Life Diversity

Here is your stock market update for Friday, September 21, 2007. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up over 53 points up .39 percent for the day with the NASDAQ up almost 17 points up .64 percent for the day. Most of my stocks were mildly up today including Disney (DIS) which was up 1.65 percent for the day and Apple Inc, (AAPL) up 2.74 percent for the day. Lowes stock (LOW) was down a dissapointing 1.45 percent for the day putting me down 9.28 percent for the year on Lowes stock. Overall however, I am still sitting pretty at a 10% gain for the year or a 20% gain in the last 2 years.

The positive gains from the Fed 50 basis points rate cut continued today with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 76.17 points up 0.55 percent and the NASDAQ up 14.82 points up 0.56 percent. Stocks were mixed overall but the gains from yesterday still resulted in an all time high for the year. Disney Stock (DIS) is currently up 32.92% for a two year period (almost 16.5% gain per year). Apple Inc (AAPL) is the clear winner up over 42% in less than a year. The majority of my other holdings provided between a 3 percent gain and 10+ percent gain per year over the last two years with disapointing performances from Lowes (LOW) down 5.4% for the year, Walmart WMT down 8% for the year, and iShares Dow Jones US Technology (IYW) down 8.1% for the year. As an overall picture my current gains are 20% for a two year period or 10% per year. Not too bad after a rollercoaster year.

I will be traveling frequently for business and need a good briefcase. I currently use a Samsonite notebook case for carrying my laptop and for business presentations. The Samsonite Sideloader Mobile Office has a protective laptop compartment and a retractable rolling handle for added mobility and comfort. The Samsonite Sideloader Mobile Office has many convenient pockets and organizational features. One interesting feature of the Samsonite Sideloader Mobile Office is that the laptop is loaded from the side of the bag.

One of the most difficult games to master is Golf. The difficulty with Golf draws several parallels to life situations and I therefore recommend that everyone play this sport. Golf requires a unique amount of concentration and patience. I recommend you purchase some Callaway golf equipment and give the sport a try. Golf does have several benefits as a unique networking opportunity for business contacts and some of the friendliest individuals can be found on a golf course.

For a long time I have wanted to participate in some Costa Rica Travel. The natural habitat of Costa Rica is so beautiful with many different adventure cruises and small flights. Check out more Costa Rica Information at the Costa Rica Pages web site. One of the most popular tourist places in Costa Rica is San Jose Costa Rica. I will be traveling there and then staying in the Hilton hotel in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. Who knows, I may love the area so much that I might contact a Costa Rica Real Estate about buying a summer home there.

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Investing in Gold as a viable option. I have long been an advocate of investing in gold whether this be gold coins (my personal favorite), a gold bracelets that your wife can wear, or other gold bars or gold options. Gold has historically performed well and is still increasing in value. I am seriously considering adding some Gold to my stock portfolio which already features Diamonds with the AMEX Exchange Traded Fund DIAMONDS Trust (DIA). For example, take a look at the Street Tracks Gold Exchange Traded Fund for the New York Stock Exchange (GLD):

Today has been an excellent day in the stock market with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up over 143 points up over 1 percent and the NASDAQ up 12.4 points up .48 percent with 3 hours and 20 minutes left in trading for the day. Stocks were boosted by a positive report on unemployment. Several of my stocks holdings are doing quite well including McDonalds (MCD) which announced that they will be increasing by 50 percent the amount of dividends they pay to shareholders over the next three years. This is good news indeed as dividends are icing on the cake and increase the value of McDonalds stock. McDonalds is up well over 5 percent for the day for a total gain this year of over 28 percent. Another surprising gainer for the day was Lowes Inc, (LOW) up over 3.2 percent for the day. This stock is still down 9 percent for the year but this recent gain is most likely due to the stock buyback plan. If we could just get out of this housing recession Lowes stock would jump through the roof. I still like shopping there so I will hold on to the stock a little longer. Another large gainer for the day was JP Morgan Chase (JPM) up over 2.5 percent for the day on positive market and employment outlook. JP Morgan Chase is up over 6 percent for the year or 12 percent for the last two years. My total gains for the year are approaching 9 percent which is not bad considering the terrible downturn in the market earlier this year.

Can Gambling Be a Good Investment? This is a very difficult question to answer. There are many people who feel that a successful and skilled gambler can make good amounts of profits from gambling and gain additional tax advantages. Of course this is only if the gambling is done legally as your country allows and there is a tremendous amount of discipline and responsibility required to walk away and cash in your profits rather than to continue to make risky bets and loose any profits. When legally and responsibly gambling online it can be even more tempting to continue wagering after making a small profit and I have found it very difficult to make online gambling a profitable venture. I do know several people who have none the less made small profits gambling at the online casino at Bet 365. Bet 365 has over 80 different games available when you download their software and over 60 games available online using the Adobe Flash plugin for Internet Explorer. I am partial to online poker as it takes up more leisure time and involves more skill and less luck. I must confess that I usually play with fake money as risking hard earned dollars is difficult for me to do.

So, Can Gambling Be a Good Investment? Yes for some, but it requires a huge amount of discipline and responsibility which many people do not possess.

My son loves animal toys and stuffed animals. It is so much fun to bounce them around and play with them. I have been on a plush animals buying kick lately. The Jungle Store has every kind of stuffed animal imaginable from stuffed bosons, to stuffed eagles, to stuffed platypus. The Jungle Store has free shipping on orders over $75 when comes in handy around Christmas time. I enjoy not sticking to the standard stuff animals but branching out discovery channel style.