tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64417787904708580362011-11-27T16:26:03.267-08:00This blog will chart the path of my quest to achieve financial freedom through active managing of my finances.Soullfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09553112921402005563noreply@blogger.comBlogger281100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6441778790470858036.post-20882271485644972552011-03-03T23:24:00.001-08:002011-03-03T23:24:17.295-08:00

This week is a classic example of the market's bipolar behavior. The market rallies on Monday, has its worst day of the year on Tuesday, then follows it up with its best day of the year with a gap up rally near 200 points today.Even though oil is hovering around $102, the market chose instead to embrace the positive news in reduced number of unemployment claims filed. Such is the life of a market

Soullfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09553112921402005563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6441778790470858036.post-55931077459860452082010-05-12T19:48:00.001-07:002010-05-12T19:48:12.691-07:00

Last Thursday's short lived intraday 1000+ point market dive and subsequent recovery, a "Flash Crash",  raises some big questions on the stability and quality of our electronic market system.The new age of technology and computers was heralded on Wall Street with the computerization of the market exchanges. Conversely, the NYSE was seen as being antiquated with their manually managed open

Soullfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09553112921402005563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6441778790470858036.post-20512213120098152882010-05-06T17:25:00.000-07:002010-05-06T17:30:39.790-07:00

Today was another historic day in the markets - it was the greatest intraday plunge since 1987. This was matched by the mother of all whipsaws when the market dived over 650 points in just 15 minutes bringing the Dow loss to over 1000 points, only to surge back up over 600 points in just 8 minutes. To put it another way, the Dow moved over 1250 points in just about 23 minutes.As you can see,

Soullfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09553112921402005563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6441778790470858036.post-41239965838885874172010-04-26T19:40:00.000-07:002010-04-26T19:41:24.003-07:00

Since the March 2009 market ultra lows, the market has been on a high octane tear moving ever higher. The Dow has recently moved past 11,000 reaching 19 month highs. The Dow has also enjoyed eight straight weeks of gains, giving it the longest winning streak since January 2004. The Nasdaq is also having an eight week winning streak and a third of the S&P 500 companies are at 52 week highs.

Soullfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09553112921402005563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6441778790470858036.post-44498344784131115862009-12-06T17:20:00.001-08:002009-12-06T17:25:36.719-08:00

The markets reaction last Friday to the employment numbers proves we are in a bipolar market.As you may recall, I discussed market behavior when October employment numbers were released:The unemployment numbers were higher than expected and the national unemployment rate rose to a high of 10.2%, to which the market responded by rallying and moving higher. The reason given by financial main stream

Soullfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09553112921402005563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6441778790470858036.post-54142670481630805842009-12-04T01:01:00.000-08:002009-12-04T01:12:34.460-08:00

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is attending the Senate Hearings on whether he gets appointed to a second term. Kentucky Senator Jum Bunning had a few choice words to say on the matter.Before I show the video, a little set up is needed...Here's the low down on bailed out company AIG. When a company is in serious financial trouble, one of the first things they do is try to renegotiate the debt

Soullfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09553112921402005563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6441778790470858036.post-61165873861186793622009-12-03T00:29:00.001-08:002009-12-03T00:29:57.325-08:00

With the dollar weakness, gold and the other commodities continue to trend higher.This kind of dollar decline/gold appreciation can't be good for the economy in the long run and certainly threatens any hope of a timely recovery.I wonder if the US Govt (Bernanke/Geithner) will continue to watch the dollar sink and do nothing while gold continues to make new record highs on an almost daily basis?

Soullfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09553112921402005563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6441778790470858036.post-82151266653276597622009-11-29T21:04:00.001-08:002009-11-29T22:00:58.703-08:00

Although you could have easily missed it with all the news about Tiger Woods and his auto accident, or the White House party crashers taking up the majority of the air time, there was some very interesting financial news the past week.Dubai, the play city for the wealthy, has run into financial problems due to plunging real estate values and has asked its creditors for a delay in its debt

Soullfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09553112921402005563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6441778790470858036.post-90526439730067358202009-11-27T00:25:00.000-08:002009-11-27T02:38:42.705-08:00

Friday, 27 November 2009 *** Attention Bulls ****** Attention Bears ***It should be obvious by now that the market will often behave independently of what the current market forces and economic conditions are. This can leave one at a loss for how to engage such a market rationally while still limiting the level of risk.On the Bullish side:Many of those

Soullfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09553112921402005563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6441778790470858036.post-86424340876336796512009-11-04T01:08:00.001-08:002009-11-04T01:08:35.098-08:00

Long time readers know my investment philosophy subscribes to the old axiom- "If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself." At the end of the day, the person who has the most to gain or lose from your investment nest egg is you- not a financial adviser or any other person offering investment help.Well, a study was done that compared the investment returns of those who used

Soullfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09553112921402005563noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6441778790470858036.post-23755851602460477672009-09-14T23:07:00.001-07:002009-09-14T23:08:42.076-07:00

Today marks the one year anniversary of Lehman Brothers' failure, the largest bankruptcy in US history, which began the acceleration of the chain of events which led to Wall Street's worst crash since the Great Depression (so far).At this point we can look around and see if any lessons have been learned by the banks.........and the current answer looks like....NO.We still see the same uber $$$

Soullfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09553112921402005563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6441778790470858036.post-56575739928232045692009-04-14T22:01:00.000-07:002009-04-14T22:03:48.458-07:00

.....but you can't make them drink.This is referring to the Roth IRA. It's an awesome investment vehicle that not many really know all the details about. For the occasions that I do take the time out to explain how it works to people, I'm surprised by the number of folks who can afford to put some money in a Roth but choose not to do it.The Roth basically works in reverse of a traditional IRA or

Soullfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09553112921402005563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6441778790470858036.post-85216678534803947642009-03-29T16:05:00.001-07:002009-03-29T16:05:58.190-07:00

This year I'm ahead of the time curve and managed to completed my tax calculations for 2008. I paid extra care in making sure I included everything so as to avoid any more unintended "stimulus notes" from the IRS such as my experience last year. Well comparing the current years return with last year's provides some interesting info for my short term trading account......In 2007, I traded stocks

Soullfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09553112921402005563noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6441778790470858036.post-40454447561492314172009-03-23T23:28:00.000-07:002009-09-14T00:27:16.619-07:00

The market held a major rally today on hearing the details on the new plan by Treasury Secretary Geithner to rid banks of their toxic debt.It's not surprising that Wall Street took off like a rocket....The government is shouldering 85% of the debt for private investors that only need to put up 15%. In English, that means we the taxpayer are soaking up the bad debt with a risk 6X greater than the

Soullfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09553112921402005563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6441778790470858036.post-61730182489215343862009-03-16T18:04:00.001-07:002009-09-14T00:27:49.150-07:00

I just tuned into CNBC to see a congressman under attack from CNBC anchor Melissa Lee and another person for daring to attempt to tax the profits of AIG's 160 million bonus package they plan on shelling out to thier employees. At least Donny Deutsch was chiming in siding with the congressman.What galled me most was Melissa's argument when Donny asked her who she was being so averse to Govt taxing

Soullfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09553112921402005563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6441778790470858036.post-43683311279124970032009-03-07T17:51:00.001-08:002009-03-07T17:51:30.462-08:00

Did you know that only five percent of Americans earn a six figure income or higher?Here are some jobs that pay that level with what it takes to get them (credit to writer Clare Kaufman):Pharmacist Earnings (2007): $48.31/hour $100,480 salary Health care workers are gaining earning power by the day, as an aging population boosts demand for qualified professionals. Pharmacists play a

Soullfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09553112921402005563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6441778790470858036.post-91153484922443323592009-03-06T23:37:00.000-08:002009-03-06T23:55:03.701-08:00

Another 651K jobs lost in February brings us up to these current record levels. In addition, the January jobs loss numbers were revised upwards to include an additional 161K jobs going bye bye.Now here's the nasty little secret that's not being proclaimed loudly in the news- the 8.1% figure only reflects those who are receiving unemployment compensation. It doesn't include those who are

Soullfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09553112921402005563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6441778790470858036.post-41262300777917176442009-03-02T22:38:00.000-08:002009-03-02T22:51:14.947-08:00

Attention- Wall Street has possession of a bonafide time machine!The year is 1996....Top Hits:1. Macarena (Bayside Boys Mix), Los Del Rio2. One Sweet Day, Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men3. Because You Loved Me, Celine Dion4. Nobody Knows, Tony Rich Project5. Always Be My Baby, Mariah Carey6. Give Me One Reason, Tracy Chapman7. Tha Crossroads, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony8. I Love You Always Forever, Donna

Soullfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09553112921402005563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6441778790470858036.post-90673016932418120962009-02-25T21:52:00.000-08:002009-02-25T21:55:25.414-08:00

Today the market was falling...then moving up...then going down...then rising ........down again...a big up move to go positive for the day....only to fall again into the close:There were more pronounced whips in separate stocks like my current short, AZO:Whipsawing markets can beat up both Bulls and Bears.

Soullfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09553112921402005563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6441778790470858036.post-36307078455525730002009-02-24T21:36:00.001-08:002009-02-24T21:36:48.949-08:00

The market bounced today off the 7100 area support line, giving the market a reprieve from the continual declines.If the 7100 area fails, which I think it eventually will, the next support level is around 6300..ouch!

Soullfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09553112921402005563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6441778790470858036.post-45086565034239550292009-02-23T00:23:00.001-08:002009-02-23T00:23:17.060-08:00

Last Friday's market movement on options expiration day was pretty frenetic. The market was in "tank mode" with the rumors of some banks needing to be nationalized. Citigroup and Bank of America stocks were plummeting. Then word came from the White House that they didn't think nationalization was on their agenda and the market rallied back instead of plunging into the abyss. It would seem the

Soullfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09553112921402005563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6441778790470858036.post-28272582325515645352008-11-24T21:22:00.000-08:002008-11-24T21:24:26.432-08:00

I was having a conversation at work today with some of my co-workers about....finance and the markets..of course!As the grim state of the market was discussed, I once again brought up the topic of ways to manage one's funds to reduce risk and limit loss. And once again I was met with immediate resistance that anyone can time the market with any accuracy knowing when to move their funds out of

Soullfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09553112921402005563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6441778790470858036.post-31925584687854049982008-11-09T10:40:00.000-08:002008-11-09T11:29:47.174-08:00

Wow- September and October will go down in history, and unfortunately, the memories won't be happy ones. What a market plunge and revelation of how seriously bad shape our economy is in. This of course makes it a challenge to invest with a long term point of view, unless you really stretch it out to over 10+ years in a perfect storm recession. The key word now is "defense". The market has dropped

Soullfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09553112921402005563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6441778790470858036.post-89196359800120050642008-07-20T17:39:00.000-07:002008-07-20T20:12:12.334-07:00

Another boring tedious weekend has produced a revised smaller list of possible stock investments from both the long and short side.Now that my list has been shortened, it's much more manageable. I've calculated estimated price targets as well as investment durations. Now all that's left is to lock in on one of the stocks on the list, and pull the trigger to buy. This will be a true test of my

Soullfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09553112921402005563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6441778790470858036.post-20771220617555158812008-07-06T17:15:00.000-07:002008-07-06T19:08:20.097-07:00

This 4th of July weekend was a fitting time for me to move forward with my investment planning. Celebrating our political freedom and combining it with my pursuit of financial freedom. =)Right now I'm in the process of searching for and finding good investment candidates. This is easily the most tedious and time consuming part of the process, but very important and necessary for overall success.

Soullfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09553112921402005563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6441778790470858036.post-14213647179291948802008-06-15T16:21:00.000-07:002008-06-15T16:44:49.350-07:00

The current major task on the front burner is getting my 2007 taxes completed. That should happen shortly. Man, the schedule D seems to get tricker every year as I expand my investment repertoire. Once done, I can start going over and adjusting all my current investments.I'm excited on using blogger as it looks like I'll be able to post a widget that shows my portfolio position performance

Soullfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09553112921402005563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6441778790470858036.post-70415305655039729812008-06-07T22:57:00.000-07:002008-06-08T01:14:16.616-07:00

Trying to create a good blogger website name that's not already taken ca be quite a challenge. When I was looking at different possibilities, all I kept seeing was"Sorry, the blog address not available" It seemed as if most of the first good names that came to mind had already been taken. Now here is where it gets interesting. When I go look at the website that has the taken name, almost

Soullfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09553112921402005563noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6441778790470858036.post-29923891762199583012008-05-30T21:32:00.001-07:002008-06-04T23:11:49.989-07:00

In thinking about my savings, finances, and current investments, I realized I need to step it up a few notches and get even more serious about it. I think my motivation comes after working a serious amount of OT at the office which made it clear to me that I need to work smarter, not harder.This blog will cover all aspects of my investments- long, medium, and short term.Risk level of my

Soullfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09553112921402005563noreply@blogger.com3