If finance interests you...

My sleep cycle is all over the place. I haven't been able to get a full nights sleep for over a week. I have way too many projects due this week, and groups in five of my six classes ( except poetry. I'd actually appreciate a poetry groupwork right now. Anything that wouldn't be so "real world"). 

The one I actually am excited about is this project we are doing for one of our finance classes. We have to go sign up for this website called StockTrak, an online investment portfolio manager. It gives us a million dollars, albeit imaginary, to invest with. Personally, I'd love to invest in the market. Yeah yeah, I know how nothing is going right with the market, and it hit a 20-year low yesterday and blah blah, but this is the perfect time to do one of two things:

1) Buy historically overpriced stocks that are at a low now, but will expectedly regain their value

2) Short sell stocks. You literally have nothing to lose.

For the first, take the example of  Berkshire Hathaway. I don't have much information on this company, but what I do know is that it was trading at around 135,000 this summer. Even though now it is hovering around 75K, it's potential is huge. If you have time (read 8-10 years), buy this stock and hold on to it. You may see this dip to much lower levels (if you can predict these, then wait and buy then - win win situation), but it will rise. 

As for short selling stocks  - why not? The market is slipping. Almost every company has seen its stock price drop. Short selling is the best and safest way to turn profits. A short sale is when you "borrow" shares and sell them, so you have an account that you have to settle at a later date. Let's take the example of Apple. On the 9th of Feb it was trading at $102.51 per share. If you short sold say 1000 stocks on this day, you would be 1000 shares in debt, but $102,510 richer. Today, the stock was trading at $86.95. All you would now need to do would be to buy the 1000 stocks you owe for a low low price of $86,950. This will settle your account of 1000 shares in debt. And you just turned a profit of $15,560. In two weeks. In other terms, you just made more than an entire year's worth of in-state tuition in two weeks. Or my rent for the next two years, in about two weeks. What do you need to do this? Probably just an account on e-trade and a few thousand for the margin. 

Why the long nerdy tirade on investments? Because I AM learning in my classes, despite what some of my grades might suggest. And because my dad reads my blog, and maybe this way he will agree to loan me the money I need for the margin. 

Kelley's not just teaching me how to survive on an hour of sleep. I know what I'm talking about, dad. Trust me.