NPF Investment Firm

Azisien · 01-15-2010, 10:51 PM

Remember back in high school when your teacher let you make a fake portfolio in the stock market, track it, and see how much money you gained/lost?

Why don't we play it? Because if a monkey can throw darts at a selective of stocks to make a monkey fund and somehow come out consistently on top, why would NPF have any reason to fail?

Okay, really, I am researching some of my choice stocks pretty seriously. But I am curious:

-If you had $10000CAD for a portfolio to invest in the stock market, what stocks or funds would you go for? Would you buy as much Berkeley B as possible and hope Warren Buffett makes you rich? Would you buy as much Activision-Blizzard stock as possible so you could tell your friends you own 0.0000001% of Diablo III itself, along with the souls of the people who made it?

-Alternatively, if you prefer keeping your money inside your mattress along with a 10 gauge shotgun, why's that? And are there other investments you prefer? Real estate, or perhaps mafia!

I can talk a little bit about the stocks I have been monitoring closely:

Canadian
Almost all of our banks (BMO, TD, RBC, etc), they pay good dividends.
Telus: Stays rather steady, great share cost to dividend ratio lately.
EnCana: Canadian Oil FTW
Enbridge: Canadian Gas FTW

US
Google: Expensive, but world domination imminence?
Microsoft: Stays somewhat stable, dividend mediocre. Get punched in the face or gut occasionally for admitting you own part of the company that makes Windows products.
Electronic Arts: Own a part of Bioware!
Activision-Blizzard: Own a part of WoW, Starcraft, or Diablo! And the employee's babies!
Hasbro: Own a part of D&D!

But enough about my thoughts on the market. If you're actually curious about watching a fake portfolio, hop onto Google Finance and as long as you have an account you can start one. Find the stocks you want, do a little bit of arithmetic to find how many shares you'd have, add those shares into the stock watch and Google will watch it for you. If you're buying internationally, make sure to account for exchange rates!

This could actually be a pretty fun game, if people are interested. We could periodically allow buying/selling, or set up rules for "fees" you have to pay when you buy or sell, etc.

Google Finance Tips:
-Search stocks you want, then "Add to Portfolio"
-Once you find the ones you want, "Edit Transactions" while in your Portfolio and do the math to determine how many shares of each you have.
-Go to "Edit Portfolios" and check the box that talks about "Enable Dividend Reporting" - this lets you keep track of dividend payments
-Watch! Or trade. Or plot a terrorist attack at key infrastructure and reap the rewards. I'm sure that's what the elite did with most of em anyway.

INVESTMENT FIRM GAME

Starting Money: $10000 Canadian or $9743 US.
Starting Fees: None, because we used uh...guns...to....hack the stock market.
Buy/Sell after Startup: $10 per transaction (a transaction being the buying/selling of ONE type of stock, in any quantity of shares. So selling my BMO and TD shares would be two transactions).

Other Markets: Technically Google Finance will allow European and Asian markets too, so that's cool! It means you have to mess with weirder exchange rates using your own calculators though....ugh.

Updates

Players could announce when they buy/sell in the thread. And we could announce our new portfolios at the end of every week.

Dividends Count!

If a company you invest in pays out dividends every quarter, then you get that money! Use it to buy new stocks! Perhaps to be fair, there should be a 10-20% tax on it.
If you're using Google Finance, in your transactions/portfolio options you can enable "dividends" to be deposited into a "cash" amount that you can then delete and use. Easier than doing into the company financial statements and doing some basic maths, but either way is good practice.

Ultimate Goal

We can congratulate and award Quarterly Winners and maybe an Annual Winner? Special Names! Tags! Colours! AVATARS! Rep!

AZISIEN'S PORTFOLIO - WEEK OF JAN 15/2010

Total Value: $10000 CAD

BMO: $2500 or 46.68 shares.
TD: $2500 or 39.46 shares.
Telus: $2500 or 74.33 shares.

Electronic Arts: $487.18US or 28.60 shares.
Hasbro: $487.18US or 15.21 shares.
Activision-Blizzard: $1461.54US or 44.73 shares.

And if anyone thinks this is dumb and boring well...ummm...jerk.

Kerensky287 · 01-15-2010, 11:21 PM

I cannot possibly see this ending well.

Azisien · 01-15-2010, 11:24 PM

That's because you don't believe.

Solid Snake · 01-15-2010, 11:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Azisien

Let's play that game, but with MY REAL MONEY!

