I’ve traded IPO’s for years, note the term, traded; in my mind this stock will be a short term trade, maybe even a day trade. Here’s how I decide if I’m going all in. I love all the hype associated with Facebook-this can be used to your investing advantage. Since I use Scottrade, I don’t worry about getting any initial stock allocation.

I watch how the stock opens-you should see the initial flippers of this stock unloading their shares. They have made a profit and want to Free up the money for the next kill. Assuming I continue to see incoming orders for the stock, I will jump in. I buy at the market and then watch it closely. I’m happy to go in and out with a 15-20% profit for the day. If the strength continues into the closing-I will hold on to the stock and look at selling it over the next couple of days.

One thing I’ve learned about IPO’s is to forget the valuations. Valuations are for long term investors. I know for me, Facebook is just a trade and I want to catch the momentum wave and leave-without being to much of a piggy

Good Luck-Are you planning on trading this bad boy just for the fun of it?

She found a condo that was ready to move in without any major renovations necessary. The owner was very motivated as he was moving out of the country to be with his new love….that’s another story!

He allowed her to move into his condo and paint to her liking before the actual closing of the house. I’m sure you can see the inherent risks in my friends moving into this condo before closing. For instance, the seller could change their mind and she would be out in the cold. All the improvements she is making could be all for naught and I’m sure there may be other things that haven’t even been thought about!

Well, she moved in today and the closing is scheduled for the end of this month. To complicate matters-she found out last week that her employer is going to cut everyone’s salary in the next 30 days. Fortunately, she is already pre-approved for the loan but this factor could really make it a tight squeeze for her. She desperately wants the safety and security that a home can provide but she remains cautiously optimistic.

Would you move into a home before closing? Do you know others that have made the move before closing? Please share your thoughts!

For her, that’s a huge amount and she has what she believes are legitimate reasons for not having it in a bank, money market or stock account. I didn’t want to pursue her options at the time because she was so upset. But, what about using that money to buy a MasterCard Gift Card, American Express or anything that might protect her from robbery!

I’m guessing that she is worried about paying taxes but the amount of taxes would be inconsequential compared to losing the entire $3000!

Do you have friends who are off the financial grid? What do they do to protect their money?

You may want to peruse this list if you are looking for some ideas and general market themes. Some of these are pretty interesting! Here are the top 10:

1. Van Eck India Small-Cap Index (SCIF) 30.13%

The booming Indian economy has begun to attract assets. This ETF is made up of over 120 individual holdings. Take a look and maybe invest on a pull back.

2. Global X Uranium (URA) 26.86%

Interesting results- a little too concentrated for me but I’m surprised at how well these bad boys have done.

3. VelocityShares Daily Inverse VIX Short-Term (XIV) 26.42%

The end of the year turned out to do well for this ETF. Keep your eye on this during these volatile markets.

4. Guggenheim Solar (TAN) 18.63

This is a surprise to me! There are 35 companies in this ETF but does it have the strength to hold up during the year.

5. Van Eck Egypt Index (EGPT) 18.53%

How about these results-for Egypt!! This ETF consists of 30 stocks. Very speculative but good to see this economy is coming back.

6. UBS E-Tracs ISE Solid State Drive Index (SSDD) 18.15%

This ETF worked well with with all the bullish sentiment sweeping over Wall Street! The intent of this ETF is to round out investors exposure to technology by investing in the booming solid state drive market.

7. Barclays iPath Dow Jones-UBS Tin Total Return Sub-Index (JJT) 17.2%

Who would of thought-Tin is ahead of Copper and Aluminum prices!This is ja small ETF and very concentrated but it may make sense for a portion of your portfolio.

8. UBS E-Tracs Long Platinum (PTM) 17.0%

Platinum has been one of the leaders for precious metals over concerns of inflation and increasing industrial demand. Very concentrated fund so watch carefully if you go all in!

