 15% (the same as long term capital gains) even though they are considered ordinary income.

[fred333]

Those are some great suggestions. Thanks!

[debtmamma]

I'm down like $5 today!

[ctfudge&bankofC-ville]

I wish I could say the same, debtmama! If you want to feel better, look back at my post about Potash corporation and the purchase price. It's at $120 per share today!

[debtmamma]

{{{{{{{{ C }}}}}}}}}}}}}}

[ctfudge&bankofC-ville]

Don't feel too sorry for me anymore. As of this writing, I am crossing the line, back to where I was, and then some!

And Hot Dang, look at that market right now! Whoa Nellie!

[jq26]

Serious short covering taking place. The next 50bp fed cut is coming in two days. Great day today!