Monday, June 13, 2005

Happiness and other things

I've been thinking a lot about happiness lately and it's leading to the conclusion that I cannot settle for a job I really don't want. The way I see it is that I'm living at home, but I'm also a young guy with two degrees, high grades, good experience, and patience. Alright maybe not too much patience, but I have those other things.
One of the few fears I have is this: ending up in a 9 to 5 job that I really don't want. I've seen numerous people who are in these situations. They end up with a job they really don't want to pay the bills and then come home and complain about their work. I know some people are stuck in these situations because of their circumstances, and I also know that I'm not going to be one of these people.

Other News

I need to get back to reading more articles online. Also, awhile ago someone from the Wall Street Journal contacted me about free online articles. They are targeting bloggers and if I get any relevant articles I will post them.

Market News: the major indices finished up (barely) with the Naz leading the way. I didn't see too many major headlines, but I did notice Purcell (CEO of Morgan Stanley) is "retiring". Many people wanted him out, and they get their wish.

My portfolio had a relatively strong day. News came out stating that LB will be added to three Russell indices and this sent the stock up 3.54%. It did hit +5% during the day, but settled down towards the end of trading. NTE and FRX also had good days with both finishing up north of 1.3%.

Today I spent a few hours at the library finishing off the Econ book for the CFA. I also started McMillan's book "Options as a Strategic Investment". This is not part of the CFA, but I want to continue my education in options. I've read one of his other books (McMillan on Options), but the one I just started is 10x better. I enjoyed the other book, but this one goes into much more detail. If you're interested in options, I recommend this book (also Natenberg's "Option Volatility"). Back to the Econ book: it was well written and I've covered 99% of the topics in my previous classes (that's a plus).
The next book is Fundamentals of Financial Management by Brigham. I've actually used an earlier addition of this book for a class, so I should be familiar with the material. Plus I only need to read one chapter out of this one. I think I've mentioned it, but for the Level 1 test I don't have to read the entire books. So when I said I finished the econ book it was only 12 chapters (I started earlier, not just today).

Small News

I'm meeting with another recruiter tomorrow, but this one actually has jobs I want. I've applied to a few of the jobs listed so far, but no results. Finally today they called to meet. I'm pretty excited about this one.

I'll update my net worth/financial goal probably tomorrow: I reached my goal, but a week late. More on that later.

I might go to Vegas at the end of July.