Getting killed in the stock market!

I picked a pretty bad time to invest in mutual funds in Asia and Latin America. I bought two emerging market funds at their all-time highs during the end of 2007. Now both of them are down over 50%. I'm not too worried about those since I'm looking for them to be profitability in 20 or more years.

I also recently sold my stake in XCR for a massive loss -80% of my investment. I am holding on to SDTH for the long term, even though I'm kicking myself for not selling at $10.50, I would have locked in a solid gain. Now the stock is in the dumpster after this whole economic crisis going on. I'm considering buying some more up because the company is buying back stock and has a numbers.

I recently purchased GNVC and it has tanked as well since I bought it. I really have to stop buying these long shot small companies and start building positions in some real companies with nice dividends.

For the year I'm officially down $62 which isn't that bad, but I am learning as I go. I am still buying monthly into the SPY and hopefully after the economy straightens itself out over the next 5 to 10 years I'll have a nice little nugget sitting in the stock market. Only time will tell.

Adventures in Stock Picking

My stock market experience update: a few months ago I sold my shares of MEDX for a $9 profit, which includes all brokerage fees. I also jumped into two other stocks a small cap SDTH, which I think has some real potential, they have a good balance sheet, and a cheap dollar stock call XCR. XCR I bought into the hype and will probably lose some money. It's a company that makes equipment for dialysis, including a portable dialysis machine. It is fun checking the quotes.

In related news my 401K is atrophying this year, already down 24% not counting yesterday's blow to AIG. I just glad I have a long investment horizon and am not planning on retiring anytime soon. I still think I'll be on track to reach my goal of $30,000 in my 401K by the age of 30.

Stock Market going down today, time to buy in

Today the stock market will likely drop a few hundred points due to fears of increasing interest rates. When all the dipping is done, it seems like it would be a good time to buy in. I have about $200 to spend, I'll be opening a Sharebuilder account tomorrow and plan on picking up some stock. I am interested in Home Depot, Microsoft, McDonald's, and a few others. Any suggestions?