= $

In the trade last week with Apple where instead of just buying stock naked i.e. without dressing it and taking care of it by dressing it with a Call, we purchased 100 shares of Apple and then immediately sold the call on it. These were both market orders using zero buying techniques that anyone could do, even a monkey like me!

Now a day after we did this the stock dropped. Has this ever happened to you before? Of course it has if you have been investing for any length of time.

But if you had purchased the stock naked, your investment would be down about $4 Bucks a share now since it is trading around$149. Ouch….

Guess what? We are still smiling! Because we sold our July 170 Call on our stock, we put $8.25 per share in our pocket that we could go buy monkey food with. I do get hungry you know.

Even though Apple is down, we are still up $4.25 on the trade versus being down $4. That is an $8.25% difference. Can you say holy smokes Mr. Monkey?

We took care of our stock and dressed it and it is now taking care of us because we took care of it. Do you see why doing covered Calls in many ways is much safer and more profitable than just buying the stock?

I have some videos in the works that will explain the Why, What, and How of dressing your portfolio to make it safer and get much higher returns than you my have thought possible.

Andrew Anderson …AKA =  I Am An Investor Monkey

My buddy Ryan from way across the pond in Australia is doing a launch today with his new product for those of you that have a website for your business and want to be shown how you can make more money from it right away.

Just so you don’t waste your time, only go there if you interested in making more money from your website, do not go there if making your website more profitable is not important to you or if you don’t have one. You can click on the graphic to check it out.

If you just sign up for his FREE content, you will find that it is better than 99.9% of high priced information out there and that much of it has never been shown before.

Ryan has been involved with a number of million dollar website launches i.e. where the website brings in millions of dollars in just a few days or weeks after it is launched. Hie is one talented Aussie which is why I work with him.

I am going to let you in on something else. He and I are also working on another project that I truly believe is going to radically change how people create a profitable web presence. Will let you know when we have it ready for Beta.

In the meantime, go sign up for Ryan’s Freebies and see what he has to teach and show you. There is some great usable information in there that you can implement right away. If you like that info, go grab his Dressed2Convert package, it is well worth it.

I Thought I Knew…… And The Reasons Why I Am Helping You Make More Money

As I sit doing my every once in a while inventory of what is swimming around in my noodle I come to think about what I hope I Am An Investor does for people in changing the way they “thought” that a portfolio and a business for that matter had to be put together and run. This is true with all of my endeavors. It is having the effect of turning what they thought they knew upside down for most people, including myself.

This is not something new for me. My mental world started getting rocked pretty early as my parents seemed to enjoy a somewhat different lifestyle than most. My Mom was a History and English teacher and my Dad worked in the Government with Computers way back when they were the size of a whole building and they were fairly well politically connected and because of this I got to do some very unique things at a young age.

I was also encouraged to explore pretty much anything my intellect desired.

Because of my upbringing I got to meet Governor’s, Senators, and Congressman and later on the Kennedy’s (who at the time were a big deal) and I realized that there was something not quite right with all of them at a very early age. (more…)

Apple did manage to pull back a bit yesterday. Was a great time to buy…. Anyway, the other reason why equities are my least favorite investments, although as you can see, meeting our 21.5% ROI criteria can be done once you know what you are doing, is you have to watch them like a two year old at a fair. The minute you take you eye off of them, is when things happen unless of coure you stick your money in a holding pattern.

I frankly do not like being chained to my investments like that. It does not fit into my schedule. But, while you are building up your portfolio, it is a great way to do so quickly.

The National Association Of Realtors released numbers today saying the pending home sales dropped to a record low in February. As compared to what? There in lies the rub.

Here is a link to the Yahoo Article.

This is a quote from the article that I love -

“Wall Street economists surveyed by Thomson/IFR had predicted the index would inch up to a reading of 86.3. “

Who are these goobers and what does 86.3 mean really? OK, let us try and forget that we had the worst weather in 30 years hit the Mid-West in February. So much for Global Warming….LOL I will let you in on another little secret code word.

