I was able to watch most of the inauguration while at work yesterday. I would have felt guilty if I did not. It was very moving and amazing to me to see so many people - black and white, conservative and liberal - so excited about Obama becoming our president. I watch CNBC regularly - to put it mild, and it is great to see so many conservative regulars say they like what Obama is doing and what he has proposed. I won't say anything else, but it is such a relief to me knowing that we have a fresh face in the White house and a new change in strategic direction for the country.
Tuesday's sell off in the markets was a combination of sell the news, nervousness about Geithner being not being confirmed Treasury Secretary, and follow through from the Asian and US markets the days prior. It is tough to budge out of a trend and we were certainly in a downward trend for the last several days. Breaking through some support provided even more reason to sell for you technical indicator peeps out there. But, we were oversold and today after listening to the Geithner hearing and opinions on CNBC, it was clear that he was going to make it in and Obama could get to work fixing this sluggish, if not depressed, economy.
I buy equities (stocks) when I hear things like, "it is going to get much worse" or "no reason for stocks to go up". Even me who was hesitant to buy more yesterday toward the close was a bit spooked by the possibility that we would test those Nov. lows again. I should have bought more despite my fears - I should have known better. I was however fortunate to have bought on the way down from the early January highs and only need a couple percentage point gain in the S&P to reach the level I was at when the Dow was around 9000. I strongly feel that in order to succeed in the market you must remain active and vigilant. I'll get into why 401K investing is destined to under perform a little later...but remaining active and observant, and "feeling" the market sentiment has so far proven a very successful strategy for me.
I was just looking at my realized gains for the year and I was actually positive despite the Dow & S&P being down around 6%. I shorted the market some on the way down with some triple or double short EFT's (BGZ for one - triple short large cap) and bought a bit of Platinum using the PTM ETF for a quick 6% bounce. While I didn't kill the market, I knew any positive return was a big plus for me - no pun intended.
So where do we go...probably up I guess, or down. Basically, I don't expect to be far from where we are a couple weeks from now. I still believe we might head lower before we head higher. We have not had a recent flush out that we need to move us much higher. So, I'm going to sit on what I have and take 20% or 30% off if we go up some. That way I can regain my recent unrealized losses and be positive for the year again. If Thursday we get a 1 or 2% rally, I'll sell my UYG's (1000 shares of the double long financials I picked up yesterday at $3.25 (closed at $3.37 today)).
Oh yea...keep an eye out for oil...it is back up above $40, but I believe only because of a bounce and some colder temps. We'll need an economic turnaround signal before we push back up over $50 again.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Coupons - I'm so embarrassed
Because I do the grocery shopping and enjoy it and I love to save money, what better way to combine my favorite things but to use coupons. I read recently that most people are actually embarrassed to use coupons because people think they are being perceived as being cheap or poor. What!?!?! Not once have I ever felt that way and you should never feel that way either. I should also point out that when I do use them I've never felt an ounce of guilt or a sense I'm wasting my tellers time or anyone behind me in line. Check out this article about how coupon use is on the rise. It's the new cool thing to do.
Coupons can save you some serious cash,...especially with grocery chains like Shaws that double your coupon value up to $.99. Shaws is big here in the New England area (even though their prices are a little higher than other chains). Many other grocers will do the same...or even triple their values! So...a $.40 coupon toward paper towels can easily knock off half the price.
Where to get them? The $2 Sunday paper is worth its weight. If you can find only four or five coupons for products you use (the key is to only use coupons for products that you would normally buy) then the newspaper has paid for itself. I also have my mom save me coupons too from her papers (products she doesn't use but I do).
Check out coupons.com too. You can print the product's offers from your home printer, cut them and redeem (requires a quick download). I've heard that some grocers are having trouble scanning some of these - but don't be afraid not to buy the product or put up a fuss if they give you any trouble. I can't tell you how many times my grocer accepted expired coupons or coupons for the wrong product. It is not worth their time to not accept it.
So...get out and snip!! Depending on your weekly/monthly budget, it is not at all hard to save 10% off your grocery bill.
