Archive for July 3, 2007

The Frustrations of Different Terminology

July 3, 2007 at 10:51 pm · Filed under calculation, investment

I’ve been trying to use Excel spreadsheets to calculate various formulas for me with the financial information I pull off Google Finance because I’m trying to determine what are solid companies for me to invest in.  However, I needed certain numbers that Google Finance was not able to give me right off the bat and I didn’t want to flip back and forth between multiple tabs on Firefox just to get a few numbers.

Time to pull out my dusty old accounting book (I took one basic accounting class in college).  Turns out, I had to calculate some of the numbers myself.  Even more frustrating is that the accounting book uses different terms that Google Finance uses so I had to carefully read everything to make sure they were really the exact same thing.

Now, because I’m so frustrated, I’m determined to learn all the different terminology and the different terms for them just so it doesn’t take 15 minutes to do one simple calculation on Excel.  I suppose some good came out of that.  I figure it’s also time to brush up on accounting.

Once I figure everything out, I’m going to make up a reference sheet for myself that I can constantly refer to.

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Having Patience in Investments

July 3, 2007 at 7:12 am · Filed under investment, mental

I keep telling myself I’m a buy-and-hold kinda gal.  I try to buy stocks when I feel they are pretty low and I tell myself that I’m only selling when they’re decently high.  Or at least that’s the theory.

However, it’s nerve-wracking when a particular day was particularly bad for the market and all my stocks are down and it can get even worse when all my other stocks do well and just one of them is abysmal.  Then, I keep thinking to myself, should I sell it now and cut my losses when it could get any worse?

Or when a particular day comes when one of the companies are doing particularly well, jumping up beyond my expectations.  Then, I frantically ask myself whether I should sell it or will it keep going up?

I try to be emotionless about my investments but that’s the thing about personal finance: they’re deeply personal to me.  I feel like an anxious mother, exulting at the highs and worrying at the lows.  But, I keep telling myself to be patient and to be cool about it.  I keep telling myself to buy at the price I determine and the to sell at the price I also previously determined.

Though, I may wince a little when I sell a stock and it keeps going drastically higher or buy a stock whose price then drops like a rock, I keep trying to be patient.  In the end, I figure, I’m pretty bullish and the market will be fine in the end.

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