Stocks | Josh Maher's Blog

ESPP Options – Account Configuration

January 24th, 2012 | Add a Comment

Ok, I get it. The account you have at Fidelity where your ESPP shares are dumped each quarter doesn’t allow option trading. Now you read my post on how to sell covered calls against your shares and are lost as to how to make that happen in your account. I thought about this and have been pretty hesitant to walk through the steps to make this work for everyone… If I have to walk you through how to make this happen in your account, are you really ready to start trading options? Well,. being a consultant though I guess I can’t help myself. Selling covered calls isn’t exactly putting on an Iron Condor or Butterfly option strategy. It is simply saying that you already own shares of a firm and … Read entire article »

Filed under: career, Covered Calls, ESPP, Investing, Options, Profit, stocks

You Have An Employee Stock Purchase Plan Now What?

January 16th, 2012 | Add a Comment

This seems to come up a lot in large companies and having been on the end of not knowing what to do as well as currently being on the end of having some thoughts about different strategies to manage ESPP participation, I thought I would share with everyone. I won’t say that I know everything about investing or managing an ESPP… but I definitely have been using a solid strategy that makes sense. The basic principles of the investment strategy are: Sell covered calls against the ESPP shares This puts cash in my account that I can use to invest elsewhere Ensures that if the stock is sold, it is sold for a profit higher than the 10% Collect the dividends from the shares (Assuming your company pays dividends) This provides money to be invested … Read entire article »

Filed under: career, Covered Calls, ESPP, Investing, Options, Profit, stocks

Retail Investment is Changing

December 17th, 2011 | Add a Comment

I don’t know if any one else has noticed the trend in retail investment advances that have been taking a crack at Wall St. lately – but I think we can forget what value the Occupy Wall St. movement will provide and start looking at what people with productive skills and a desire to change the world are trying to do. Over the last year I have seen a number of great products come out that are focused on reducing the cost and increasing the efficiency of middle class investors. Of course all while taking some of the money (the fees at least) out of Wall St. I am not talking about peer to peer lending (I have been playing with those groups for a while and am not sure … Read entire article »

Filed under: Banking, ESPP, Investing, Options, Profit, Startups, stocks

Charlie Rose Interviews Seth Klarman

December 1st, 2011 | Add a Comment

If you are interested in value investing, this is definitely a must watch! This is the same Seth Klarman that sells his book Margin of Safety: Risk-Averse Value Investing Strategies for the Thoughtful Investor for $800-$1200… … Read entire article »

Filed under: Investing, stocks

Life: Stock Game Update

November 14th, 2007 | Add a Comment

Well the four weeks is almost up!! I can’t believe it either and with the market the way it has been the kids are shocked they could lose SO much money so quickly!! Well today was a bit of a rebound…. or at least a pause in the bloodbath… so I figured it would be a perfect time to update everyone on our progress… At the end of week two we all got to make some trades – WaMu stock was liquidated from the kids’ accounts at their own begging (and I ditched my Garmin Stock). Of course personally I am looking to get into the rock bottom wamu stock price to ride the elevator back up once they get their Sh*t together Quentin moved the funds from his sale into … Read entire article »

Filed under: Banking, stocks

Life: Stock Market Games – Day 3

October 24th, 2007 | Add a Comment

Well even if my own portfolio was completely in the hole today – at least Quentin’s in-game portfolio went up the most!! That’s three days, and all three of us have had our turn earning the most money!! Granted, Quentin was only up $11.16…. but that beats my measely $4 and Gabes $93 loss! Hopefully the fact that Gabe’s still over $10k will keep him encouraged to continue playing…. Perhaps getting into Seattle’s new version of the hotel industry would be more profitable? … Read entire article »

Filed under: Banking, Investing, Profit, stocks

Life: Stock Market Games – Day 2

October 23rd, 2007 | Add a Comment

Not much of an update today…. except for Damn! Thanks Apple for pulling up the tech sector and pulling me into the lead … Read entire article »

Filed under: Investing, stocks

Life: Elementary Stock Market Games!!!

October 22nd, 2007 | Add a Comment

I recently decided it was time to start teaching the kids about the stock market. Gabriel, 6 & Quentin, 9 are getting basic arithmetic, spelling, and science training in public school and will do well when they are older. The only problem is that I want to make sure they know what to do with their millions or hundreds when they start to make it…. So I Quentin, Gabriel, and I embarked on a four week adventure $10,000.00 3-5 stocks each 4 weeks Two trades allowed at the halfway point The money would be split evenly amongst all the stocks chosen (so picking google would skew the number of shares for all of the companies in the portfolio). Of course the kids were all over it and had a blast trying to figure out … Read entire article »

Filed under: Investing, stocks