Friday, July 11, 2014

Check out the new truck Shirt!

http://www.cafepress.com/thewallstockjournal/s_all_gifts

11 Thing I learned in ACC 255


  • I learned how to create a website/blog of my own
  • I learned how to market a website
  • I learned how to make money from a website
  • I learned that I can write and teach about the topics I am educated at
  • I learned that there is a lot more to a website that meets the eye at first
  • I learned that a website is time consuming to create
  • I learned that the stock market is in need of legitimate teachers
  • I learned that making a website can be fun to make and very stressful when it is not going your way
  • I learned that I actual like to blog
  • I learned that I have more stock information that I have learned that I first thought
  • I learned that I have become a decent writer in my college days
  • I learned that ACC 255 is alot of work

The Federal Reserve Links

The Federal Reserve

The Federal Reserve is the very complex system that the U.S. has implemented to help stabilize our economy.  I have wrote a very good article about The Federal Reserve make sure that you check that out.  I have found some other articles for you to continue your reading and education about The Fed.  I hope that my article did a great job describing The Fed but it never hurts to read multiple articles so that you can get the full spectrum for different authors.
These articles are from CNBC and slate go over a lot of good information of what The federal Reserve dose. 

The main topics of the articles are:

What is the Federal Reserve?
What does the Federal Reserve System do?
When was the Federal Reserve Created and Why?
What is Monetary Policy?
What is the FOMC?
Where does the Fed get money?
How does the Fed affect U.S. citizens?
How has the Fed changed over the years?


These two articles have a similar feeling to the one that I posted but I hope you can get some more information from it.


This article on the learn bonds site goes into depth of how the fed can affect interest rates and how they do.  I suggest checking this one because it hits some good points on interest rates that I didn’t in my article. 



The last article that I have to supplement my post is from the Investopedia.  The article talks about money supply and how the Fed manages it.  Definitely a good read on top of my article



Today's Readings (7/11/14)

Today’s Readings  (7/11/14)


Today’s Readings are very good as the market is still high and people don’t know when this bull market run will end.  When the market gets this high the fear of a crash also dose as history has shown its self many times but no one is certain when this could happen.  Read the articles and make an assumption for yourself.

This article touches on the skepticism within the market.  Today’s stock prices seem to be very high along with the unpredictable economy it has many scratching their heads wondering why the prices have been soaring for so long.  The author continues to look at some valuation ratios and states many investors have been ignoring warning signs the market has been giving us. 




This article lists some stocks in the Dow that performed good and kept it from loosing points today as the European banking system announcement started off the day poorly.  It’s always good to see some momentum come from bad news and not let it bog down our overall market.




The third article will go into some more depth about the scare that they are having in Europe that affected our stock market yesterday and the early morning of trading.  Even if it is in Europe it will still affect the stock market so don’t over look anything that will affect a stock you might be trading in.




I hope that these article help you and you enjoy them any questions or comments just post below and I will respond promptly to them.  I hope that you are doing your homework and will continue to educate yourself because trading stocks is something that you can do for the rest of your life.




Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Daily Readings 7/8/14


Daily Readings 7/8/14:

Here are some of the articles I have read this morning and I wanted to pass them on to you.  Comment below on how you feel about the articles I am always open for discussions.  I am going to start to post lists of what I have read and pass it along to you so that you don’t have to do all of the research yourself.

Checkout the link of the first article right here:Say hello to U.S. economy's newest bubble

This first article is from Market Watch.  The article is titled “Say hello to U.S. economy’s newest bubble”.  The author states that the Dow is a whopping 155% above its low back in March 2009.  He believes that the economy hasn't grown near that much nor has corporate profits.

The author also shows his concerns for the market as this bull market has managed to avoid a correction for 33 months far longer than average.  The author supports the bull market by stating that the stock market has continued its run by the lack of alternatives to low-interest bonds and bills.




The second article for reading today is called “Dow 17,000 is on the wrong side of history” also on Market Watch.

