Starting with a real Account

The money cleared today, I have funds to trade!

Actually, this is not the first time that I have traded with real money, but it is the first time that I will be posting about the trades and my thoughts behind them. I feel that this is part of the beauty of this blog; being able to look at other people's trades, and then being able to see why they did it. Making mistakes is probably the best ( and hardest) way to learn, but being able to learn from someone else's is a close second. Although it is not my goal to loose, I will be completely honest with you on my trades. I am not to proud to admit a mistake, and never want to become that way either.

I am keeping my eye on SUF, and might make it my first short in real life. I have not finished my research on this one, but I will post up if I make any moves with it.

I am excited that I have come this far, and I hope that I will be able to continue learning for years to come.

Good Luck With Everything!

Mark Zimmer

A Jump With SIRI

I first wanted to say that I am happy to have Blain back posting. Although he was never officially gone, it is always wonderful to have his experience and knowledge mixed into this blog.

As we draw closer to the end of the contest, competition tends to heat up a little bit. People are beginning to want to get to a certain rank, and are willing to take a chance to get there. My latest jump is going to be with Sirius Satellite Ratio.

The company has been posting a fair amount of news lately, and today experienced more than double average trading. I am expecting/hoping for a jump up tomorrow. I am buying 7,000 shares tomorrow at the market open, so we will see if my gamble is right. I feel this stock could hit $8.00 by the end of this contest; but as always, time will tell

Good Luck With Everything!

MDZ

MIA no more

Well, it has been a while since my last post on the Falkin Investing Blog, and I apologize for my absence. The FIO Forums are coming along great now, and we are up to 60 members in just a few weeks. I have also have started teaching the stock market through my own program utilizing my kiss philosophy, which has gone great. As things finally start to “mellow out”, I have found time to reflect and really dig at the truth behind the truth about all sorts of things. I really believe I have found my true passion within the FIO and the stock market, and having them both together is just an amazing thing. I think everything really boils back to the old saying, “if you want anything bad enough in life, you will get it”. It is true, as we all go through our own lives and learn about who we are, we find out a lot about the world, and just about life in general. I have no idea why I never really listened to my parents, but now after making mistakes I have found their words to be pure as gold. Make mistakes, live and learn, and most importantly have fun. If you are not having fun doing what you are doing in life, then you may want to go within and pull out some answers. Take what you want out of this post, as it really is based off a lot of blab, and no real theme. I am happy though to be back in action (for the most part), and I wish everyone the best of fortunes with all of their upcoming ventures.

Closing Thought – “Do you see the dark clouds in the sky, or the sun shining behind them?”

Best Regards,

Review It!

I sometimes feel that I am stating the obvious when I make these posts. I feel that everyone already knows what I am posting, and this may be true. I do this not so much to educate, but to remind. It doesn't matter if you "know" something if you let your emotions run away. You would be better off not knowing it at all, for then you would at least be making a first time mistake.

What I want to remind you of today is to be careful in what you invest in. This may seem like a given, but I myself have been guilty of this mistake more than once. The problem usually derives from wanting to succeed so bad, that you tend to make dumb mistakes. In other words, you let your emotions carry you away. When I let my emotions do my investing thinking, I made the mistake of not being able to tell the difference between a sales pitch, and sound investment advice.

It is always best to remember that it is OKAY to hold money while there are no good investments available. As a new investor, this may be hard; especially since one can assume that they just don't know enough to be finding the good investments, rather than there being none there.

I am never one to condemn making mistakes, for I strongly feel that this is how we learn. It is very important however, to do your homework. Don't ever jump into an investment just for the fear of loosing it if you wait. There are always more investment opportunities, and they are a lot easier to capitalize on if you haven't lost your confidence and capital on previous un-researched "investments'

Good Luck With Everything!

MDZ

Be a Custodian of Dreams

I feel that one of the most important things that people can do is inspire one another. I have heard this called, “Being a Custodian of Dreams,” which means to take care of them, and have respect for them. In all reality, many of the dreams that people have don’t seem that achievable to me. That does not matter though, since they are a completely different person, they are going to have different ideas. Having your dreams respected is very important to every age of investor, for some people do not begin to try out their entrepreneurial wings until their forties. Here is an excellent example of what I consider the wrong thing to do. I wrote one of my teachers, who is a business broker, and asked him for advice on owning numerous businesses in the future. Here is his reply…

Mark,
Owning multiple businesses is very time consuming and requires a strong reliance upon in-place management. You are subject to employee theft, uneven quality and service, and winding up with a portfolio of under performing businesses because you don't have adequate time to identify and solve problems. Let's discuss this before/after a class or during a break.

Dave Stradal

Now, why would someone do this? Although I understand that what he is telling me is true, that doesn’t answer my question, and it doesn’t encourage me to achieve my dream. Did I discuss this with him later? No, I don’t want to take advice from someone who thinks that my dream of owning multiple businesses is not likely. I still have a lot of respect for the man, and I still am un-wavered from my dream, but my point is: Never try to discourage someone away from his or her dreams. Not only will it usually upset them, but also there is no real point to do it anyhow. I will end with this thought…

It is impossible to tell where someone is at on their journey to financial freedom, so never underestimate the power of encouragement.

Good Luck With Everything!

MDZ