John Yerhot

Since I started my nice cushy “high paying” job, Jen and I have been putting quite a bit of money away (in preparation for the move and for a rainy day) and paying down our debt.  We’ve got some moola stored away in a ingdirect savings account thats collecting a nice 4.1% interest rate, but I’ve been toying with the idea of playing the stocks.

A couple of months ago I opened a dummy portfolio at money.cnn.com using their ‘live portfolio’ do hickey.  I’ve got next to zero experience with the markets.  Our 403(b) is invested in the Vangaurd S&P 500 Index fund(hey can’t argue with 11% historic returns), but thats about it.  My state pension I really have no control over.  Thats the extent of our investments.   So I opened that dummy account to see what I could do.

Well, the first two weeks were great.  Made about 10% with my mostly tech stock portfolio.  The last two weeks, I’ve lost all that 10% and then another 10.  So I’m down right now.  Kind of glad it is fake money at this point, but I think this summer, when I’m hoping the market bottoms out, I’ll be ready to actually drop a couple grand on a real portfolio and get some good stocks for cheap.

I must admit I’m learning a ton.  I’ve actually begun watching CNBC in the moring before work, bought Jim Cramer’s new book, and check the portfolio about 3-4 times a day.  Its fun if anything.