As I mentioned earlier, I am now an official player in the stock market.  I now have a vested interest in both “Main Street” and “Wall Street”. So I thought I’d share what I’m invested in and why. But first…

[Disclaimer: Don't listen to my investing opinions and don't do what I do...I'm just a crazy guy marching to the beat of his own drum and I am mildly comfortable with risk.  It's your money, you do what you want with it.  Go buy the Blu-Ray player and HDTV if that's what you really want. And by all means, please research before you make any investments. This isn't "The Game of Life". This is real money we're talking about. You may very well end up losing every last penny of it. You've been warned.]

What: Wendys/Arbys Group Inc (NYSE:WEN)

Why: My family frequents Wendy’s and/or Arby’s at least once a week on average. My kids will think it’s cool that we own part of both. And now I can have some say as a stock holder (as small as it is) as to what my thoughts are on the switch from Coca-Cola to Pepsi at Arby’s a while back and questioning why Wendy’s keeps tinkering with the Super Value Menu pricing and if they’re going to offer yogurt for the kids.

Personal Overview: On September 29, 2008, Wendy’s and Arby’s (Triarc) officially merged. In the midst of this there were what basically came down to stock splits on each side. This coupled with the recent decrease in the stock market overall sent stock prices lower (if I’m doing my math right in accounting for the split of 4.25, it’s really down about 13% since the merger). As I write this the price is hovering in “penny stock” territory which does put it in the risky category.

Personal Expectations: Six months from now I am hoping that this is trading above the most recent (10/8/2008) closing price of $4.00 per share. A year from now I’m hoping that it is at least double that. But unless the price increases greatly, this stock will be sitting in my portfolio for some time.

Popularity: 6% [?]

As I was sitting in front of the television last week watching the stock market tumble I just sat there pondering why all of these people were freaking out and dumping stocks left and right.  Yes, the economy has been better and the housing market is horrid to say the least. And credit…well, it’s credit and I’m not going to touch that in depth right now. And that got me thinking…

In relation to the housing market, with loans aside, in general it is a horrible time if you are trying to sell a house. If you are trying to buy a house, it is an excellent time to buy (provided you can find a decent loan). If you need to sell AND buy a house, it is probably going to be a wash…you may sell yours low, but will probably buy another house low as well. And that got me thinking some more…

Most people view houses as investments, right? And most people view stocks, mutual funds, etc as investments too, right? So why don’t people look at these in the same way? Is it that one is something you really feel like you “own” and the other is just some idea on paper (or in a database somewhere)? Is it that real estate is more “secure” than stocks? Is it that no one is really reporting too much on the percentage of home value declines (not to mention what you’re losing paying interest on sizable loans). Is it that there is sentimental value tied to real estate? I can understand all of those scenarios and more, but at the end of the day both really boil down to money as far as investing and value goes. And that got me thinking some more…

If I’m looking at real estate and the stock market as investment options, why wouldn’t I behave in the same general manner with each of them?

While I would love to sell my house right now and buy a new one, there’s no way that you’d get me to sell my current house for less than my current balance on it (note that I didn’t say my investment in it).  That’s just plain silly unless I had a very good reason for doing so and could afford to lose on it (which I don’t an which I can’t). And while I’d love to be able to pick up a new house at a deal and sell my current house when the market is better, I just can’t afford to do so.  I’m stuck trying to make the best out of a bad situation.

On the stock market side I was watching my 403b (all stock based mutual funds) tank like a rock. That’s fine as I’m not able to touch it for a few decades without huge penalties anyway…and I’m assuming things will get better at some point in there. But it bothered me that I could not do anything with this account but watch it and move the shells around (this was setup when I had an employer and they set it up to where all I could do was manage where the funds are within the confines of a given set of mutual funds). What I really wanted was something that I could go out and contribute to now AND that I could actually have some say in why I’m losing my money hand over fist. And as I watched certain stocks of interest fluctuate I couldn’t help but to get the urge to buy stock while it is low. I missed out a few years back and I didn’t want to miss the train this go round. And that got me moving…

On Monday I shopped around the various stock brokers to see what they had going on right now and I settled on Scottrade since they seemed to be the best deal for what I was wanting to do AND more importantly they only required $500 cash to open an account.  Most other places require $1,500 or more to open an account and that just wasn’t an option. (I didn’t say that I had a lot of money to invest…I only said that I wanted to invest.) Also, they have a flat $7 commission for Internet trades, which isn’t all that bad from what I saw. [If you're in the market for a new investment account and want to open up with Scottrade by the end of October 2008, let me know and I can send you a referral link that will get you 7 commission-free trades.]

