Microsoft and Money

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POT  current price 225.25          Trends

 

I am married to an absolutely wonderful woman.  She and I have been together for just over 15 years.  She is so much a part of me that when we're not together I just don't feel complete.  She teases me on a regular basis about the fact that the lives of men revolve around three things.  Money.  Sex.  Violence.  Now whether that's true or not remains to be seen.

I enjoy making money.  I hate losing money.  There is something so good about watching an investment appreciate when the rest of the economy is going south fast.  My family and friends have asked "So how do you do it?"  In answer to their question and possibly to yours I decided to write it in a blog post.

1. I listen to the experts.  I know what I don't know.  And I don't know everything about the stock market.  So I listen to some proven experts.  I really enjoy Jim Jubak's column on MSN money. I also watch www.Zacks.com Industry rank analysis highlights.

2.  When I see opportunities I act.

That's it.  Only two rules.  Let me give you a current example.

Back in the first week of April Jim Jubak published a column entitled "Food-crunch "fix" wont work" in which he pointed to a fertilizer manufacturer called Potash of Saskatchewan (POT) and made this comment.

"Investors can count on an additional decade of good times..."

I had been watching Zacks.com and had noticed that Potash of Saskatchewan had made their list too.

Armed with those two pieces of information I went to my online broker did a quick search to find the stock ticker symbol for Potash of Saskatchewan (POT).  I looked at the industry analyst recommendations.  All of them were at buy or strong buy status.  So I bought the stock.  I paid $160 a share during the first week of April 2008 and today the price is at $225 a share.   

You can watch the companies expectations here. 

I get so excited about technology and business that I cannot adequately describe it.  Money and technology seem to go hand in hand, like peanut butter and jelly.  It hasn't always been so in fact as a college student when the Internet was young, and the World Wide Web as we know it really didn't exist, the acquisition of wealth seemed to be reserved for those were part of an elite club.  A club that had access to cloistered information and processes that allowed them insights into financial transactions.  Those days are gone.  Today it's easy to get access to highly detailed information about companies, insurance, stock, bonds, commodities, futures, savings plans, mortgages, and just about any other financial instrument that you can conceive of.  The best thing about this is that all of this information is free.  MSN Money is the premier location on the Internet to get good quality information about financial matters. And what's even better, you don't have to have a degree in finance or accounting or even business for that matter to be able to take control of your financial future.