stocks commodities bonds poets

        
                                      
                                  
Capitalism has been with us for a long time,     
and shenanigans have also.  Love it, hate it;   
it is not likely to disappear unless greed   
prevails and ultimately decimates all things.
Meanwhile, there are highly active public    
markets where participants daily make money  
and lose money.  I have no idea how many of   
those who make poems have ever been, or    
are now in, any of those markets, but I do
know it is possible to consistently make    
money in them without going into debt if 
one is in tune with one's personallty and is   
savvy enough and has a legitimate job or     
other source of cash and a connection with   
a brokerage that isn't just for the elite.   
Further, one does not need to pay anyone    
for advice, and shouldn't.  I recently read    
about a couple who years ago pooled their   
extra money and used it to buy stock in a   
single solid utility which paid dividends   
they could reinvest in that company.  How   
much they put in and how frequently I do    
not know, but they amassed over two million  
dollars.  Markets without participants are
dead markets.  I was once a buyer of stocks
because I wanted to be a philanthropist.  I
would not have spent my gains on myself as  
it is not in me show off in that way, but I
totally messed up because I was not in tune
with my personality and I lacked the savvy   
I needed during those years.  It wasn't that
I didn't know many of the ins and outs, it  
was just that my stubbornness led me to try
an approach I wasn't sufficiently prepared  
to use consistently to my benefit.  There
have been investors who formed investment
clubs and did quite well.  Poets could do   
the same.  Perhaps some have.  Love it,      
hate it; in a society where creativity      
leads to the establishment of companies    
which then go through the initial public  
offering process so others can share in   
and support their growth is not on its     
face an evil.  Though my knowledge of the
company that day was nil, I could have  
purchased a few shares of Dell for around
$5 a share shortly after its IPO.  Don't
recall why I stopped in at the brokerage   
I was using, but I briefly interrupted a
conversation between two investors and a
broker.  One of the investors had shares
of Home Depot which were moving higher;
the other investor had shares of Dell he
was thinking of selling because those   
shares were moving lower.  I didn't have
time to learn more, and I never tried to
on my own.                                
                                             
I still own twenty or more books on how   
to invest.  One of them is Barron's   
Finance and Investment Handbook from
1986.  Much has changed since then, but
this book has well over 900 pages of   
information.  The lead editors were      
John Downes and Jordan Elliot Goodman.
Here is a passage on page 29 I placed 2   
squiggly red ink lines to the left of:           
    Even with modern policies,        
  however, the question persists:      
  Why sacrifice a portion of in-  
  come to an insurance company   
  when pure protection can be    
  more cheaply obtained through       
  term insurance and returns as     
  good or better can be obtained    
  by investing directly?  The an-    
  swer depends on an individual's     
  expertise, self-confidence, and     
  willingness to spend time man-
  aging investments.                  
                                     
I've never delved into commodities and    
bonds, but as some say:  There's always   
a bull market in currencies.             
                                   
                                         
                                         
                                           
                                             
                                         
mr00006