Financial Well-being

Dow 23,000 and Other Financial Thoughts

Dow 23,000

Today, the DOW Jones Industrial Average was flirting with 22,950 (it came close at 22,945.57 around 11:00 am ET), then did end the day over that mark at 22,956.96. With the great 23,000 number looming, it appears to be likely this will happen in the next 2-3 days, probably on Wednesday or Thursday. I leave for Bangkok on Thursday morning for a 20 day trip, so that would be a fitting time for the great milestone to be reached.

After 23,000, it seems possible that predictions for Dow 24,000 to also happen before the close of 2017.

I believe that if a market correction does occur, it will happen around February of 2018 and that the price of oil is going to start rising around the same time. As for the size of the correction, I am not certain how big it will be. Interest rates will need to start rising for this to even be viable, and that still hasn’t come to fruition despite the Fed’s best efforts.

Brokerage Changes

I’ve begun trying out Robinhood brokerage for zero cost trading. While their interface is pretty bare bones, especially with only having a mobile app (Android and iOS compatible), the ease of buying a small number of stocks without any trading costs to see if I am interested in a stock is truly freeing. I’ve bought a few stocks that I would never have purchased otherwise such as GE, F (Ford) and PFE (Pfizer) along with getting 1 free share of stock (SIRI) for referring someone. If you want to get a free share yourself, you can sign up using my link above, then you will receive one free share of a random company, and I will receive one free share of a random company’s stock. Pretty neat!

For research, I’m still continuing to use Ameritrade as one of the best trading tools platforms I’ve found. Their $6.95 a trade cost is a bit hefty compared to zero like Robinhood, but they do have DRIP available for dividends. Right now, Robinhood only provides cash for dividends rather than stock re-investment.

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