Y'know I'm all for playing fun games here but the minute anyone's real money is introduced into the equation I just think there's too many possibilities this could end extraordinarily poorly. Like, forum users insulting other forum users, an erosion of basic etiquette, accusations of deliberately causing someone to lose hard-earned cash...there's just too many ways I could envision this going south.

That being said, I guess it's your money? So, uhh, go ahead I suppose? Just, uhh, my two cents on the subject: You might want to rethink this concept.

EDIT: Alternatively if I'm completely wrong about the concept you're proposing and, in fact, we actually have no control whatsoever over "your real money," and contestants are just offering you advice or something? Yeah, I guess that's cool.

Azisien · 01-15-2010, 11:44 PM

Actually I was kidding this game is using fake $10000 over Google Finance.

God.

Edit: I suppose I was not clear on that at all. This isn't even supposed to be just my portfolio, anyone is free to hop on Google Finance and play around. It's actually worthwhile knowledge to have, too. But this would be kind of like a game, I suppose, involving math. So it's a horrible game.

Solid Snake · 01-15-2010, 11:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Azisien

God.

Maybe I'm just moderately-tipsy enough after a typical Friday night to have completely missed the obvious connotations that this was a joke topic (pre-edit), but honestly it seemed like you were being pretty serious and I was just somewhat concerned for the sake of your finances.
I mean I get the impression you're upset with me or frustrated with my inability to take a joke, but really man, I'm just trying to help.

Azisien · 01-15-2010, 11:53 PM

I'm not upset or frustrated really. It's ok. We can hug if it'll make you feel better.

I would think it cool if someone else tried playing the game though. Or the thread can just die. I suppose those are the two options. It's a few minutes of initial setup, but Google Finance will literally run itself. All you have to do after that is check it once a week/month/whatever. However much extra you go is up to you.

BitVyper · 01-15-2010, 11:52 PM

An investment of ten thousand dollars in my wallet yields a dividend of not-getting-stabbed-in-your-fucking-face.

MasterOfMagic · 01-16-2010, 12:34 AM

Mmm, I've been doing this on Updown.com ever since the thread made on it forever ago. I've done absolutely terrible. I haven't managed to lose money, but that's about it.

The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk · 01-16-2010, 07:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MasterOfMagic

Mmm, I've been doing this on Updown.com ever since the thread made on it forever ago. I've done absolutely terrible. I haven't managed to lose money, but that's about it.

I gave up on it about a year ago. I started off doing ok, but then the financial crisis started to become apparant so I cut my losses and ran.

Makes me wonder how, if I could see how bad things were with my complete lack of knowledge on stock markets while playing a game based on the real stock market, why the hell did corporations and banks the world over not see it and do something about it?

Or maybe they did and just didn't care, I dunno.

