My Stock Market Page...
I started dabbling in the stock market at the behest of a woman at work
in Winnipeg who was joining a women's investment club. The group, named
"Invest-Hers, MB" was my introduction to the stock market and
investing. We didn't do very well as a group, but I learned a great deal!
Over the course of the past five or so years, I've only dabbled in a few
penny stocks and have mostly lost my pennies...I've been looking for a way
to make that change.
Then last year, I had to endure a financial management course in my master's
program - where I learned how to do the detailed analysis of individual
stocks as well as portfolio performance. It was a hard course and not my
schtick, but I've been able to use a bit of what I learned to make some
better decisions for my portfolio.
Before I go any further, I do have a confession to make. In the financial
management course, our group work was to develop and manage a portfolio,
competing against the other groups in the class. My group started out strong,
but then finished quite low in the scoring. In fact, we were even beaten
by Nathalie, who put together a portfolio just on gut feel. Her portfolio
would have beaten the top group in the class. Indeed, here is a snapshot
of the two portfolios (ours and then Nat's):
The only saving grace for our group was that there was a stock split or
two, that I think I have captured properly...up until then we were actually
in the red overall while Nat's portfolio was up over $20K.
Deanna's Portfolio:
The penny stock side of my portfolio is nothing to shake a stick at. I've had multiple reverse splits resulting in significant loss of pennies and the holding of only a handful (or one) of some stocks. However, I did have a break through in my first real stock purchase: Indigo Books and Music (IDG.TO) had risen steadily over the past year from $4.15 to $9.15 when I finally made my acquisition in Dec. Since then, it has risen over $5.00 and it keeps on growing. Here is the snapshot as of 28 Feb 06:
Now, we have to keep in mind one thing: do not be greedy! The stock is already up over 60% gain since I bought it. That means SELL!!! But there are rumours that the majority owners might buy out the remaining shares and take Indigo private again. It is speculated that they might buy out the stock at $16.00, but no higher, if that. I would like to double my money and run...that would give me enough capital to invest in a larger number of shares in something like CAE (CAE.TO) - technically a stronger long-term stock. The guessing game begins!!
