Meet the posters / Introduce yourself

So in relation to the "good place to hang out" thread, I thought it would be good to get to know each other, get some background info (schooling, job, wife/husband/gf/bf, kids, sports team, etc.), something about how we got into trading maybe, and what we're looking to get out of it.

I suppose I'll start since this was my idea!

After finishing my phd in molecular biophysics/biochemistry in England I came to UCSD to do a post-doc and met my now fiance. (We now live in the bay area and I work for a large government lab.) She had the idea of investing some of our savings, about a year ago, and after a slow start I've learnt a lot and, more importantly, I really love it! (Sometimes I hate it!) It's the first hobby I've ever had that's actually making rather than using money!

I'd say my science background gives me a good insight into the biotech/pharma sector and hence why my portfolio is very skewed towards them.

My fiance is a bit like my Mrs. Cramer - she keeps the disapline for the rules we're trying to set! Our savings/investments are really for the house we'd like to buy once the housing market crashes next year - or at some point in the next few years! I don't want to buy a condo/townhome that's gone up 150% in the last 3 years!!

I went to Oxford University and my religeon is Liverpool Football Club! YNWA! (That's "soccer" people!)

 

Hello

Hello, I'm Kim and I live in Massachusetts, I have 2 girls, both ready for college in 3 and 5 years.

I do payroll & accounting for a 2 Deli's and run all financials thru my tax accountant before I file taxes/close the year etc...

I am good at reading a balance sheet/financials so I thought I would start trading/ investing for the kids college.

Started w/ $3000.00 and made 300 or 400 in 7 months already, it's a start., can you make 1.00 at a bank on $3,000... nooooo NOT AROUND THIS AREA... I currently have 2 ira's, 2 roth ira., and many mutual funds., so I thought investing in stocks was well balanced, as long as I don't lose my initial $3,000... so that is my story and I'm sticking to it.

Hi all

Kim

 

My name is Tim, Im 20 and a college student this is my third year investing. First year I was up 51% last year I was up 22%. I go to Central Michigan University and am trying to get a degree in Finance, right now the damn college algebra is killing me though Ive been watching CNBC since i was about 9-10 and first read The Intelligent Investor when I was 15.

I like investing, cars, working out, thoroughbred racing, and hunting/fishing/guns

 

Some of you might already know my story. 27 years old, just got married last year, financial advisor.

Started investing in 1999. Made my first $6000 out of $3000 initial investment in the dot com era, lost it all and 90% of my own capital during the implosion. Learned my first lesson in investing...sell while the selling is good. Started investing for clients in 2003 and made a killing on a single stock: IVAN, which brought me back from my funk.

Graduated from the University of California, at Irvine with a BA in Sociology and a Minor in Management. After graduating I was hired by a Retirement Plan Consulting and Administration Company in Irvine. During my time there, I learned about qualified plans such as 401K's, Defined Benefits, Profit Sharing, and Money Purchase Plans. Picked up a number of different investment strategies with the brokers and CPA's that I worked with and decided to try my hand at becoming a financial advisor. Got my series 7 and 63 licenses. Wanted to become more than a stock broker so my career path is leading me towards my CFP designation.

My forte is in securities investing (mainly individual stocks and ETF's), asset allocation, and retirement planning but would like to expand my experience into the financial planning arena. My strategy is long term and I recommend to everyone to read the intelligent investor.

 

38 YO, 20 years in the army as an infantry offcer (getting ready to retire and get a real job with real clothes). Have invested since 20, but really picking up the trading with the technology that's available. Pulling an average of 12% from 10K mad money, and part of that is pure luck. Learning from you folks each day and getting a handle on my "mad money" style. Long term style has been stocks, funds, 401K and some property. It has worked well, but time to up the ante.

Thanks all for your input to these posts......good info. Grunt

 

Hey my name is Chris, I am 19. I am going to school here in Georgia for Finance.

I have an account of my own and I also take care of my mom's brokerage account and both of my parents IRAs.

I am about to start an internship with Scottrade so hopefully that yeilds some insight.

 

I'm 37, military (USAF), married, one on the way, recently got hooked on Jim and I've decided it's about time I jumped in and let my money work for me. Otherwise real estate is another means to the end

 

I'm a 21 y.o. 2005 graduate of Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania (logo is my avatar). My major was Public Administration and I have always had an eye on politics.

I just started trading and learning about stocks since last February. I've done pretty well so far and enjoy learning about stocks, business, and investing. I've also been able to get my family involved in investing and thinking of creative ways to spend and grow their money. Now I'm studying to go to grad school for a MBA.