01-15-2010, 10:51 PM	#1
Azisien wat Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 7,177	NPF Investment Firm Remember back in high school when your teacher let you make a fake portfolio in the stock market, track it, and see how much money you gained/lost? Why don't we play it? Because if a monkey can throw darts at a selective of stocks to make a monkey fund and somehow come out consistently on top, why would NPF have any reason to fail? Okay, really, I am researching some of my choice stocks pretty seriously. But I am curious: -If you had $10000CAD for a portfolio to invest in the stock market, what stocks or funds would you go for? Would you buy as much Berkeley B as possible and hope Warren Buffett makes you rich? Would you buy as much Activision-Blizzard stock as possible so you could tell your friends you own 0.0000001% of Diablo III itself, along with the souls of the people who made it? -Alternatively, if you prefer keeping your money inside your mattress along with a 10 gauge shotgun, why's that? And are there other investments you prefer? Real estate, or perhaps mafia! I can talk a little bit about the stocks I have been monitoring closely: Canadian Almost all of our banks (BMO, TD, RBC, etc), they pay good dividends. Telus: Stays rather steady, great share cost to dividend ratio lately. EnCana: Canadian Oil FTW Enbridge: Canadian Gas FTW US Google: Expensive, but world domination imminence? Microsoft: Stays somewhat stable, dividend mediocre. Get punched in the face or gut occasionally for admitting you own part of the company that makes Windows products. Electronic Arts: Own a part of Bioware! Activision-Blizzard: Own a part of WoW, Starcraft, or Diablo! And the employee's babies! Hasbro: Own a part of D&D! But enough about my thoughts on the market. If you're actually curious about watching a fake portfolio, hop onto Google Finance and as long as you have an account you can start one. Find the stocks you want, do a little bit of arithmetic to find how many shares you'd have, add those shares into the stock watch and Google will watch it for you. If you're buying internationally, make sure to account for exchange rates! This could actually be a pretty fun game, if people are interested. We could periodically allow buying/selling, or set up rules for "fees" you have to pay when you buy or sell, etc. Google Finance Tips: -Search stocks you want, then "Add to Portfolio" -Once you find the ones you want, "Edit Transactions" while in your Portfolio and do the math to determine how many shares of each you have. -Go to "Edit Portfolios" and check the box that talks about "Enable Dividend Reporting" - this lets you keep track of dividend payments -Watch! Or trade. Or plot a terrorist attack at key infrastructure and reap the rewards. I'm sure that's what the elite did with most of em anyway. INVESTMENT FIRM GAME Starting Money: $10000 Canadian or $9743 US. Starting Fees: None, because we used uh...guns...to....hack the stock market. Buy/Sell after Startup: $10 per transaction (a transaction being the buying/selling of ONE type of stock, in any quantity of shares. So selling my BMO and TD shares would be two transactions). Other Markets: Technically Google Finance will allow European and Asian markets too, so that's cool! It means you have to mess with weirder exchange rates using your own calculators though....ugh. Updates Players could announce when they buy/sell in the thread. And we could announce our new portfolios at the end of every week. Dividends Count! If a company you invest in pays out dividends every quarter, then you get that money! Use it to buy new stocks! Perhaps to be fair, there should be a 10-20% tax on it. If you're using Google Finance, in your transactions/portfolio options you can enable "dividends" to be deposited into a "cash" amount that you can then delete and use. Easier than doing into the company financial statements and doing some basic maths, but either way is good practice. Ultimate Goal We can congratulate and award Quarterly Winners and maybe an Annual Winner? Special Names! Tags! Colours! AVATARS! Rep! AZISIEN'S PORTFOLIO - WEEK OF JAN 15/2010 Total Value: $10000 CAD BMO: $2500 or 46.68 shares. TD: $2500 or 39.46 shares. Telus: $2500 or 74.33 shares. Electronic Arts: $487.18US or 28.60 shares. Hasbro: $487.18US or 15.21 shares. Activision-Blizzard: $1461.54US or 44.73 shares. And if anyone thinks this is dumb and boring well...ummm...jerk. Last edited by Azisien; 01-15-2010 at 11:56 PM.

01-15-2010, 11:44 PM	#5
Azisien wat Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 7,177	Actually I was kidding this game is using fake $10000 over Google Finance. God. Edit: I suppose I was not clear on that at all. This isn't even supposed to be just my portfolio, anyone is free to hop on Google Finance and play around. It's actually worthwhile knowledge to have, too. But this would be kind of like a game, I suppose, involving math. So it's a horrible game. Last edited by Azisien; 01-15-2010 at 11:49 PM.

01-15-2010, 11:52 PM	#8
BitVyper History's Strongest Dilettante Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Arcadia Posts: 6,662	An investment of ten thousand dollars in my wallet yields a dividend of not-getting-stabbed-in-your-fucking-face. __________________ "There are worlds out there where the sky is burning, and the sea is asleep, and the rivers dream. People made of smoke and cities made of song. Somewhere there's danger, somewhere there's injustice, somewhere else the tea's getting cold. Come on, Ace; we've got work to do!" Awesome art be here. Last edited by BitVyper; 01-16-2010 at 12:17 AM.

01-15-2010, 11:21 PM	#2
Kerensky287 Just That Good Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 3,426	I cannot possibly see this ending well.

01-15-2010, 11:24 PM	#3
Azisien wat Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 7,177	That's because you don't believe.

01-15-2010, 11:53 PM	#7
Azisien wat Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 7,177	I'm not upset or frustrated really. It's ok. We can hug if it'll make you feel better. I would think it cool if someone else tried playing the game though. Or the thread can just die. I suppose those are the two options. It's a few minutes of initial setup, but Google Finance will literally run itself. All you have to do after that is check it once a week/month/whatever. However much extra you go is up to you.

01-16-2010, 12:34 AM	#9
MasterOfMagic ahahah Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 3,456	Mmm, I've been doing this on Updown.com ever since the thread made on it forever ago. I've done absolutely terrible. I haven't managed to lose money, but that's about it.