This would be hilarious if it weren't so painfully sad.

http://www.cato.org/dailypodcast/podcast-archive.php?podcast_id=697

Inflation of 15 million percent?  How is that even sustainable?  Sadly, people can only make real transactions in US Dollars, which is currently basically illegal.  But it sounds like the only way out of this is for them to adopt the US Dollar.

Amazing.

A couple of months ago, someone who works with my Sister found my name on some list of unclaimed property managed by the State of California.  She sent me an email, and while I was kind of amused, I pretty much blew it off. 

Then a few weeks ago, I remembered something about it, and decided to do a search.  Turns out that the California State Controller's Office has an Office of Unclaimed Property (UCP), and when I searched for my name, I found that apparently I was due some money from a long ago closed bank account, or something like that.  I filled out the appropriate forms, and voilà, a check arrived for me yesterday for $157.87. 

:-)  I like free money.

Well, I guess that'll teach me to post about wild market gains.  I logged in today, and I'm down $750.  :-)

I should have liquidated when I had the chance.  Now I'll have to wait for another upswing.

UPDATE:  Make that down $1000.  Drats.

So, for reasons to be explained later, I am soon going to have to liquidate an online trading account I set up a few years ago.  However, I wanted to get an idea of how we'll I've done so far, so I did a little research.

On July 16th, 2004, I opened this account with $11,107.66.

As of some time today, the account is currently worth $26,869.12.

That's an increase of almost 240% in less than 4 years.  Not too shabby.

Now, some of that came from a few lucky stock tips on penny stock companies, but on the whole, I'd even take 100% over 4 years, which I can safely say I accomplished.  Man, if only I'd started with more.  :-)

I have a few friends whom I've introduced to the market over the years, and it's potential.  Sadly most of them, at one time firm believers, have given up trading individual stocks, in favor of either ETFs or bulking up their mattresses.  The market is too hard to play, they say.  It's too difficult to pick individual stocks, or it takes too much time.  You have to learn to invest with the cycles, etc.

Poppycock, I say.  I can assure you that I don't spend nearly as much time researching the stocks I own as I should.  I don't read financial reports, listen to conference calls, etc.  I know I surely should, but I don't.  However, I think that to say I'm lucky with the above returns would also be missing the point.  I look for good companies that have fallen on hard times (Apple a year or two ago being a good example), and ride them out.  I've made close to 150% in that one stock alone in the last 12 to 18 months. 

Anyway, I'm just sad I have to stop playing for a while.  But, it's my own damn fault.

This continues to be a year of very tough lessons.