Google...

When I first thought of investing, I thought Google. It has got to be an awesome investment right? Well....it is trading at $315 per share right now! That is ridonkulous!! I really don't have the money to invest in them to see any sizable returns. Nope, they've got to stay on the free agent list for me or be on someone else's team.

It is like playing in an auction league and paying 70% of your budget to have LT. That is just too much! If I had invested in Google in 2001 on the other hand...I'd be looking at AP in his rookie year. Regardless...I'm not buying Google...there are other ways to round out my team and get performance.

My first pickup...

And with the first pick of my personal portfolio draft...the Evan Investment Fund selects...the Dow Jones Industrial Average. (enter rain of boos from the New York crowd)

Yes. That's right. It is the thing you hear all the time..."the Dow Jones is down 200 points today" or "the Dow Jones has rebounded quite nicely today with the news that..." Either way, it is in the news. And that's why I picked it. What better way to learn about the market than from the market itself?

So, I purchased ticker symbol "DIA" at $88 a share for 10 shares. That's almost a thousand dollars! (Yikes! This investing stuff just got real.)

For the sake of keeping everyone in the loop, let set some ground rules. I'm working up to investing around $10,000. That's a pretty standard amount for model portfolios and I think it is the hypothetical amount you are given in finance class when learning about investing. So that's what I'm working up to or around.

Back to the analysis: I picked up DIA at $88. Now my thinking is that the Dow Jones isn't a great investment to have all the time because it is so volitile . But I'm betting on the idea that the market is cyclical and I've hopefully bought in at a low point. It's like saying I invested in the NBA as a whole right after the strike of 1999. It's popularity was at an all time low...the loss of MJ and no basketball on TV for 7 months will do that. But then the NBA turned it around...Shaq, Kobe, Iverson, KG, the return of MJ, Lebron....Basketball is an entertaining sport and it is only a matter of time that people get over their hurt feelings and start watching again. Just like the market, after all this gloom and doom talk subsides and we've weathered the financial crisis, people are going to start buying again..right? Well that's what I'm assuming. And that's why I bought.

Future note: once the market gets running back up to speed, there is no way to say if profits are going to keep rising. There are just too many factors affecting the market as a whole. It is like saying I can predict the NBA's popularity year to year. No way. So hopefully, I'm going to get out when it is still on the rise a couple years from now.

However, with that said...I'd feel much better predicting that the Knicks will be popular in 2011. They'll spend boatloads of moola to get Lebron and who know's, maybe they'll be sitting pretty as the popular girl at the dance come 2011. And that is the type of investment I'll be looking for when I get out of DIA...but that's a story for a couple years from now. Right now? Well...my fifteen minutes of draft time are up...and that's my first pick. You're now on the clock and David Stern is waiting...

How this all came about....

I've been a fantasy sports player since 2001. Accounting for 42 different teams over the last 7 years, with year-round activity due to the basketball, baseball and football seasons. And I figure, every year, a large chunk of my internet usage goes towards something having to do with fantasy: checking box scores, talking trash about other player's teams, reading fantasy articles, studying depth charts or watching live game feeds.

Recently, through my countless hours of internet research of obscure players (Jarvis Critteon & PJ Pope to name a few), I've come across a few articles and reports about America's financial situation. A good portion of these articles telling me there is no better time to get invested in... well... investing. Warren Buffet, the godfather of smart investing (compare him to that sagely person who introduced the person who introduced you to fantasy sports), is saying that now is the time to buy, buy, buy. He's saying there is no better time to participate in the market as good companies are being sold at sale prices.

And I say...why not? I've obviously got the time and energy to study things online. So what's the difference....buy low & sell high...right? That's all there is too it? The stat systems are slightly different. But when I started playing fantasy baseball I didn't know what WHIP was. So how is this very different?

So here I am standing on the precipice of investment. I've starting doing my homework: I know a little about what I'm looking for, I've read about some companies, and I've got just a tiny bit of cash set to invest. And that's the reason for this blog...I might as well catalouge this transition from Fantasy nut to Investment nut. So dip a toe in with me and see what this transition is all about...it is time for Mo' Invest, Less FS.


p.s. I'm not unhappy with Fantasy Sports...no, no, no...that's not what this is all about. I still love Fantasy and I'll continue to play in leagues where yo'mama jokes are prevalent and team names like Dominators are commonplace. But this is all about spending less time playing in $30 leagues with my college buddies and spending more time making my own personal money work better for me in investment.Instead of 2% percent returns from my savings account, why not see if I can't bump this up to 4% returns from a broad portfolio.

p.s.s. I'm a novice at investment and only decent at Fantasy sports, so don't take any of the info I include in this blog as part of a get rich quick scheme...cause I'm not liable for how you invest your money. Consider this an amusing journal about Investment based on Fantasy strategies. That's it.