9. EG Shares Industrial GEMS (IGEM) 16.89%

This fund tracks the 30 largest emerging market companies in the industrials sector and features heavy allocations to China, Indonesia, Sough Africa, Malaysia and Mexico-nice emerging growth coverage.

10. First Trust BICK Index Fund (BICK) 16.23%

This fund bets that emerging markets are still steaming with action. Depending on what happens In Europe, this ETF could continue to produce decent results.

Well, there you have it. Hopefully this will give you some food for thought for your portfolio. Have you used ETF’s? Let me know if you have used any of these to help you in your investments.

According to Greg McBride, a senior financial analyst at Bankrate.com :

Those efforts may be futile because once consumers have FICO credit scores of 760, a higher one doesn’t mean they’ll get better interest rates on mortgages and credit card offers.

There’s very little incremental benefit to getting a score above that. It’s a lot more difficult to move the score up in any noticeable way, and little reward.

Consumers with scores from 750 to 800 who want higher numbers should continue what theyre doing, just for a longer period of time, said FICO’s Paperno. That means continuing to pay bills on time, keeping a low amount of debt relative to available credit and not opening accounts unless needed, he said.

It seems to me that many companies are capitalizing on the ignorance and fear around credit scores; to make a lot of money….

Flexo has a good post called Increase Your Credit Score  for those seeking more advice.

You can read the entire article on Credit Score Zealots here.

Do you know associates who have become fixated on their credit score?

What happened between the two is irrelevant and I’m glad he chose not to elaborate. I like how things are going so far. He states:

Kris and I are working together to build the best possible relationship going forward. We want to remain close friends.

Kudos to both of them for choosing this path! 

He chose to rent a small apartment that has great access to things important to him. I think this is a great idea. While he sorts things out he doesn’t have to worry about home ownership and all the things that go with it. A small apartment worked well for me-it wasn’t as lonely and I felt that I was more in control vs having 1800 square feet to worry about.

Fear of the Future-ah yes, we all experience that after a divorce. One of his top priorities is health insurance. Like me, he was on this wife’s policy and hopefully he has not pre-existing conditions that would make his premium skyrocket. He’s lucky because his wife told him:

We are not getting a divorce until you can prove to me that you have health insurance.

Seriously, good for her!! This divorce has the potential to cause some serious financial disasters but fortunately, JD is well versed in the money world and hopefully will make great choices. I can’t say that I did when the divorce hit. I was proud, deeply saddened and made some terrible financial decisions. If I had to do it again I would absolutely do the following:

• Consult with a psychologist to talk through the issues
• Read books on the subject matter
• Discuss those with others who may have insights

Come to find out, talking to the bartender at the strip club doesn’t circumvent the need to get professional advice!

JD, I wish you the best and know you will make good decisions and it’s true….time does heal everything!

Some 63% of data scientist say the profession is going to be undermanned for the foreseeable future-and half of those see it as a serious shortage. In particular, the explosive growth of sensors-the so called “physical Internet”-will provide organizations with an unprecedented wealth of data.

So, where’s the opportunity? Only 1/3 respondents in the study were very condident in their company’s ability to make business decions based on new data.

Data is the new oil, according to Andreas Weigend, Head of the Social Data Lab at Stanford.

You can read the complete story on Data Scientist here.

There are many remedies and basic things we all can do to increase deeper sleep and I was intrigued when I saw this article about the Renew SleepClock by Gear4. It was recently unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.  The clock does not require the user to wear anything special. instead the device features a sensor on the front that monitors periods of light and deep sleep based on breathing and body movements. Did I mention that it hooks up to the iPhone, iPad and iPod, of course!!

The device keeps a record of sleep patterns, organizing them by days, weeks or months. Users can view how many hours they spent in light sleep or deep sleep to determine how well they’re snoozing. The SleepClock makes its debut this March for $199.95.

I can’t wait for reviews on this product-hopefully it will help folks get better sleep at night!

We’re all a little weird and life’s a little weird, and when we find some one who’s weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love.

Alex Gery quotes Dr. Suess

PS We just hope that their financial goals are compatible with ours