Wall Street Economists = The dude or dudette that isn’t bright enough to be trading on their own data and making millions, but needs a day job to pay off student loans and needs to have you believe that what he/she says it gospel even though it will kill your returns. (more…)

UPDATE 10:14 AM, April 8: Plugged In Numbers At Bottom Of This Story- Here is another play for Apple. Meant to get this out yesterday but got too tied up so here it is.

It is a covered Call play. Now a lot of you have heard of this, and a lot may not have.

But it is the only way that I will buy an individual stock. It is just something else that you want to add to you bag of tricks.

Ok, so we are going to buy 100 shares of Apple, and since I am writing this on Monday..whoops. at 1:30 AM so it is now Tuesday, but before the market opens I will use the closing numbers for trade.

Going to use the closing prices on these - AAPL 155.89 So let us say we shell out about $15,600 total to make it easy on me.. Therefore, we have $156 as a cost basis. Now of course our goal is always 21.5% ROI per year. (more…)

Just going to post the closing prices. All three plays are way up…which is what is supposed to happen when you are doing these right.

Now if you remember we purchased the APVGR’s (July 190 Calls) for $2.60. So, we are up 42% there on the one play. On the other where we are holding 5 of the APVGK’s (July 155 Calls) we are up another 16% in 3 days, our cost basis is $0. Now of course we are now up $7,075 on a play we only put in $6,000 three weeks ago and, we took out original equity out last week. Could we get out and walk away with a three week return of 117.9% on our original investment that we already have back? Sure, but I do not think this is played out yet.

So, I will put a trailing stop order in at $8 dollars on these to at least lock in a profit of $4,000 in case the bottom falls out.

Could we sell just one contract, make $1,400 or %23.33% ROI and meet our 21.5% profit criteria for the year on that batch of capital? Yes we could but since we are playing with their money, I want to ride this one out for a bit.

Now remember in our other play where I sold out of the whole lot, we still had 74% net profit there.

I promise within the next few days, I will lay this all out in an orderely fashion so that you can follow along. I will also post a couple of other plays so you can follow along. I will try and give you a heads up in case you want to do them as well.

Cheers,

AA

Just wanted to do a quick update on the original Apple Call play from two Friday’s ago. Sold 5 of the 155 June contracts at $12.00 yesterday. Since we purchased them for $6.00 about 10 days ago we now have our original equity back minus some change. So, we now basically we have 5 contracts free and clear.  Basically this is a 100% return……. in 10 days.

Will get into further details on this in the next few days as soon as I can clear my plate a tad. Also will back fill on the other purchase of July 190 calls.

Thanks to everyone that filled out the form for what you would like to see more of here. It really helped a whole bunch.

Out of the responses we have 3 recurring themes.

1. More how-to-Videos. I am not surprised by this one at all. I know I want to see more of them as well. They are fun to do and I think they can make for a great learning experience.
2. How to do the actual trade or investment. Get into the details and of the What, Why, and How. Here again, this makes sense.
3. What to do if you are just starting out. Apparently we have a lot of newbies which is GREAT! I love to see people taking control of their own lives and money is one of the most important areas you can do that in without a doubt.

I have to add to this that people did not want the “Normal” investment vehicles. They wanted the alternative ones, which I think is very good.
Well, you have spoken and so that is what you are going to get. If you have not sent in your feedback, I would still love to hear from you.

Thanks again to everyone that sent in a response! I truly appreciate it and it will make this site and your learning experience and your road to wealth that much better and easier.

“I Am An Investor” Spring and Summer 2008 Training Scholarships

“I Am An Investor” is offering a unique Training Scholarship to individuals from all backgrounds. Applicants do not need to be enrolled in college to apply and there are no age restrictions.

You must have good writing and editing skills.

The Scholarship is a weekly commitment lasting 12 to 26 weeks, or longer for qualified applicants. Students are asked to work a minimum of at least 10 hours each week on the training assignments with a very flexible schedule that you can do from home. (more…)

Ok, here you go. If you could take a sec and just click on a button that would be great and you will be helping yourself.

