Stocks

You would think that since I have an accounting degree.

And had to take a ton of accounting and financey classes to get said degree....

That I would be able to rock the socks off the stock market.

But I would like to tell you a secret

I feel VERY uncomfortable dabbling with stocks.

Maybe that's because I felt like all that was being said in my classes was, "blah blah blah... companies only care about profits... blah... fraud... blah... lying to stockholders... blah... everyone lost their life savings except the CEO and CFO who made millions, and only had to pay a fine to the courts (plus maybe a little jail time) and are now living free despite all the money they took from all these people...

Just kidding, but not really... lol :'(      Look up the ex-CFO of Enron - I know, right? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Fastow

I was also taught how to reverse analyze a company's financial statements, in a way that reveals a lot of the things the company was trying to hide...

...
YA, the fact you even have to do that, is indicative of the problem.

Anyway.  This semester I had to do a project on a randomly assigned Utah corporation.  Their stock is currently trading at 2 cents, and they're showing some good potential for future growth.  Plus their financial statements seemed pretty straightforward.  So I thought... you know... if I'd randomly waste 3 bucks on some candy (I LIKE CANDY!!!)... then I could buy some of this stock.  Plus... You can't get much worse than 2 cents... the risk is very low.

Turns out very few places want to help you invest $3

Most stock trading websites require like a $500 initial deposit.

What?  Who do you think I am?  Some kind of person with a job and a college degree?

Oh... Wait...

Anyway, I found one place, literally ONE site that had no minimum.  However, each trade has a fee attached of like $10.

T$^%&^%KD&*        

(Yes, I totally just held down shift and randomly hit at my keyboard, a lot more work than just swearing...)

So I looked at the price fluctuations, decided to buy 500 pieces of stock, and typed in what it was trading at (for a total of like $20 with the fee)... and it told me I couldn't...

Said I couldn't do a normal trade, I had to do a limit.  WHAT!?!?  How do I not know how to *** buy stock?  I have an accounting degree and don't even know what this stupid website is trying to tell me.  FAIL.

Long story short... I've been trying to figure this out for like 2 weeks.  I have 2 open orders right now, but somehow they still aren't actually going through.  Also, apparently there is an ask and a buy price, and while their buy price is 2 cents, the ask price from the traders is 6 cents.  WHAT!!  That is triple the current trading price.  Seriously.

Anyway, I thought I would write this blog post to say that I really hate the stock market.  Plus, if you know my basic political beliefs, you would know that the whole concept of the stock market is immoral to me... so ya... that doesn't help...  I feel like I'm selling myself out even trying to buy stock.

P.S.  I plainly told them in the entrance survey that our yearly household income is less than $25,000, our net worth is less than $25,000, I've NEVER traded in options, and that I know nothing about trading options - and yet they still approved me for level 2 options trading (options trading can be super risky - basically when you buy stock your losses are limited to the amount you invested, but when you trade in options your potential losses are unlimited).  SERIOUSLY!!!  If I was a bank I would slit my own throat before approving me for even level 1 options trading (which, contrary to what I would assume, is MORE regulated than level 2).  I don't know what is wrong with the banking industry in this country.