Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Alpha Guy is going back to school

The above title is correct. Didn't I just graduate?? Well I did back in June, but after taking a semester off I'm ready to continue. This time I'm going back to further my education and help my career in the long run. I want to be fully prepared in the next decade and I think a math degree with help me. I'm definitely interested in options/derivatives, but sometimes I feel lost while looking through different models that use advanced calculus. I really don't like that feeling, so I'm going to change it.

I did contemplate trying to teach myself, but I think for this subject a more structured environment will be better. I haven't taken some of these basic courses since high school, so I'll be re-taking a few of those. I figured I could pass the placement tests with a little studying, but I want to have a strong background before I get into the harder courses. I signed up for visual basic programming (it's required) and trig. This will also mean my Mondays and Tuesdays will be incredibly hectic because I'll be busy from 4am to 11pm (I'm saying right now that if I can't make it, I'm not going to force myself- I'll drop the classes).

I made a comment about raising my year end goal and it is due to some changes at work (bonus and raise). My new goal is $60,000!

I still haven't had time to research anything, but here's my list of stocks I'll look into first:
(these are on here for various reasons, so some might seem out of place)
FDP
CAG
GSH (although it's up roughly 15% since I last mentioned it)
TCHC (I shouldv'e bought more, it's up 75% in my IRA)
SFL
SAFM
CQB (I'm glad it went down today, made it cheaper!)
SJM
THS
PPC
HNZ
BMY
VZ
NOK
WDFC
T
DSX
DRYS
PSPT
PMD
ANPI
NGPS
SPC

Some of these companies might not be good at all (SPC may be one of them), but I'm still interested in at least looking into them a bit.

One last thing: there's a new blog for people who are in college or have just graduated (financial advice, etc.) called Ask Uncle Bill

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

hmm must have been a big bonus and/or raise huh? Also unique you are going from finance to math, usually the other way around.

Anonymous said...

Would you be kind enough to write a post about how you analyze stocks? You cud write about where you get the research from, which valuation models you use, which ratios you use etc etc?
Kevin