Checkout the link for the second article right here:Dow 17,000 is on the wrong side of history

The author states that the bull market isn’t directly with recent economic growth but is being driven higher by wealth traders who have unknowingly driven the market higher.  The Fed has helped drive the market higher by flooding the economy with money as the fed balance sheet has quadrupled to $4.3 trillion since 2008.

The author finishes the article by comparing this bull market with other bull markets in history.


You might notice that the trend for articles today is that some people might be skeptical if we are nearing the end of the bull market.  The fed might increase interest rates and slow the buying are both trends of the article so this is definitely an important topic to understand and do research on.  I would strongly encourage you to read these articles and make assumptions for yourself.





The Dow Falls Bellow 17,000 Today

Stock are Taking a Hit Today

The Stock market today has taken a dip today as the Dow has retrieved under the 17,000 that it just surpassed a few trading days ago.  Investors are becoming cautious as the second quarter earnings season is under way.  Investors are also keeping a close eye on the Fed.  The Fed is planning on slowing the bond purchasing plan as the economy has seen slow but steady growth over the last few months.  The Fed appears to be thinking about rising interest rates on the economic growth data.  Experts think that when the interest rates go up the stock market will soon slow and go down soon after. 

Check the links out it describes what is going on in the markets today (7/8/14):



I hope that the links from USA Today and Yahoo Finance help understand the market slips today.  It is key for an trader to understand the moves and learn from them so that you can predict and anticipate them in the future.

With the markets at such highs many investors have already been weary if they can sustain themselves much longer.  This makes me think that people will be watching the markets very closely whenever the market has down days and the Dow has triple digit losses as it has today.  The sell-off of stocks could come very fast if losses continue.  People have seen that stock can take a plunge very quickly and they would rather not take a risk with losing value in their investments.  Investors should keep a close eye on the market as it appears that vitality is high.

The next few weeks should be interesting as some of the earnings come out but let’s hope that the earnings are good and we can continue this bull market for longer so we can all enjoy profits from it.


Friday, July 4, 2014

New Products That Are Must Have

Check out the new products that we have available.  You will love them as the product variety is overwhelming.  Our logo is simple but it says a thousand words and your friends/family will be asking you what The Wall Stock Journal is.  Check it out here is the link!

You will love the T-Shirts, Coffee Mugs, Shot Glasses, and Hoodies plus much more….





Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Happy Fourth of July!

The Fourth of July is on Friday and the stock market will be closed to observe the national holiday.  The stock market this week has been very hot and many stocks saw substantial gains and let’s hope this continues to the end of Thursday.

The last month the stock market has been boring and gains have been flat but it seems that this week it has started back on track for a steady growth but we shall see if it continues over the next few weeks. Within this bull market don’t get over confident make sure that you still cut your losses quick and take your profits when acceptable.

People have been skeptical that the stock market can sustain the pace that it has over the last 3 years and believe that a re-correction or crash is imminent.  I believe that the economy recovery is steady the government/fed is attempting to keep the economy boosted.  Until the government to get caught up with all of the QE they have been doing this bull market should sustain itself.  Everyone should be careful in investing and watch for things that could affect your stock/ the stock market in general.  I hope that my blog has hopefully helped you learn these things.

The fundamentals are still always key to your trading successes and don’t veer too far away from them unless you are cretin about your position/the direction the stock is about to go.  Let me know if you have any questions or topics that you would like me to cover.

Everyone have a happy and safe Independence Day!

Click Here!

Saving is Difficult

I have realized that people have very hart time saving money.  The people I have met at my jobs and friends I have outside of work I like to get to know them financially.  I will have the financial talk with them ask them how much they are saving per pay check, what they contribute to their 401k, and I make them aware of the Employee Stock Purchase Plan that our work offers.  What I have notice from the three years that I have worked there is that the majority of people don’t save much money.