Now the statistic is that about 99.99 percent or even less of you won’t select one of these but I want to see if the readership here is different about voting.

I need at least 2 people to vote. If you do not see what you want, just leave a comment.

Cheers!

By Andrew Anderson 4:37 AM CST

I ended up having a very interesting conversation with Mr. Gordon Chang this week on the topics of China, Tibet, The Olympics, North Korea, McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, The Dollar, and add to these items the price of pork, gas lines, and Richard Nixon.

Not to leave out you of course, we have last but not least what we Investors might look for when investing in China and China’s impact on America.

This ran a bit longer than I had intended but then again I could have talked for an hour. There is so much going on now. I really enjoyed this interview. As you will see, we start getting into some pretty specific issues towards the end.

I have to apologize about the volume in the beginning, but you should be fine.

If you have any interest in the world around, you will definitely want to listen and hear information you will not find in the normal Media. He has some very interesting things to say about the Dollar, where America Stands with China, and the Trade Deficit. You might just be surprised!

Enjoy! (more…)

Out of Apple at a net of around $10,475. Thank goodness I am done with the official play now. Will still do a follow up with the other scenarios though.

The skinny on the play since Friday = $6,000 in, $10,475 out, Net $4,475 = 74.58% return in 6 days and I am not going to even try to figure out the yearly ROI.

OK, back to work.

**** One of the things that I do not want to do here is turn this into only a blow-by-blow trading blog. On the other hand, I do want to show you the reality and practical sides of investing to meet and beat our 21.5% benchmark as well. The largest factor in any trading strategy and game plan of course is you!

You have to figure out what is going on with you, i.e. how much time you have, what your comfort and knowledge levels are and basically what do you have going on with your life at the moment. How much friction do you have going on? All of these things can and will affect your results, so you need to make adjustments accordingly. (more…)

Here is the skinny on those 10 Contracts of Apple Calls, They are July $155’s, APVGK that I put in the portfolio on Friday for $6,000.

They are up another $1,900 or 21.71% just today as of Noon. We are up a total of $4,650 or 77.5% since Friday and they are now worth$10,650. I am pointing this out so that everyone can get past the mental block they have about being able to regularly obtain at least 21.5% returns, yearly mind you, on a regular basis.

You can learn how to do this and I am going to show you. Now if you purchased these and you feel comfortable with getting a 77.5% return in 4 days it would be OK for you to sell them all now. Bravo, job well done. Go take Yourself/Husband/Wife/Significant Other out for a nice Dinner this evening. Good behavior should always be rewarded so that it will be repeated. (more…)

This is an example of a No Brainer Trade. If I was to have sold today, I could have netted 33% since Friday or made $2,000 on the 10 contracts I purchased on Friday.

When I get some time, I will show you how to do this on a regular basis and I will show you how truly easy it is to do with the right information and why options in many cases are FAR LESS risky than purchasing stocks. And NO I am not going to sell these yet.

Nothing fundamentally has changed since I posted this trade on Friday. When playing with Options, you make a plan and stick with it. Keep your eye on the bullseye. Trades like these are why I just laugh at the experts that tell you that you have to have a diversified portfolio and yet never mention using options in your portfolio.

Personally in my mind if they do not mention them they are charlatans. If they do not mention them, their advice most of the time is rubbish for sure.

Normally I would have probably purchased 30 contracts and sold the Puts Short on top of that. If so I would be up I think $60,000 today on the trade and no I would not be selling yet….Hmmm.. have to go look at the Puts and see where they ended. Anyway, that is not for everyone of whereas all of you are capable of purchasing Calls.

I will also show why if you own individual stocks you should consider selling Covered Calls on them.  I just looked at what the CBOE has as far as an explanation for what a Covered Call is  and honestly it sucks.   I will throw together a short video on what they are soon.

