Okay...so I'm going back in forth in my decision to what I want to blog about. Golf or investing, golf or investing. Well you know what? Why not do both? So I'm gonna do both. I like both equally so why decide between the two?
I've been thinking about this all week and have realized that my posts have suffered due to this. Now that I have decided to go this direction I will continue with frequent posts.
Thank you all for your patience.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Gas Prices
Well in case you guys have not noticed, gas prices have skyrocketed in the last few weeks and days. It is $3.34 at the Shell Gas station near my house in Northern Virginia. I remember two weeks ago it was only $3.15. This is supposedly due to the crisis in Libya but in reality it is just investor overreaction. Libya only accounts for 2 % of the worlds crude oil supply. That small of an amount can be made up easily but has still cause an average of a 25 cent increase in gas prices in the United States since Feb. 20th.
What I worry about is not how much oil is left in the world but the rising costs. There comes a point in time when Americans cannot afford 6 or 7 dollar a gallon gas. This can be very crippling to the economy. I think were in a phase were gas prices will rise to levels in which we cannot afford it and this will cause a big pullback in the stock market along with gas prices. Then the trend will continue and gas will go up once again until we cannot afford it. Then another crash will come. There will be no loss of market value, however we will continue on a rather bumpy course and end up in the same place ten years down the road in the DJIA.
What I worry about is not how much oil is left in the world but the rising costs. There comes a point in time when Americans cannot afford 6 or 7 dollar a gallon gas. This can be very crippling to the economy. I think were in a phase were gas prices will rise to levels in which we cannot afford it and this will cause a big pullback in the stock market along with gas prices. Then the trend will continue and gas will go up once again until we cannot afford it. Then another crash will come. There will be no loss of market value, however we will continue on a rather bumpy course and end up in the same place ten years down the road in the DJIA.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Investing in Growing Trends
I want you to look around and think about different companies or products that have yet to reach popularity in your circle of friends. You may have one or two friends who use this product but the majority do not. Come on, think...
For the casual investor, investing should not be too focused on numbers. The casual investor, who is investing b/w 10,000 and 500,000 dollars, should really focus on growing trends. These growing trends are the things where your friend asks you if you've tried a certain new product and you say "No, I've never heard of it, what is it?" This should be your alarm to go check into this product.
Growing trends are easier to spot once they occur but after considering different trends it becomes apparent that certain companies/products are becoming growing trends. I consider Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) to be a past growing trend. I remember my English teacher telling me how cool it was to have movies sent to your house for a low monthly fee. Then, slowly, many of my friends began using Netflix and over time the stock price of NFLX grew from $6 a share in 2004 to over $200 dollars a share now.
I can think of two recent growing trends right of the bat. The first is Vera Bradley, the maker of those womens handbags or whatever. I don't know much about them but I have two sisters and I swear they have 50 different purse thingys from Vera Bradley. This is also true among many women...Vera Bradley seems to be taking off as of recently and the company just went public (VRA). It opened at $24 a share and is up $10 to $34 a share. Vera Bradley is a good example of a possible growing trend.
My favorite growing trend is a company that is not even public yet. I hope you all have heard of Groupon because I think its the next big thing. First off it is the fastest company to make a billion dollars in profit! IT has 35 million members so far and I can see a day-to-day increase in the people I meet who use groupon. Trust me, more to come on groupon as they are eyeing an IPO this year.
What do these companies have in common? Read the post!!
For the casual investor, investing should not be too focused on numbers. The casual investor, who is investing b/w 10,000 and 500,000 dollars, should really focus on growing trends. These growing trends are the things where your friend asks you if you've tried a certain new product and you say "No, I've never heard of it, what is it?" This should be your alarm to go check into this product.
Growing trends are easier to spot once they occur but after considering different trends it becomes apparent that certain companies/products are becoming growing trends. I consider Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) to be a past growing trend. I remember my English teacher telling me how cool it was to have movies sent to your house for a low monthly fee. Then, slowly, many of my friends began using Netflix and over time the stock price of NFLX grew from $6 a share in 2004 to over $200 dollars a share now.
I can think of two recent growing trends right of the bat. The first is Vera Bradley, the maker of those womens handbags or whatever. I don't know much about them but I have two sisters and I swear they have 50 different purse thingys from Vera Bradley. This is also true among many women...Vera Bradley seems to be taking off as of recently and the company just went public (VRA). It opened at $24 a share and is up $10 to $34 a share. Vera Bradley is a good example of a possible growing trend.
My favorite growing trend is a company that is not even public yet. I hope you all have heard of Groupon because I think its the next big thing. First off it is the fastest company to make a billion dollars in profit! IT has 35 million members so far and I can see a day-to-day increase in the people I meet who use groupon. Trust me, more to come on groupon as they are eyeing an IPO this year.
What do these companies have in common? Read the post!!
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