Money should be saved for emergencies, vacations, investments, and whatever else an individual might want.  I will make my co-workers aware if our conversation goes that direction as they just might not know of what benefits that our employer offers. 

I would like to take my time to go over a way that I have found to work for me for saving some money:

I have found that linking all of my accounts has been a wonderful way for me to control my funds.  I link my checking with my savings, then my checking to my stock trading account.  Whenever my paycheck get directly deposited into my checking I will automatically have it take out a designated amount that goes to my savings and trading account.  Once the funds are out of my checking I attempt to forget about it so that I don’t think about putting it back into my checking where I spend it.

Utilize other budget technologies that are available.  There are many online tools that banks and other sites offer.  These tools can track what you are spending your money on and you can take a look back on your spending and see what you can cutout to start saving instead.

The benefits that your employer offers can be a good idea to look into.  Employers will match up to 10% of what you put into your 401k per paycheck.  The match is much like free money, but you won’t see it until you are older but you will definitely need that money saved for retirement.

The other benefit that employers might offer is an employee stock purchase plan.  Employee Stock Purchase Plan the individual can take out a designated amount to take out of the paychecks and usually after 6 months of that account accumulating money they will purchase stock of your company at a discount for you.  With the discount you are already making money even if you decide to sell the stock immediately or you can hang on to them to hope to see growth in the account.

 Saving can be difficult and it takes a lot of discipline for someone be able to cut back on something and start saving for the future.  Money should be saved as people don’t know when an emergency might arise and that extra cash could be very important.

Check out these links below for saving tips:

23 Beginner Savings Tips
30 Tips for College Students
Saving for Single Parents

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Dow Jones Hitting Record...But How Good is the Economy Honestly

The stock market has just hit record highs as of Tuesday and appears that it will continue to hit highs as the Dow Jones Industrial has set 23 record high closings this year alone.  The Dow Jones is nearing 17,000 is mind boggling for many people as some might not see the economy the way that the Dow is reflecting it.  The Dow Jones bottomed near 6,500 near the worst of the 2007 recession.

It wasn't long ago a huge market crash sent the stock market into a downward spiral that devastated almost everyone in the United States and almost everyone in the world was affected.  Housing prices were declining thus owners defaulting on mortgages intern foreclosure numbers skyrocketing.  Not only where people being affected by their home values declining rapidly but they were getting affected by the decline in the stock market. 

Not everyone owns stocks outright it can depend on wealth and investment knowledge of the individual some may prefer to keep their money in a safe spot that is liquid and not having to worry about loss of value.  Instead of people owning stock nearly every individual has a retirement fund, IRA, and a 401K.  During the 2007 recession people watched the values of their hard earned retirement go down the drain sometimes loosing 65% of what they once had.  Watching this happen in front of their eyes people nearing retirement where devastated. 


Thankfully for us we have endured what has been seen as the worse of the great recession and we can hope that the economy keeps turning.  Jobs have started to come back to the US slowly and I can hope that they can continue to come quickly so that when I graduate in May 2014 I will not have to be unemployed or under employed.

Friday, June 27, 2014

Wall Street Scam

I would like to invite everyone to checkout my page that talks about a stock market scam that has been has been around for some time but not many beginners know about it so I hope you check it out so that you don’t fall trap to the stock market scam and lose money.  It could be anyone that is doing this from wealth individual to 13 year old history has shown us that both are very capable of pulling this stock market scam off.  I hope my page is very informative to you.

Here is a quick summary of what the page is about but please head to the page and read a little but more it the promoted stock scam that happens more often than one might think.

Here is the link:  Promoted Stocks (A Big Problem)

The scam is the promoted stock or some call it the pump and dump.  Traders and investors have lost a lot of money while the people behind it are making millions in some cases.  The SEC has a difficult time tracking and regulating these scams so the often get away with them for a very long time until justice gets served.

Take the time and read the page so you can be educated and you can educate your families/friends that are also beginning in the stock market.


