Ausbury.com

Category: Money

  • Groupon Poupon

    Groupon Poupon

    I was talking with a friend today who was frustrated after trying to use a Groupon right before it expired — and was treated poorly once the business knew he had a Groupon.

    I’ve noticed this as well. We bought a weekend at a bed and breakfast near Atwood Lake, OH. Here’s how the phone call went when we called to set up a reservation:

    “Hello, we’d like to see if there is any availability for the last weekend in October.”

    “Do you have a Groupon?”

    “Yes, in fact we do.”

    “The only availability we have is Thanksgiving weekend.”

    “We can’t come then. Do you have any other availability?”

    “I’m sorry, I can’t talk right now. Can you call back? I’m making pancakes.”

  • My “Pick 5” Stock Experiment, 6+ Years Later

    My “Pick 5” Stock Experiment, 6+ Years Later

    Over six years ago, I decided to choose 5 companies that I liked and buy their stock. I didn’t spend any time researching the companies I chose. I simply chose companies whose product or service I liked!

    Here are the companies I chose:

    Netflix (NFLX)
    Ebay (EBAY)
    Comcast (CMCSA)
    Tivo (TIVO)
    Google (GOOG)

    It’s been fun to watch these 5 stocks in my Ameritrade account especially since I had an interest in them and liked what they offered.

    Of my initial investment, the value of all 5 stocks as of today is double. So overall, in 5 years, the overall gain was 100%. Do you think I bought all huge winners to get a gain like that? Not exactly.

    All 5 company’s stocks have increased since March 2006. Interestingly enough, 4 of them have grown 70-80% and 1 has grown 200%.  You might think it was Google, but it’s not … it’s Netflix.  And there was a time when Netflix was up 800%. Oh well, 200% will have to do.

    Here they are in order of gain percentage:

    Comcast 70%
    Ebay 71%
    Tivo 77%
    Google 78%
    Netflix 200%

    Yes, I bought Facebook … more on that later.

    What are 5 companies you like and would you buy their stock? I say no matter what amount you have to invest, trust your gut and go for it.

  • My “Pick 5” Stock Experiment, 5 Years Later

    My “Pick 5” Stock Experiment, 5 Years Later

    Five years ago today, on March 18, 2006, I decided to choose 5 companies that I liked and buy their stock. I didn’t spend any time researching the companies I chose. I simply chose companies whose product or service I liked!

    I took $10,000 and bought $2,000 of each stock. Here are the companies I chose:

    Netflix (NFLX)
    Ebay (EBAY)
    Comcast (CMCSA)
    Tivo (TIVO)
    Google (GOOG)

    It’s been fun to watch these 5 stocks in my Ameritrade account especially since I had an interest in them and liked what they offered.

    Of my $10,000 investment, the value of all 5 stocks as of today is $27,394. So overall, in 5 years, the overall gain was 174%. Do you think I bought all huge winners to get a gain like that? Not exactly.

    Only 1 of the 5 company’s stocks did not increase since March 2006. That stock was Ebay which is down only 5% so my $2,000 in Ebay stock is now worth $1,903.

    Of the other 4 companies, you might assume that the gains were spread out across them right? It gets a little interesting here. The gains on these other 4 companies range from 9% to 797%! Here they are in order of gain percentage:

    Comcast 9%
    Google 25%
    Tivo 50%
    Netflix 797%

    What are 5 companies you like and would you buy their stock? I say no matter what amount you have to invest, trust your gut and go for it.