Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Slight Change in Direction

Change in DirectionAfter doing some serious thinking (didn't I say I always think a lot after talking to my friend) I've decided to make a slight course adjustment. Like any journey, you find things on the way, and new obstacles are presented to you which will make you rethink your strategy. A little more than two weeks in, I've had both happen to me.

The first, and probably most significant thing, is that I've decided to take a new job in Los Angeles. While I'm very excited about the opportunity, it greatly affects my ability to execute on my strategy for multiple reasons. I had actually planned on taking some more time off from the working world. Partially to just take a break, partially to get this project up and running. I had been interviewing with a couple of companies without any real intention to take the job. I was doing it to keep my interviewing skills sharp. Ideally, I wouldn't have even considered jobs until after the first of the year. But when the right job comes along, you have to take it, and it was too good of an opportunity to pass up.

Of course, that means I have a lot less time to come up with my strategy and to execute it. Active trading is out the window as there is no way I'll be able to monitor stocks closely enough to get in and out of positions when I should while simultaneously starting a new job. That doesn't mean I'm not going to put my money to work in the market, I just can't take the same approach I would have.

There is more data to suggest this is the right course of action. Despite the appearance of inactivity with the money, I've actually been monitoring the market and testing a few of my strategies without putting my capital at risk. Most of my strategy would have been positive (which would be good considering how down the market has been in the last month) but it would not get me close to what I need to do. It was a short time frame, so that doesn't mean too much, but at the same time I know I can't do this with a full-time job on top of it.

Despite this, THE DOUBLE JOURNEY IS STILL ON. I'm not one to put out a goal and then stop before I accomplish it. I will still attempt to end up with $40,000 on Dec. 18th 2008. I'm just going to have to find a different way to do it. I'll get it partially through the market, but it is going to be a much smaller focus than it would have been otherwise. This site will have a slight change in tone. I still want to keep it up, and I still plan on blogging regularly about my progress, but in between my ideas I will focus on some other topics that hopefully you will all find more interesting. I love finance, I love talking stocks, but in the end, it can be a dry read.

The secret to a great blog, and great writing in general, is to write about what you know. If you write about something you are passionate about, and you write it well, people will come read. I'm passionate about a few things. My relationships, money, technology, basketball, and of course my job. I think I'll leave my girlfriends and friends out of it, since I'm not so sure I could tell people how I've been able to get so lucky in this department. Technology has been done in a lot of different places and I don't think I could do better than Engadget or Gizmodo. We have already been over the money idea. Tyler already has a basketball blog and will tell you it's hard to keep up. Besides, I might throw something at my screen if the Lakers keep losing and I'm writing about it. Since I just bought this computer, and I love the huge monitor I got with it, I want to avoid that situation.

That leaves me blogging about my job and my career. I actually end up talking to a lot of my friends about their job and I love to provide job advice. I've been relatively successful in this part of my life and feel I have a lot to offer in this area. Since I'm recently unemployed, and felt I had a pretty successful job search, I will start off with that and see where it goes. I think its a subject with a lot of interesting areas to explore from finding the right job, getting the offer, and dealing with headaches once you arrive. Since I and so many of my friends struggle with these issues on a daily basis, I think it would be at the very least, entertaining and informative.

9 comments:

  1. Congratulations on the new job!

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  2. Thanks, I'm excited about it. I might be more excited about returning to LA though. :)

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  3. go for it! good show, you'll reach your goal yet!! just stop spending!!! ::-)) so many of us i believe turbo charge our financial car, put on the spiffi-est tires, suspension, spoilers and .... are driving with the handbrake on!! release the hand brake and feel the surge... success.

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  4. Thanks ningpo for the encouragement! But you misunderstand my problem a little bit. It would actually be no problem for me to "save" my way to $20,000. I have a combination of

    High Paying Job + Frugal Lifestyle = High Savings

    I actually want to show people how you can make your money work for you instead of you working for your money. I also want to show people how you can accomplish the above equation of getting that High Paying job and maintaining the frugal lifestyle.

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  5. "i knew that" , ::-) , so tell me more about the "how". by the way, how often does your balance on the page update? did you sell into the recent strength? is it strength? lowering the % rate is seen as a market positive, isn't it the cause of the credit problem and therefore are we fighting fire with gasoline? I applaud your example and endeavor.

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  6. Ningpo,

    The point of the blog is to try and figure out the "how" part of the equation. It's a journey I'm hoping the readers of my blog can help me figure out.

    I will update the balance probably once a week when it changes. It hasn't changed in the last few weeks because I haven't made any trades quite yet. Starting next week, I'll start with some trades, but my clock isn't really starting until Dec. 18th. I gave myself a little over a year to do this thing.

    As for the strength in the market today, I'm not buying it. I guarantee you that there will be another down trend in the upcoming days. The market is so volatile, and the Fed won't be doing anyone any favors by lowering interest rates so low again. I really hope they don't, but I know they probably will.

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  7. sound's good to me. there's no hurry. paint me curious to what this brings. you seem on track, how do you plan on reaching the people that need the info as well? or should i read your last post as you are looking for the key to doubling?! patience is my biggest cross, i've been out of work for three years now and barely making it on my trading. I have alot to learn and most of it is about myself, discipline and following my own gameplan.

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  8. Well I hope you join me on my journey and we can learn together. I too have a lot to learn, I don't pretend to know it all. I've done well in life so far, but never attempted to do anything like this.

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  9. [...] better out there for me.  I started on a journey to find that something.  Along the way, I got derailed.  I decided to stop the journey and take on a corporate job.  It was an opportunity that was too [...]

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