So, why am I here?
Not in the existential, universal, philosophical sense. Why am I here writing this blog? Basically, I was curious about the stock market. I'm not the first. I won't be the last. But I wanted to find out more about the stock market. I wanted to know if I, a humble, inexperienced stock market outsider, could even begin to comprehend the massive, grinding, whirlwind machinery that we use to gauge the blood pressure of the modern economy.
Based on the classic premise that the best way to learn about something is to get your hands dirty and try it, I resolved to try my hand at stock investing. Based on the even more basic premise that I don't have any real money, I decided to pretend to try my hand at stock investing. And so, the genesis of the Running Tally project: I will invest a virtual amount of money ($10,000) in a small set of stocks that I think are likely to grow faster than the market on average. I will simulate this $10,000 investment over 6 months, and see what happens. This blog will chronicle my investigations, my evaluations, my criteria, my decisions, and above all, all the stupid things that I get wrong. So that's it. That's why I'm here.
Let's get started. What could possibly go wrong?
Saturday, May 25, 2013
The Caveats
Okay, here are the essential caveats:
This is not an investment blog. I know, it's got discussions of earnings, and projections, and financials, and all of those doo-dads, but it isn't an investment blog. In my mind, an investment blog is a source of advice; a place for wisdom, guidance, and counseling for the wary investor who wants a second, third, or twentieth opinion. I, however, have no advice to offer. I am not an investment professional. I've barely invested anything in my life. This blog, investment-ish though it may seem, is in fact the haphazard chronicle of my personal quest to gain some semblance of an idea about what goes on in the stock market. So, please, please, please do not take anything said, graphed, semaphored or otherwise communicated here as anything resembling sound investing advice. It isn't.
In point of fact, for the time being, there isn't even any real money riding on the considerations and decisions discussed here. I will only be tracking a virtual investment, in which I have literally no real financial stake. The only thing I lose if the investment goes south is my pride.
And yes, I know that you can't comment at the bottom of my posts. This is not because I don't care what you have to say, or because I don't like criticism, or because I think I have the only valid opinion in the world. It is merely because, at my infantile stage of investment experience, if someone did have something to say to me (or if someone, God forbid, actually asked me a question) I would very likely have no idea what to say in response. I know closing comments is widely considered a cowardly and taboo act in the world of internet communication. I apologize to the internet gods who are offended. But if you really feel like you absolutely have to say something about something that I said, feel free to write about it on your blog. Or you can hack into my blog and post a picture of me in a Tinkerbell costume dancing the Macarena with Michael Dukakis and Don Knotts. Whatever you feel will protect the dignity of the internet as a forum for the free exchange of ideas.
This is not an investment blog. I know, it's got discussions of earnings, and projections, and financials, and all of those doo-dads, but it isn't an investment blog. In my mind, an investment blog is a source of advice; a place for wisdom, guidance, and counseling for the wary investor who wants a second, third, or twentieth opinion. I, however, have no advice to offer. I am not an investment professional. I've barely invested anything in my life. This blog, investment-ish though it may seem, is in fact the haphazard chronicle of my personal quest to gain some semblance of an idea about what goes on in the stock market. So, please, please, please do not take anything said, graphed, semaphored or otherwise communicated here as anything resembling sound investing advice. It isn't.
In point of fact, for the time being, there isn't even any real money riding on the considerations and decisions discussed here. I will only be tracking a virtual investment, in which I have literally no real financial stake. The only thing I lose if the investment goes south is my pride.
And yes, I know that you can't comment at the bottom of my posts. This is not because I don't care what you have to say, or because I don't like criticism, or because I think I have the only valid opinion in the world. It is merely because, at my infantile stage of investment experience, if someone did have something to say to me (or if someone, God forbid, actually asked me a question) I would very likely have no idea what to say in response. I know closing comments is widely considered a cowardly and taboo act in the world of internet communication. I apologize to the internet gods who are offended. But if you really feel like you absolutely have to say something about something that I said, feel free to write about it on your blog. Or you can hack into my blog and post a picture of me in a Tinkerbell costume dancing the Macarena with Michael Dukakis and Don Knotts. Whatever you feel will protect the dignity of the internet as a forum for the free exchange of ideas.
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