Sunday, January 29, 2012

AAPL

So in July/August whenever that monstrous dip in the market was, I bought some Apple shares. Only 3 actually. At the time, Apple was down to like $367. Well this week they absolutely rocked earnings and hit an all time high at like $450. Killer money. I wish I had taken my whole freakin portfolio and bought Apple that day this summer. I would be up A LOT. Much more than the stupid buy and hold index funds has done for me over the last 10-15 years that I've been following this "good girl" approach. I am increasingly convinced that buy and hold does not work anymore and the only way to play the market to make any $ is to actively trade. I'm going to keep buying individual stocks like AAPL when they dip and see if I can make $ that way. The only thing is that its in my taxable account, so I want to hold it for a year so I only play long and not short-term capital gains.

Monday, January 23, 2012

Q2 Goal

So reading Budgets Are Sexy today inspired me to set out a goal or challenge for myself. I've decided that I'd like to save $25K by the end of Q2 (end of June). It seems like an aggressive but a doable goal. It's nice to put it down in writing and have a reason to save.

I've been pretty good at the little things this month. Cooking more at home. Stopping my aggressive Oren's habit. But not so good at the big things. A Spanish class. A deposit for a trip in April. Oy vey. I have to get better at cutting out the big things too!

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Here We Are Again

At the end of another year! Wow. This year has been very successful personally. I have focused a lot less on my financials this year, but since I've devoted a lot of time to setting up different systems, things kind of run on autopilot now.

I definitely spent more on travel this year than I expected to, but it was so worth it. I'm pretty pleased with how my spending maps to my life priorities, actually.

I am hoping that the new year brings a new job, and new challenges. As well as similar rewards or even more than the type I've been earning.

So far, it looks like 2012 is going to be as busy as 2011 (especially the back half) has been.

Wishing all savers and spenders alike a happy, healthy and prosperous 2012!