I want to thank everyone for coming to The Wall Stock Journal I hope that you are learning from what I have posed and as always comment or email me so we can be in contact an start the community of traders.


Click Here!

Weekend Studies (Sneeze Page)

It is Friday and the stock markets, work week, and schools are coming to a close for the weekend.  This might be a perfect opportunity for you to do some studying and research in the stock market and review some of the pages that I have posted for you to checkout.

The links will redirect you to my older post some from this week and some previously.  I hope that you can get some of the information that you have been looking for and learned a bit along the way.  I have learned a lot since I have started this blog and I will continue to pass on the knowledge and insight that I have.

Below I have grouped my posts into like ones

The Stuff You Need to Know:



Stock Market tips:



Stock Research:



I hope you have enjoyed my blog so far and I will continue to post and continue on our journey to teaching you so you will know the ins and outs of the stock market.  I want everyone to be able to make money.

Next week we will keep build on what I have posted and I am hoping to add some more technical post in the very near future. 

Email me or comment on a link so I can keep a contact with my readers.

Have a safe weekend,
                The Wall Stock Journal



Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Tips For Investing In Stocks (Check out the link)

The stock market can be a very dangerous place to put your money if you don’t know what you are doing so I am going to continue supplement my information with that of others for the beginning traders because I know a lot of people who have fallen into many of the traps and have started trading before they were ready. 

I have found a post that gives some insight and more information. 

Click on link below to view:


I encourage everyone to check out this link.  I agree with the most of what this author is stating.  I can’t give you enough tips for investing. 

The author clearly lays out many mistakes that many people make such as

 Number 7: “You can’t tell how expensive a sock is by looking only at its price.”  There is a misconception that the price of the stock reflects how well the company is doing.  This is false the stock price isn’t used to compare stocks there are other factors such as how many share are outstanding.  (Example:  Apple vs Google)  Apple just did a stock split as did Google.  Apple stock did a 7 to 1 split taking the stock from $600’s to the 90’s.  Google’s stock split was more complex as they added a new stock with a different dividend payout but the stock went from 1000’s to $500’s on a 2 to 1 split.  The shares of stock that you are holding would just multiply accordingly.

Number 10:  “It’s smarter to buy and hold good stocks than to engage in rapid-fire trading” A trader has trouble judging the market or the move of a stock on a day to day basis.  I would suggest that you purchase stock from healthy companies and hold them for a longer period of time. 

Check out the link and let me know if you have any questions and want me to elaborate on any of them for you.


The Wall Stock Journal

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

TD Ameritrade and ShareBuilder Reviews

In my two years of trading stock I have used two trading web-site.  I have used ShareBuilder and TD Ameritrade.  In this blog I will break down why I like these platforms for my trading.


ShareBuilder offers a very easy to use site that is straight forward.  This user friendly site makes even the least tech savvy person look like they know what they are doing.  I would recommend this site for starting off and small account individuals.  The transaction fee on ShareBuilder for a trade is $6.99 with no monthly fees.

The thing I like the best about Share builder is that I can transfer funds to my account very easily.  It links my bank account and my ShareBuilder account so funding my account is about as simple as it gets.  If I need to take money out of my account is just as simple.  ShareBuilder has a good mobile application that you can use that is also very easy.

The research on ShareBuilder is just alright it’s easy to navigate but they don’t offer a lot of extra insight on the stocks.  ShareBuilder could improve that aspect of their sit but other than that I don’t have any complaints.


TD Ameritrade to me seems to be one of the best trading web-sites available at this time.  TD Ameritrade has a good website with lots of research tools offered.  Funding your account is fairly simple.  The transaction fee is $9.99 per trade with no monthly fee. 

My favorite feature is the trading platform that they have to offer.  It is called Think or Swim, you down load it to your computer similar to a program and it has so many tools that you can use to optimize your trading experience. 


TD Ameritrade offers a play money option on the Think or Swim platform.  This is a great tool for beginner traders and also someone attempting to figure out the Think or Swim platform as it can be intimidating at first.