On Wednesday (today) my account was funded and I made my first purchase. Call me crazy, but I’m shopping for bargains.

In conclusion, I am officially treating real estate and housing the same. Instead of freaking out and selling off stocks at very low rates, I’m out buying them due to the increased investment potential (no one knows the future, even if they have “tips”…just ask Martha Stewart.). While I can’t afford to do this in the housing market, I can do it in the stock market and I’m doing just that. Wish me luck.

[Disclaimer: Don't listen to my investing opinions...I'm just a crazy guy marching to the beat of his own drum and I am mildly comfortable with risk.  It's your money, you do what you want with it.  Go buy the large cookie dough Blizzard if that's what you really want. And by all means, please research before you make any investments. This isn't "The Game of Life". This is real money we're talking about. You may very well end up losing every last penny of it.]

Popularity: 5% [?]

Jeff put up a good post about Katie Couric doing marketing…and someone thinking that’s a good idea to push some books.

Check it out.

Popularity: 36% [?]

I receive a ton of spam every day which usually gets caught by my spam filters, but over the past few days I’ve seen a variation of the same one come through, six of which were in my inbox this morning (I’ll post four examples). What irritates me the most is that the account it came to is not given out to third parties. And of course the spelling errors.

Here’s the main content of the spam messages for eBay item number 190195958868. If you have received this spam as well, I encourage you to report this item to eBay or forward the message to eBay at spoof@ebay.com.

My hunch is that eBay can’t do anything about it since this is clearly not inside of their system (send me an email at…which is outside of eBay’s rules), but they could at least slap some sort of spam/phishing warning on the item itself (Warning: Please use caution…).

Related, check out eBay’s spoofing tutorial (how to spot them, not how to send them).

E-Mail #1…

I have for sale: 190195958868 At your last bid price $120.00 . If you are interested just give me a fast reply on this email address and you will find all the info that you want. Please contact me as soon as possible for more details directly at kroberts40@gmail.com !

Thank You For your Time

(more…)

Popularity: 67% [?]

This sure hits home from back in the days that I worked in “Cubeville” (though I’m not sure why the trash man is working)…

If you seriously wanted to accomplish something, you had to do it while no one was around to bother you. I’m sure someone came up with “cubes” to save money and possibly “encourge” open communication, but man there is something to be said about offices with doors and blinds if you really want to be able to focus without hearing someone else talking or playing music.

Popularity: 54% [?]

CompUSA is going out of business and it looks like stores will begin closing early next year. While I like CompUSA and it’s sad to see it go, the one in Indy just isn’t convenient for me to go to and shopping online or heading down the street to Best Buy is much easier (and often cheaper).

Related to the closing, I wonder how this will affect Chuck if NBC brings it back after the Writers Guild of America Strike is over.  (From what I’ve heard, parts of Chuck are shot inside of a CompUSA store outfitted to mock Best Buy.  Circuit City might be an option as long as their financial situation has gotten better.)

Popularity: 45% [?]

Earlier this morning a friend of mine was on CNBC for a few seconds talking about a problem he (and apparently about 30% of owners) has had with his X-Box X-Sux 360.  (Yet another reason I don’t plan on buying one…what kind of “quality assessment” thinks 70% is acceptable?)

Anyway, to my point…

I think CNBC should be considered “Short Attention Span Theater”…I’m about to puke from information overload after watching all of those tickers go by AND the additional news alerts.  No wonder people “need” 65″+ televisions, as this is way too much to take on my “little” OR “big” TV.   And no wonder so many people are diagnosed* as having ADD or AD/HD.

Man am I glad that the kid programs grace my television during the day when it happens to be on.  And luckily the radio hasn’t gone to multi-tasking (yet).

* I’ll leave that rant for another time.

Popularity: 33% [?]