I found this project to be a great way to 'break the ice' in preparing to become a investor. It's light hearted and investigative nature lent itself to plying the wonky world of stocks - where, I found, consumer perception of the viability of a stock, supersedes sound economic tools and information.
On one of my blogs I researched the P/E ratio and was astonished to see again how investor hopes and confidence play a roll. Yahoo's investment portfolio was a great tool for me to dip into the world of trading. The ease of clicking into my different stocks for info, latest news and annual reports allowed me to quickly check in on my stocks, as I followed them through these weeks.
It was nerve- racking to watch the prices rise and fall! It was tempting to get completely sucked in to this world: read blogs, news, business articles and subscribe to motley fool etc. It could have become my life and each new rise or drop would suggest a different response or shift my strategy. I chose to just ride these stocks out, because of the short period. It is hilarious and frustrating to be drawn into the matrix of trying to predict a stocks future, then when info comes up that effects the price, to attempt to not only predict the effect, but the response of others and therefore the resulting best strategy - which will out trick all the other stockies. It can become a web of opposing strategies and one either becomes the one who risks or the one who holds.
I found it interesting that in these weeks, the Western Digital stock plunged, because of the news, that a new technology was to supercede the hard disk technology - yet there was so little information on it - that I couldn't confirm or deny this report - top secret, innovative, cool and cheaper! I could have sold immediatly, yet I chose not to, because in all my experiences with personal and institutional computers, safety is supreme and I feel that even if a new technology will take over, it will need time to convince the consumer, that it is safe. That's fine, yet if every other shlump sells their WDC stock and I'm the only one holding on, the price witll have dropped and it does not matter if WDC make humongous profits - the dividends will not outweigh the losses in stock price.
I wondered if I am a very conservative investor, that likes to hold stocks longterm or if my true investor nature has not really shown itself - I did not really treat it like mad money - but it seems that is the best attitude to have with stocks - otherwise you will be having bi-weekly or bi-daily heart attacks . What is ist about the daily fluctuations anyway? - they are just huge! I imagined there to be a huge selling an buying and swapping session in the morning and then frantic or calm adjustments during the day - there seems to be a pattern here....
I would have liked to have times in class to share ( maybe in small groups) on our findings. After a few weeks I could have used an infusion of new thoughts and some neat stock tips and insights on blogs, etc. (And 50 points ain't enough for all this work!)
Which brings me to the blog. This was a great opportunity to dry-run a blog and I found it to be easier to write 3times a week in this blog than I would have on a blank piece of paper. I highly recommend it! I may be more slapstick and giddy in this format - but it seems to match the expectations of the project.