60 Stock Tips For Investors

I was doing some research on some more materials to bring to my readers.  I came across this great blog post that I think you will enjoy.  I personally took away some good tips from this post that I will use for my trading.

Click on the link below to be directed to the post.


The author has many good tips for beginning traders and even experienced ones.  I wish I would have seen this when I was just a beginning trader as I learned the hard way and made some of these mistakes that the author was listing.  My trading has made me money but as I learn/gain experience I look back and know that I could have avoided some mistakes.  I hope that I can teach you to avoid those beginner mistakes.

You might be thinking that these tips are just too simple and everyone should know these but it can be very difficult when you are in the middle of a trade and are not sure what to do so the fundamentals will be the key when it comes to your decision making.  Even an experienced trader needs to refresh up on the fundamentals some times.


I hope you can take these tips and learn from them!  I will keep this link up so you can keep referring back to this list if you need to as it has so many good tip I can’t stress it enough for you to read this carefully.

Monday, June 23, 2014

Seeking Alpha a Very Useful Source

Seeking Alpha is a very popular blog site that has many contributors that have many years of experience in the stock market.  Seeking Alpha has been a good web site to checkout it gives a little insight and it seems that the individuals who are commenting on the posts have some knowledge about the stock market as well.  I have learned a lot from reading through Seeking Alpha and learning from what others options about a stock are. 

One of the most useful tools I have found on Seeking Alpha is that you can create a log-in name, input what stocks you are interested in and you will automatically be on the email list whenever news or a new article comes out about that stock.  I have found this useful as when I am at work and just have time to check my email real quick I can see what is going on with some of the stocks that I have been watching.

Last night I was doing some stock research looking for the next big breakout stock.  When I found one that looked like it had potential I would type the stock symbol into Seeking Alpha and it would pull up some articles that have been posted.  I then would read through them to gain any insight about that stock that I could before committing to it.  This is a very useful tool that Seeking Alpha has to offer as you want to know as much as possible before risking your money into it.


The only negative thing I have to say about Seeking Alpha is that they will sometimes have post form one of their contributors that are very biased for or against a stock.  You have to watch for articles for Seeking Alpha and look further into the information that you are reading.  The more sources you can get information from the better.

Comment below if you have any other stock websites that you like to watch or use for research!

Largest Publicly Traded Companies

The beginning trader will not be able to jump right in and be able to pick stocks that are poised to breakout and give a return to the investor.  The skill of picking stocks takes a lot of time researching into the companies that they are going to invest in.

I would suggest that a beginning trader to start with trading stock that are well known companies that will be around for a long time.  Even though the companies are seasoned the stocks will still generate a return that most investors will be happy with. 

Below I have listed the 10 of the largest publicly traded companies:
  • Apple Inc.
  • Exxon Mobil
  • Microsoft
  • Google
  • Berkshire Hathaway
  • General Electric
  • Johnson & Johnson
  • Wal-Mart
  • Hoffmann-La Roche
  • Chevron Corporation
The companies listed above have given investors good returns over a period of time.  These stocks are steady long-term trades many of them offer dividends that will add the return to the investor. 

I have invested in a few of these companies and have seen a decent return over the last 2 years.  The stocks haven’t made me rich overnight but I am satisfied with the steady incline growth I have seen.  These stocks just like any other I would suggest purchasing on a down day or month so you can get the best price. 

Other notable large companies that have proven returns to investors over a long length in time:

  • Coke
  • McDonald's
  • AT&T
  • IBM
  • GE
  • Walt Disney



Friday, June 20, 2014

Getting Started Trading

The beginning:

The first step into the being able to trade stock you need to begin by opining an account.  Many companies now offer accounts that make it easy for you to put money into the accounts and it is just as easy to make a trade.

List of some stock brokerage companies:
TD Ameritrade                                                                         

These seem to be the most reliable companies for trading.  Make sure you look into all of them and see which one fits your needs the best.

