BellaOnline Forums Money Investing Fantasy Stock Market Investing

I'm currently on Wall Street Survivor. I haven't been playing as much as I would like to. Too much other work to do.

I don't feel I have picked the best stocks. The courses portfolio was mostly from the few stocks that were available as part of the course. Which is really good for a new beginner. I want to do more research into the stocks though.

As for the practice portfolio, I just picked three well-known stocks. Not really the right way to start a portfolio. I want to design a portfolio of dividend-paying stocks. I would also love to create a portfolio of Made in the USA stocks to test this investing idea.

I would love to have a game to test the bonds. Haven't found it yet. One thing you could do was to create a portfolio of Treasuries through TreasuryDirect.gov and test how they do. The minimum to invest in each bond is $100. I am invested with TreasuryDirect and they do a great job. No costs!

If you don't want to buy any, you can find the historical auction results on TreasuryDirect and then track a bunch of those bonds. Also, look at investinginbonds.com. They have a calculator to track bond performances.

It is great the way you think in making your money appreciate. One caveat, it is a good idea to have a little in cash as a ballast. Normally, (how long has it been since things were normal?) cash would pay some money. Also, watch out for rising interest rates and inflation. That can negatively affect bonds. One thing though: as rates rise, the yield on bonds will rise too. So for now, short-term bonds may be advisable. That is if you can believe that the Fed will stop buying bonds and interest rates will rise.

When school cools down I'll have to hop over there too, then. I finally deleted SmartStocks from my bookmarks toolbar.

I went with three stocks from companies I knew and didn't mind. Is there a difference in the real stock market, where investing money causes the company to change? Rephrasing: Is the stock market entirely passive or is it dynamic with investment? I imagine that's not something some of these games could simulate well if it's active with investment, unless they went with their own stock market.

Nice! I'll have to remember those.

My wife is really, really big on having cash as a ballast/asset. If she had her way we'd probably invest as little as possible in bonds. I'd rather invest more so our funds aren't simply soaked up by inflation.

The book I had last term talked only briefly about the investment market. Specifically, it mentioned a little about the market for treasury notes, bills and (forgot the word already). Is it true that the price will change in the market but the percent yield at maturity remains static?

I'm not sure I fully understand your first question. I would consider the stock market active. But I think the games do a good job of representing this because they use price quotes that are very near to or are very up-to-date. Could you rephrase this question so I understand better.

I understand your wife's position. I like to have my money safe, too. However, it is so important to fight inflation. If she wants to stay in cash, maybe as interest rates rise, she can go with a ladder of cds. Or a ladder of bonds. Then some is short but you are fighting inflation and getting higher rates.

Bonds will have the same percent yield if you hold them to maturity. If you sell early, you will be affect by the price change. So you may get more or less. By the way, I forgot to add that TreasuryDirect has no costs unless you sell you treasuries before maturity. Then they charge a commission for selling.

My apologies for a poorly worded question. Does stock value fluctuate based on who invests, or is it purely as a result of business transactions? If I was to make a huge investment in Small Company Z, would their stock price reflect my actions at all?

Today in small business finance class I got to explain the inflation-fighting purposes of bonds a lady just started a small business and didn't understand why anyone would desire bonds.

Got it. Thank you for being patient with my questions I'm very grateful. Investing is a big thing and I understand little of it; Especially with my major (entrepreneurship) it's going to be a big part of my life in not a lot of time.

I understand now, Leif. Stock value will definitely fluctuate as people invest. Large investment firms can move the price of stocks when they have to adjust their portfolios. Small investors don't really move the price because their investments are so small. But if you purchased a huge investment, you would definitely move the stock's value.

I'm very glad that you could use what I explained in class.

I am happy to answer any questions. It is a pleasure to discuss investing with someone interested. I think investing is an important skill to learn and willingness to learn it is an important key.

Interesting!

me too.

I believe investing is an important skill to learn as well. Even if not from a business or personal aspect, there's still layers going on that are useful to understand. Without my brush with economics and investing, I wouldn't know as much about the '07 or '08 recession and it's causes.

My Wall Street Survivor portfolios are still doing less than good. My courses portfolio is in the red. My practice portfolio is about where it originally began.

Courses contains stock in the following companies: Chipolte Mexican Grill, Consolidated Communications, Walt Disney Company, Citigroup, Apple, Amazon, Bank of America, Proctor & Gamble, and Kellogg.

Practice contains: McDonald's, GE, and Apple.

I think I'll make some changes to it soon.

How is your portfolio doing?

My courses portfolio has five stocks that have made a profit and four that are in the red.

Practice portfolio has one profitable stock - McDonald's. GE and Apple are in the red.

I admit I have not changed anything. Part of this is because I want to see how buy and hold works. The other part is pure procrastination. Lol

My portfolio has stayed about the same. I really have to go back to it and start purchasing stocks of dividend paying companies.

Is anyone playing the stock market games? Do you play regularly or only on occasion? How do you think you are doing? Does it help you learn more about investing?