Playing The Markets

Welcome friend, to another post about me.

Actually, this could be quite a long one, so get yourself a coffee and kick off your shoes.

Firstly, I have nothing but admiration for my wife. At the end of last week she was completely floored by the 'flu. A temperature of 105, and the shakes and shivers meant almost total bedrest. Which meant that I had to take Thursday and Friday off work and look after her, and the boys; including the school run (for which I got a parking ticket for my trouble!)

That was more tiring than a day in the office and a 100 mile drive.

During the course of the weekend, I did what I could to reduce the load. We went to the cinema, went to a fair on Sunday afternoon. I dressed, fed changed nappies and bathed the baby.

Just call me SuperDad!

Anyway - I went back to work today; for a little bit of peace and quiet. Still tired though.

So, onto other news.

I've decided to play the stock market. Have a dabble. Invest a little (and I mean a little). In some cases it hardly seems worth it, but, since the prices have tumbled over the last few days - because of the financial shake in China, I thought I'd have a go.

Well, to be honest, I've been thinking about it for a while. I created a virtual portfolio on Yahoo, and tracked the performance of some companies shares. I found it quite interesting, watching the prices increase, and thinking 'if only'.

It can take some time to set up a trading account; which I now have courtesy of First Direct, and last week I took my first steps. I invested in three companies: BT, Sky and Stagecoach.
Imagine my feelings when the prices dropped further.
Today, I made my biggest investment in Tesco. Well, they do quite well and the price was reasonable.
Altogether, a £500 investment (I said it wasn't much). Put them with the 'free' Standard Life shares I have, and I hope they'll build to a nice sum.

I'm not a huge gambler, but I'm in it for the long run, so over the next year or two - who knows?