The broker sites will make it easy for you to fund your account by linking your bank account with your trading account so you can transfer funds for one to the other as you need the funds accordingly usually will take roughly 24 hours to get the money moved into each account just depends on the broker that you are using.

Once you have money in your account you can start trading stocks!  Most of the brokerage websites are a little different when it comes to purchasing stocks but simple for you to figure out.  The brokerages I have experiences with it just takes a few clicks to make a purchase or sale of a stock.  Lots for research tools are also offered to help you make the best decisions with your investment money.


I hope this helps you getting started with your trading and accomplish the goals you have set for your trading.   Comment below if you have any questions about anything I post.

Welcome!

Hello Viewers!

I want to take the time to welcome everyone to The Wall Stock Journal.  The blogging is getting ready to begin.  I want to let everyone know that I am encouraging contact and communication on this blog.  For the optimization of this blog we all need to communicate to each other through the comment box and email.

I will check the blog and my email on a constant basis so my replies back will be quick so don’t hesitate to contact me for any questions you might have. 

Please join this community and tell your friends who are interested in the stock market to join it also.  We can all profit from this if we unite and make the full efficiency of the tools of this blog. 

The first blog post that I am going to post are going to post some things for the very beginner traders than I am going to keep building on top of that so that anyone can come into The Wall Stock Journal and read through the blog and know step by step what they need to do to begin trading from the comfort of their own home.

Once we have developed the foundation for the beginning traders to get started.  I will keep posting information to keep building the beginner trader.  Resources and links will also be posted to help supplement my blogs information.


Feel free to introduce yourself/ experiences via my contact page or on any of the comments post so I can get a feel for the people who are looking at the blogs and I can change the post to meet the needs/wants of the viewers.

Thursday, June 19, 2014

The Mission

Welcome to The Wall Stock Journal!

 The stock market can be a very intimidating for beginners and even people who have traded stocks for years.  This blog is created to ease the intimidation as we can build a community of people of similar interests in the stock market together.  Talking to others about their opinions/experiences of trading the stock can help each other make more educated decisions. 

Financial markets are very large and impossible for any one person to keep track of all at once.  This community can take pieces of individual interests and share them while they pick up someone else’s knowledge from another area.

During my time following the stock market I noticed it to be very difficult to find reliable information about companies.  Even more difficult it is hard to find honest insight from an experienced professional.  At The Wall Stock Journal we will give you our honest opinion of the area and are attracting professionals to stay active in the posts.

Let’s all come together and collaborate on our opinions about stock, penny stocks, sectors, options, commodities, and any other investing ideas you might have.  The goal is to educate each other in a professional manner and in the end we all can make some money.

Feel free to contact us by email about anything you would like us to make posts/discussions about.  I am willing to answer any questions that an individual has about anything in regards of investing.  I hope the best of luck to everyone.


Happy Trading!

About me

My name is Dave and I would like to welcome everyone to my new blog “The Wall Stock Journal”.  I am a senior at Illinois State University.  I am majoring in finance.  Finance is my passion and helped inspire this blog.  Growing up I was always interested in money and my family taught me about investing along with the importance of saving/budgeting.  Years have passed and along the way I have studied businesses and how they perform, improve, innovate, and grow.  I quickly realized that these things that I do for fun could help me invest money into these companies. 

The last 5 years I have started trading in the stock market and watching the way it moves very closely.  I am far from the trader that I aspire to be but with the busy schedule that work and school has me on I am satisfied with my progress.

The way that I look at life is that it is a learning process and we should drive to learn something new no matter what age we are or walk of life.  I plan to keep learning throughout my life in financial markets and in areas well beyond that.  One day I believe that I can become the trader/investor that I have always dreamed of.  I know that it will not come over night but it will come with some hard work and determination. 

I appreciate everyone for checking out my blog and I hope you enjoy it and you can learn something from me and I can learn something along the way also.