Sometimes you just need to put some eggs in one basket and watch it carefully and then know when to run with it and take them out. But these chicks are not ready to hatch yet no matter how fast they are growing. Let us be patient and see just how big they get. I think you will be surprised.

To find out what a Call, Put, and Options are Click Here to go the the Chicago Board Options Exchange. They have some great training and information and a Virtual Account that allows you to play with stocks and options. Got to love it! If I can back date the trades I have done I will use it to show you what is going on!

The is an informational Video on Private Lending that I just put together in response to the last story I did on Private Lending. Thanks for all of the responses.

In this video I cover information from both the Lender and the Borrower’s perspective. I will be posting more information on this in the coming days. Enjoy

Andrew Anderson

PS Monday, March 24, 2008  Zero Dark :30 AM.  If you have any questions, just post a  comment and I will be glad to answer them in the next video!

Click Here to download the easy to use Excel calculator that I mention in the video.

Will put some numbers to this and a more lengthy explanation, but the virtual portfolio for the Investing Challenge is doing fine but I need to add a trade for Friday.

10 contracts of Apple August, $155 Calls. So, I am going to round the numbers andgoing to call it $6,000 even though it is actually up about $400 already. Don’t normally do a lot of options but, this was too good to pass up.

The were under $6.00 for the better part of the day. Have to keep an eye on these but, I think we sell half at $12 if they get there before May and keep the others until the June numbers come out. From what I have seen, $150 looks like it could be here soon and I think $180 or $190 is possible.

Now if they would just make the iPod a bit more intuitive when adding songs. I like iPods but truthfully their upload interface sucks, but not their stock thankfully. Bad idea to bet against Job’s any day of the week.

You have no doubt heard of MySpace, but did you know that it and other sites like it such as Facebook, Orkut, and YouTube can be used as great research tools that can put you way ahead of the market?

Let me show you exactly how this works: Companies that are using these sites as a regular part of their business and media models have a huge edge over their competition who just don’t get it.

These sites represent many of the top 10 most visited sites in the world.

For instance just MySpace and Facebook alone get around 2.5 Billion with a B hits a day… A DAY!

The kicker is that the vast majority of the business clients that I consult with don’t have a clue about how to capitalize on these numbers. But those that do it right can see phenomenal growth no matter what business they are in.

This is part of the reason why I can base 95% of my consulting fee on guaranteeing to improve revenue and profit by 10% to 20% within just a few months for my clients no matter the size or type of business they are in or I don’t get paid.

How many other consultants will do that?

I am currently working on two books based on using these effectively. The one you see is for Investors and I will be giving you some of the best and most relevant concepts from it over the coming weeks.

The other one is a “How To” for businesses to show them how to capitalize on this.

The largest problem for many companies is that their IT people usually don’t have a clue about marketing, and their PR and Ad people don’t have a clue about IT. It is a double whammy. But for those companies that do get it, they have a huge advantage.

In the book I will teach you how to use these alternative methods and tools to find hidden and not so hidden gems.

First off, find out if the company has a MySpace or Facebook page and see how they are using it.

As far as I know, I have not seen a concise book on using these sites as a research tool. But then again, if someone is using them the way I am going to show you, more than likely they are not going to broadcast how they do it.

But there’s a rub – and it’s really ironic. The more people that find out about these tools and use them the better it is for everyone.

Want to see how it works right now? (more…)

Bear with me, because I’m going to show you how…
****
Guess what? You are the market! The market is “you” and several hundred million other people. You made it go up today.

But with this in mind, in order to beat it you have to do what everyone else is not. You have to be doing the opposite of what “you” normally would do or to do it a bit quicker or a bit later.

As it turns out this is not normally as easy as it sounds but there are some rather simple solutions to testing this theory while getting better at it.

Here is an exercise for you just to get your brain moving in the right direction. Set up a dummy trading portfolio somewhere. There are thousands of places you can do this. Your own brokerage firm should allow you to do this in fact. (more…)