 

Hello again

Glad to see alot of young folks here... I was too busy raising a family and I didn't get a computer until 1995, so I only did the mutual fund thingy.... lived off the interest for a few years until 2001... HeY;optimus25, Do not feel bad alot of people were burned in that era.... How about losing 10,000 to 8,000 in the dot com era., I do not know my exact lose because I never admitted it., so I stuck to mutual funds, only lost twice in 11 years...

Kim

 

34, married with 3 children (That's why I need to make lots of money!!). Graduated from Muhlenburg College in Pennsylvania. I am an Assistant IT Director.

My investment story is similar to Optimus. Started investing in 1999. Made around 100% my first year with a small amount invested, then added more funds to my account, tried some various trading styles and ended up losing about 30% the next two years. So, after a few years I was actually in the hole. Kept honing my skills and actually averaged close to 50% over the last three years. I'm expecting a slow year this year, because I sold some positions last summer (2004) to help pay for some extra expenses when building a new house - yes, the wife made me rob my mad money account when it was just starting to look decent - how painful! So, I added some positions back this year, but it will take another year or so to see the results. I am a long-term trader. I hold most of my positions about 6 months to a few years, average hold time is probably between 1-2 years. Good luck to all of you in your trades.

 

Male
37
Single

computer science degree
Work as a programmer

Just started trading, about a month now. Trying to get my head around the terms, philosophy, rational, and (IMHO) madness that is the Stock Market. :roll:

 

Here's my story and I'm sticking to it

I am 25 years old and live in Atlanta, GA. I am VERY happy to say that I am in my final semester at Georgia State University's Robinson College of Business BBA Real Estate Management/Development minor Finance. I've had to put myself through school the past 5 years, all while holding down a (40-hour week) work schedule at a civil engineering/land surveying company, as a civil CAD designer, to keep the mortgage paid. Great work experience, as the civil engineering field is an essential element of real estate development, which I hope to make my carrer. I make fairly decent money currently for a guy my age, but needless to say I am ready to get my pigskin, and get a "real" job with benefits and health insurance. I got my Georgia Real Estate Liscence this past year, but havn't done a whole heck of a lot of business with it, just trying to get a jump start on obtaining my brokers liscence which takes 3 years as an agent.

I invested about $3,000 in some mutual funds about 4-5 years back right at the tail end of the dot com bust, and I got spooked after I lost nearly 20% of my inital investment. I yanked the money out and convinced myself that "I would never invest money in the market again!" Well, fast forward to about 2 months ago, when I was required to buy a subscription to the WSJ for a class that I am taking at school. I have to say that I wasn't thrilled at the $59 subscription cost for a newspaper that I thought that I would find less than interesting, but I decided to make the most of it and really got hooked on investing and reaserching companies, etc. And believe it or not all of those finance course I've taken really have come in handy as of late with stock valuation and the likes. :lol: I can recite without hesitation 17 finance ratios after drilling them into my head for finance exams. Balance Sheets, Income Statements, Cash Flow Analysis, Quick Ratio, Inventory Turnover Ratio, Profit Margins, ROA, ROE, Dupont's Extended, etc, etc. etc. All every valuable kernals of information homegamers............. :lol:

Then one day about a month ago I noticed a loud and crazy guy named Jim Cramer on CNBC at 6:00pm every evening, which is well positioned in my after work relax-time schedule before school. At first I thought Cramer was a mad man, and far too loud for my liking, but I started watching cramer every afternoon, and by god I am hooked!! I absolutely love this guy, and I learn so much every day that I watch his show and listen to his insight.

So reculantly I have decided to put a small chunk ($1,000) of my mad money back into the market with hopes that if nothing else it's a better gamble than online Texas Hold Em, and far more exciting ecspecially with a rally like this afternoon. :wink:

So of course the next step is to search out an internet forum to talk to other Cramer-heads, which leads me to this wonder forum! I've enjoyed my stay thus far and really look forward to the future. 8)

 

Re: Here's my story and I'm sticking to it

Awesome, another person in GA. I thought about going to GSU before I decided on KSU; the traffic is what ultimately made up my mind. But as fate would have it my internship is within walking distance to most of GSU's campus so I will be driving down there anyway. I'm just starting my degree in finance. I still need to knock out the business core so I can get into the Coles College of Business.

