I don't like to brag. Wait, I do, but I don't have a lot to brag about right now. Back to the subject. Since I was 18, I've had money in the market. No, I'm not Series 7 licensed, or a screaming (rich) lunatic like Jim Cramer. I was a poor kid working his way through college and decided to ride the .com financial wave.
And I did it well for years. Mutual funds at first, then I graduated to dividend reinvestment programs direct from the companies themselves. I owned Dial Corp, you know, the company that made Dial soap. Soap! Finally I got a real investment account from E-Trade. I became a high flyer with my $1,000 account. A funny thing happened along the way. Stocks soared, I earned more and invested more. All of a sudden, I'm watching stock prices every five minutes. Arrive at work, check messages for a bit, then check My Yahoo page for latest 15 minute delayed quotes. Run a report, check the prices again. Go to lunch, come back, check stocks before getting back to business. 4:30 rolls around, check for any end of day deals. Finish work, head to happy hour and go home to check closing prices. Repeat.
Then 2008 came around. Does anybody but the media and those that work in the market check prices anymore? I just realized I haven't looked at my dismal portfolio since Thanksgiving. Sure, I hear or see prices in passing, but I'm not hung up on it. What's the price of Apple today? Who knows, who cares. Sure the recession sucks, but it helped me in one aspect. I saved time checking stocks. Unfortunately that time got filled pretty quickly with Twitter and other time-sucking activities on the Internet. Market please come back. At least that obsession earned me money.