Coupons can save you some serious cash,...especially with grocery chains like Shaws that double your coupon value up to $.99. Shaws is big here in the New England area (even though their prices are a little higher than other chains). Many other grocers will do the same...or even triple their values! So...a $.40 coupon toward paper towels can easily knock off half the price.
Where to get them? The $2 Sunday paper is worth its weight. If you can find only four or five coupons for products you use (the key is to only use coupons for products that you would normally buy) then the newspaper has paid for itself. I also have my mom save me coupons too from her papers (products she doesn't use but I do).
Check out coupons.com too. You can print the product's offers from your home printer, cut them and redeem (requires a quick download). I've heard that some grocers are having trouble scanning some of these - but don't be afraid not to buy the product or put up a fuss if they give you any trouble. I can't tell you how many times my grocer accepted expired coupons or coupons for the wrong product. It is not worth their time to not accept it.
So...get out and snip!! Depending on your weekly/monthly budget, it is not at all hard to save 10% off your grocery bill.
The beginning...
A few years ago I came to the conclusion that I needed to be financially secure. I feel that there are way too many things outside of my control and I need to be prepared to handle most of what comes up. I worry a lot...mostly about stupid things like pipes freezing or getting hit by a car, but one thing I never want to worry about is not having the necessities to avoid any suffering.
At scary times like these it is critical to have some money saved up. I could lose my job in an instant, and so can millions of other people. The economy and job situation is bad and it sounds like it is not getting any better any time soon.
I realize that I am in pretty good financial shape compared to many people. I've been employed at my current employer in the financial services industry for about ten years - I'm 32 years old by the way. I've been lucky enough to have had this job and to have saved up about $68K in my taxable accounts and another $146K in retirement. To some of you I realize that this is a lot...but to me, it is not even close to be enough. What if I do get laid off for a year or two and cannot replace even half my income? My nice little nest egg will begin to shrink..and that will kill me to watch all of my hard saved money vanish.
Introducing this blog. It begins now, with about $214K in savings and will end (or transform) when I hit $1M. Why 1M? Well, it sound cool for starters. Plus, with my current mortgage costs and other expenses, I can "survive" on a small 4% return - $40,000 per year -yes, I realize inflation kicks into the equation at some point so ideally I'd have $2M, but one step at a time!
My primary blog objective is not to rub my money in your face (money does smell good by the way), but to provide you updates on reaching my goal and to also help you get started or help you along the way. I also want to provide a bit of insight into the current market situation, and teach you something perhaps. For me to get where I am now, I had to give up some stuff- but as you'll learn not as much as you might expect. I want to share with you my ideas...and my goals. Let's get started!!
At scary times like these it is critical to have some money saved up. I could lose my job in an instant, and so can millions of other people. The economy and job situation is bad and it sounds like it is not getting any better any time soon.
I realize that I am in pretty good financial shape compared to many people. I've been employed at my current employer in the financial services industry for about ten years - I'm 32 years old by the way. I've been lucky enough to have had this job and to have saved up about $68K in my taxable accounts and another $146K in retirement. To some of you I realize that this is a lot...but to me, it is not even close to be enough. What if I do get laid off for a year or two and cannot replace even half my income? My nice little nest egg will begin to shrink..and that will kill me to watch all of my hard saved money vanish.
Introducing this blog. It begins now, with about $214K in savings and will end (or transform) when I hit $1M. Why 1M? Well, it sound cool for starters. Plus, with my current mortgage costs and other expenses, I can "survive" on a small 4% return - $40,000 per year -yes, I realize inflation kicks into the equation at some point so ideally I'd have $2M, but one step at a time!
My primary blog objective is not to rub my money in your face (money does smell good by the way), but to provide you updates on reaching my goal and to also help you get started or help you along the way. I also want to provide a bit of insight into the current market situation, and teach you something perhaps. For me to get where I am now, I had to give up some stuff- but as you'll learn not as much as you might expect. I want to share with you my ideas...and my goals. Let's get started!!
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