I buy 100 shares in a few small cap companies, buy and sell covered options. I have started investing for only two months, so far made 7%.

 

  • Gio 9:51 am on November 6, 2009

    I bought my first stocks 5 years ago. at first I didn’t really know what I was doing. I just bought what I thought was good. but then I started reading about value investing and learning how to actually value a company to assess wether or not I was getting a good price for the stock.

    I use a valuation method that uses EPS, although most people recommend using free cash flow as a more accurate measure of a company’s financial strength. Basically I try to estimate what a stock will be worth in the future, and what price I would need to buy it at now to ensure a certain rate of return.

    I try to keep my estimates very conservative, to have a large margin of error. so far, in 5 years, I have a total return of 43%, compared to 12.5% for the S&P 500. That comes out to 10.25% annualized, vs. 2.5% for the S&P.

  • cran 9:51 am on November 6, 2009

    I keep and maintain a diversified portfolio of what I think are the best stocks in their respective sector. I look for companies that are coming out with new products, are innovative, and the leaders in their area.

    In my IRA, I own Apple, Starbucks, Google, Whole Foods, and Genentech.

    Here’s my reasoning for owning these 5 companies – this will give you an idea of my investment strategy and why I buy the companies I did.

    I bought an Apple IPOD back in early 2004 and was just amazed by it. Their computers were robust and stable, compared to Windows based machines. Every few months I’d hear about a new computer or product coming out from Apple. I ended up buying a ton of Apple stock a few months later.

    Who doesn’t drink Starbucks? They open ~1000 new stores every year and continue to expand overseas. At work, in morning meetings, half the staff are holding a Starbucks cup. Starbucks continues to come up with new drinks and coffees. When I was in Asia there was a Starbucks everywhere I went.

    Google. Everyone uses Google now. Every day Google announces a new product or feature to their site. The Google toolbar is smart. Every search/click you do means $$$ in Google’s pocket.

    Whole Foods. This is one of my favorite stocks. You hear on the news the benefits of organic foods. The produce at Whole Foods is 50x better than what I see at Albertsons or Safeway. Everytime I go there it’s super crowded.

    Genentech – Their drug pipeline is huge. Their cancer fighting drugs sales are skyrocketing. They are also finding that some of their drugs can be used to treat other diseases.

    I have a little more Tech than I want but I really like Apple and Google.

    Performance wise I’m up about 98% in 2 yrs.

    Outside of my IRA I own Ebay, GE, WMT, XOM, GGP, PNRA, and QCOM

  • Michael 5:43 am on December 31, 2009

    I like conservative covered call selling. You might also wish to add cash-secured put selling to your arsenal. Have a look at http://www.safe-options-trading-income.com for mor information