I bought some stocks

So, I looked at the potential stock purchases, how much money I had to invest, and which stocks showed a recent at least 5% gain. I ended up buying apple and china mobile. And, over only a few days I've got a 2.34% increase.

APPLE                                 - AAPL:US +2.84%
CHINA MOBILE SPONSORED ADR RPS - CHL:US  +1.46%

Total investments  -  +2.34%

I'm pretty satisfied, so far.

stocks my friend recommended

 The stocks my friend recommended have done quite well.


name / symbol                                                                start price  today's price   increase
China Mobile Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE:CHL)                       $ 44.90           53.01         18  %
PetroChina Company Limited (ADR) (NYSE:PTR)     $ 98.19         131.22         33  % 
Dow Jones Shanghai Index (INDEXDJX:DJSH)        $263.83        270.94           2.7%
 
The average increase is 17.9%, but over less than three months.
 Maybe I should pay more attention to him. I am really considering buying some of these.

My friend currently recommends apple.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) $95.68 +0.36 (0.38%) today's price [20140716]

So, I've got three stocks and an index to think about.

Stopped out

Well, I'm stopped out of both Goldcorp and Barrick gold. Sold at $29.15 for Goldcorp and $19.71 for Barrick gold. Sell on stop seems to work.

Now, what to do with this cash. Should I continue to watch Goldcorp and Barrick, since I know their current range, or move on to other things. Hmmm.

Goldcorp dropped

Goldcorp dropped a bit today, so, for the first time I actually did what I should be doing. I put in a sell on stop order at 29.15 for Goldcorp and a sell on stop order at $19.71 for Barrick gold.

I just hope I understand 'sell on stop' orders correctly.

If triggered I'll lock in a gain of about 14% on Goldcorp and about 7% on Barrick. That is not too shabby, but I've owned each for about two years, so realistically, that would be 7% a year on Goldcorp and 3.5% a year on Barrick.

Goldcorp moves higher

I haven't posted anything for several months because I haven't had any extra money for investing. I am not big on touting investments.

 

I subscribe to a Motley fool investment newsletter and a related Insider Wealth newsletter. Every single day they have a great investment, have seen a great unrecognized trend, and or can get you 1,000 to 10,000 percent returns. It is so much crap, so often, trying so hard, to sell you so much that not only is it useless but down right annoying. 

 

Not much happens in this blog, but that is the way of investing. It is like growing a garden. Yes, you need, to watch it, to weed it, to tend it. But don't expect huge returns overnight and don't jump from stock to stock to stock. Now, having said that, I probably don't tend my investments enough.

 

 

 I've been more or less stuck in Goldcorp, but all that is changing., Today Goldcorp [G:TSE]] hit a day high of 30.65 and closed at 30.52, up +0.78 (2.62%). Things are looking up. 

 

Now, it is up to me to watch it and bail if it drops more than 5%. So, today, the exit price is 29.15.

I'm not sure if I mentioned it, but mid February I paid off my mortgage. A twenty-five year mortgage paid off in less than nine years.

I was telling a friend and he said "Wow! You should do an e-book on how you did it."

The steps are really quite simple, but the process is difficult.

First, get the best interest rate possible.
Second, make bi monthly payments.
Third, make lump sum payments as early on as you can.
fourth, put as much as you can towards your mortgage as often as you can.
Fifth, for God's sake, don't miss or skip a payment..

And, thats pretty much it.

Maybe I can expand that into an e-book; a small one.

A friend of mine invested in China Mobile, PetroChina, and I think he said the Shanghai index. They are all stocks that "should" do well, but unfortunately he bought before the recent downturn. So, the way I see it is, his thesis is correct, but his timing is wrong. Of all of them He recommended buying China mobile now.

These stocks are;
China Mobile Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE:CHL)                     $44.90
PetroChina Company Limited (ADR) (NYSE:PTR)     $98.19
Dow Jones Shanghai Index (INDEXDJX:DJSH)        $263.83

Looking at these and just applying my +5% rule [to avoid getting stuck with wrong timing] these are my thoughts;

The most recent low of China Mobile was $44.75 so, with no lower low, we shouldn't buy in till $46.99.

The most recent low of PetroChina was feb 3rd at $94.75  so, we shouldn't buy in till $99.48. But on march 4th it hit $104.99 and has trended down since till today's low of $97.40. So, if there is no lower low, and we see the trend change to up, $99.48 would still be a good purchase target price.

The most recent low of the Shanghai index was $260.93, so, again, with no lower low, our target buy price should be $273.97.

This gives me some time to gather more money.