Should You Broadcast Your Portfolio Even If You Own A Small Amount of Stock?

[Owen]

So I'm going to be investing soon (I'm saving as much money as I can and I'm going to invest in multiple IPOs like the Airbnb, Uber, and (hopefully) SpaceX IPO) here in 2016. I want to create a blog to talk about stuff, whenever I get around to that, but I'm thinking of putting a portfolio page on their with my stock portfolio. Even though I'll only own like 0.0001% of these companies, with no voting rights due to it being common stock, should I do this or would it just look dumb?

[Harold Mansfield]

So I'm going to be investing soon (I'm saving as much money as I can and I'm going to invest in multiple IPOs like the Airbnb, Uber, and (hopefully) SpaceX IPO) here in 2016. I want to create a blog to talk about stuff, whenever I get around to that, but I'm thinking of putting a portfolio page on their with my stock portfolio. Even though I'll only own like 0.0001% of these companies, with no voting rights due to it being common stock, should I do this or would it just look dumb?

No you shouldn't do this. A few years ago there were a few blogs that were pretty much, "Watch me stumble my way through (something), make every mistake and lose all of my money", but they got old real fast.

If you have that much time on your hands why don't you take an actual class on investing so that you have something credible to actually write about that people would want to read?

[Brian Altenhofel]

What Harold said.

And unless you're an institutional investor or someone accredited enough to merit an invitation, you won't get in on the good side of an IPO.

[Harold Mansfield]

And unless you're an institutional investor or someone accredited enough to merit an invitation, you won't get in on the good side of an IPO.

Yes, what Brian said. With little to no money, no influential broker and no investment history..you'll have to wait in line with the rest of the no money schmucks before you're allowed to invest. You will not be getting in on the ground floor of anything with that much notoriety and perceived market value.

Here's one of those times when that class on investing would come in handy so that you aren't just swinging wildly in the dark.

[Owen]

No you shouldn't do this. A few years ago there were a few blogs that were pretty much, "Watch me stumble my way through (something), make every mistake and lose all of my money", but they got old real fast.

If you have that much time on your hands why don't you take an actual class on investing so that you have something credible to actually write about that people would want to read?

Can you point me to some of these classes you're talking about because I can't find anything credible online.

[Harold Mansfield]

Can you point me to some of these classes you're talking about because I can't find anything credible online.
Absolutely! What are you interested in learning about?

Also, don't you have a community college where you are that offers college prep courses?
What's your course load like in high school? Hope it's not all Shop, Home Econ, and Spanish.

Kids your age who plan on dominating in tech fields are taking heavy course loads, going to code camps, entering competitions, doing coding experiments and projects at home, doing summer internships and so on. This new generation is eager, motivated, educated, and they have skills. This is going to be your competition and unless you start going the extra mile to learn and get skills of your own, they'll be getting the jobs, the press, the partnerships, and the funding and you'll be getting their coffee trying to get a few minutes of their time so you can tell them about your new great idea this week.

I hope that scared you.

[Owen]

Absolutely! What are you interested in learning about?

Also, don't you have a community college where you are that offers college prep courses?
What's your course load like in high school? Hope it's not all Shop, Home Econ, and Spanish.

Kids your age who plan on dominating in tech fields are taking heavy course loads, going to code camps, entering competitions, doing coding experiments and projects at home, doing summer internships and so on. This new generation is eager, motivated, educated, and they have skills. This is going to be your competition and unless you start going the extra mile to learn and get skills of your own, they'll be getting the jobs, the press, the partnerships, and the funding and you'll be getting their coffee trying to get a few minutes of their time so you can tell them about your new great idea this week.

I hope that scared you.

I take a vocational personal finance course but that's about it. We just got done learning about the stock market but it was very basic, I already knew about all of it.

And I want to do finance, like stock and banking and basic economics. I want to invest money and manage securities. I want to learn more about how to stock market works and how people do things with stock like managing.

[Harold Mansfield]

And I want to do finance, like stock and banking and basic economics. I want to invest money and manage securities. I want to learn more about how to stock market works and how people do things with stock like managing.

You need to go to college and get a degree in business and/or finance. You can't half ass the financial industry with a 2 year community college degree, a few online courses and a couple of seminars at the hotel by the airport that are advertised on late night TV.

Sorry, no shortcuts. To be any good, to be marketable and to have any credibility you need the degree.

[Owen]

You need to go to college and get a degree in business and/or finance. You can't half ass the financial industry with a 2 year community college degree, a few online courses and a couple of seminars at the hotel by the airport that are advertised on late night TV.

Sorry, no shortcuts. To be any good, to be marketable and to have any credibility you need the degree.

I know, I plan on getting my bachelors in business then an MBA. But in the meantime is there anything online I can use to learn more about economics and finance?

[turboguy]

Owen, try spending time on Yahoo Finance and MSN money. Sign up for Seeking Alpha's newsletters, they are free. Try watching CNBC, particulary Mad Money at 6 PM with Jim Cramer. Some love Jim and some think he is terrible but there is a lot to learn from him. Personally I have sometimes felt I could do better buying what he says to sell and selling what he says to buy but many people do think his advice is good. He has some good books on investing as well.

[Harold Mansfield]

Yep, go to Lynda.com (a LinkedIn company now). There's classes there from the basics of personal investing to understanding the stocks and bond markets. I'm not sure if they go any deeper than that, but they have good courses and they are credible.