 

Very cool metalheadrr3. I totally hear you about the traffic. Luckily I own a penthouse condo right in the heart of downtown on the GSU campus, so it's only a hop and a skip to classes for me. I've been without a car for almost 6 months, so I've relied solely on MARTA for transportation to work and the grocery store. I got in a wreck and lost my 81' Chevy pickup (only had liability insurance) , which I loved dearly and which I had put an ennomerous amount of wrench hours into, but it surely has cut down on my petroleum consumption and my pockets are feeling much heavier as a result. :lol:

I noticed that you said you had an internship with ScottTrade coming up, that's awesome dude. Is it the office in the Georgia Pacific building? That office is like 3 blocks up from my house, and it's where I started my Scott account with Ryan Busby, the branch manager. Very nice fella.

Best of luck at Kennesaw, I had a buddy that graduated from there about a year ago. From what I"ve heard KSU is a really good school. I have to tell you that you might want to consider GSU in the future, as Robinson College is TOP ranked nationally, and by in large the professors are of a very high caliber. I hope to one day persue my MBA, as the masters program is ranked 3rd in the nation! :wink:

 

my name chris, i live in cincinnati ohio, self employed in a wrecking company, auto service company, used car lot and i am an ebay powerseller for used autoparts. 35 years old, married, 3 kids. started trading stocks with my brother as a part time deal, made some good coin, took some dumb stupid courses about trading, made some idiotic moves with options, lost some good coin, took some more courses and read a chitload of books. been trading since 2002 and was a member to another group that was buy and hold even through the throughs. left there and found this site and now booyahoo is basically helping me put it together with commonsense. i work daily answering phones and shipping orders as to why i am always here. the ebay sales is the feed to my trading account which is really cool because if i loose it, it dudnt madder. trading is now fueling my account until this last downside drop. but, im not-skerd. i hope to be fully focused trader by 08 and make a 5th income from it anyway. and i hope retire soon this is a real great site full of those who are willing to help the other out. you can only imagine my time is limited from 8-5 m-f but i stay logged in all the time and if anyone is in cincinnati give me jingle at 1-888-313-6268 so i can sell you a car or fix yours or tow it or sell you some used autoparts 'thats my story and im sticking to it"

chris :wink:

 

My name is Dave, 24 years old, I currently live in Michigan, not married. I live in a small city called Rochester Hills, just north of Detroit a few miles.

I graduated from University of Michigan in 2004 with a BBA in Finance, and currently attending Kettering University for Master of Science in Manufacturing Management and Master for Science in Operations Management, I will be done with both in 1 yr.….can’t wait.

I am currently a cost/inventory manager at a private auto parts supplier.

Very new to trading stock which I currently use ScottTrade. I have been investing in a Roth IRA and mutual funds since I was 15 and a 401K plan from my work.

I really want to start investing more in stocks…..Started my ScottTrade account 11 months ago and have seen a 9.34% return so far…better then any of my mutual funds, IRA, or 401K…they have seen about 6-7% return.

I love all the advise from this board…..I give a little of mine…but I know it is not the best…still have a ton to learn.

Well….thanks to all on this board and kept it up…

Dave

 

32, owner of a computer hardware distribution company and a computer services company. married, 2 kids...have a broker with Smith Barney, lost a ton a few years ago, have been very leary about getting back into the market. Probably have way too much cash in the checking acct earing 4.25%, no cc debt, no debt except the mortgage (which i dont consider debt) maxing out the SEP, montly contributions to the girls 529 college funds,,,still have CSCO, Nortel, Qcom, MSFT, IRA's etc....after reading here and watching the man I might be ready to dabble again,,,dont really have time or knowlege to research and do my own picks/trades. Should I still go thru my boy at SSB? Any suggestions?

 

My name is David and I'm 23. I recently got married in June and am residing in Atlanta. I'm in my fifth year in Architecture at Georgia Tech and about to apply to grad school here for arch also. I decided to sell my 2001 Ram Air Trans Am...a car I loved dearly, due to rising gas prices and not needing two cars living here in the city. So, I bought a motorcycle, and threw 10 G into the market. My dad made a few bucks during the dot com boom and has some good insight, so I figured what the heck, that money is going to make nothing in the bank. I've only been in the market since Aug, I really appreciate everyone's advice on this forum...it's great!

 

^^ Another Atlanta resident. Very cool, gtg and glad to hear that you're about to finish out your undergrad in architechture from Tech. I was accepted at Tech out of high school, but after I took the campus tour and found out that the male to female ratio was 5:1 I decided on GSU. :lol: Damn good school though, and I certainlly respect the amount of work I'm sure that you've had to put in over there. Anyhow, very nice to see so many ATL residence here on the forum.

 

Excellent post Michael! You've already accomplished what the rest of us younger folks here are trying to do. Congrats on your success, it is very inspirational! I agree 100% with your advice and I am glad to hear it from a seasoned trader. I wish you continued success in the future. Thanks for sharing your story.