Xmas Presents

It's this time of the year again and people are rushing to buy their presents.
Well, how about saving some and invest a little bit.
Once again I'll point out that you should only invest what you can afford to lose.
The market is falling, so along with it, so do shares' prices.
What I believe is that you buy a little present for yourself, it may be the best present you'll ever get for years.
So to keep a long story short, today I'd like to give an advice to buy Activision. The price is well underrated, because Activision is simply a monster in the video games department (Guitar Hero, World of Warcraft,...) and there are monster titles coming out next year (Starcraft 2, Diablo 3, ...).
Activision has had a steady growth, and as soon as the crysis is over, it'll be on top again.
It's a buy NOW chance you got as it is valued at $8.97 today. I believe that shortly it'll get to $11 easy.

Well then happy investments and merry xmas.

Pedro Carmo

Crisis or Opportunity?

Nowadays the world is panicking and the stockmarkets reflect that feeling, so I decided to share my opinion in the matter.

Times are difficult, that's for sure, but that doesn't mean the world is falling into complete bankrupcy. The time of money is to be kept safe at home or in a safe is gone.
As I mentioned in a previous post, I think we should only invest what we can afford to lose. So this article is focused on those who can spare some money to invest.

My investing plan is a long-term one, but due to the current times I had to change my approach to the market. I'm currently using a safe "quick-buck" plan, which I will promply explain...
This "new" concept of "safe quick-buck", defines investments that, due to the current crisis, may profit almost immediatly, but if not is an investment for the future.
It's an investment in a company that is being currently underrated and due to that fact the value of the stocks varies, sometimes, abruptly. If the early prophit is not achieved, rest assured because when the economy settles you will see its value rise.

With this said, I think that someone with some money to spare may be able to profit quite a lot.
Currently, I'm recovering from bad investments with this method (Visa, BCP, ...), and I'm almost hitting break even.

Like any other investor, my goal is to make the most out of my investments, and because this blog is all about sharing experiences and opinions, I'll leave you with two companies that I think you should buy (one portuguese, one american):

- Galp (GALP) --> The company is pretty strong and stable, as the profits of the company show. They have the monopoly here in Portugal and currently have oil exploring facilities in some parts of the world. If they hit oil in Brazil, their stocks are going to sky-rocket.

- Apple (AAPL) --> If you know Apple, where have you been? They have managed to develop technology and they have managed to give it style. It's not only techlogy you buy, but also a social status. They were constantly up there, and now the stock value have decreased to values which I think is ridiculous underated.

Hope I've been useful.

Tips from an amateur on how to invest

For my "first" real post I decided to share my "rules" on the world of investments.
Some are easy to follow, others are not so easy, some you may adapt according to your investor profile. Here they are:

1. Never invest money you cannot afford to lose (in my case I take away 10% of my salary to invest, a fair amount in my opinion);
2. Take some time evaluating where you put your money, study the company you are inclined to invest in. Also check out the competition to understand a little bit on how the market works in that particular segment;
3. Check the past stock values of that company;
4. Clearly define your investments plan (quick-buck, long-term investor,...);
5. The most important of them all, be weary of your emotions, as they can ruin your investments.

Hope you can "identify" yourselves with these "rules" (or at least some), and that they may have proven themselves useful for you.

Opening Statement

Hi all!

This is the english version of my blog. I'm currently translating my other blog because a friend of mine told me that I could get a better audience (people interested and people sharing ideas), if I wrote it in english.
This blog is mostly dedicated to stock market investments, but hopefully I can share a few other things with you all.
I hope you enjoy it, and I'll try to write as good as I can.