Is This The Time To Buy Stocks?

Oh yes, the temptations are here again. So far in life I have only been penalized a small bit by the temptation of getting into trying to make money with money, much like our government is doing by printing money and giving it to the banks.

A week or two ago stocks could be bought for three times less than they were selling for early this week. AIG has gone from 39 cents to 93 cents, Bank of America from below a dollar to $2.70 and Citigroup was below 70 cents a share. Today it's at $2.52 a share. Ten thousand dollars invested in any of the three and you are $13,000 to $26,000 richer. But, you could also have lost a lot.

It just goes to prove that the stock market is nothing short of legalized gambling. With these huge increases it is tempting to buy, hoping the market will be bullish and continue to rise to double, maybe triple or more, above the purchase price.

I am not doing anything with my small savings, I've learned my lesson. Twenty five years ago I was conned into believing that silver was going to rise to more than $22, so I bought $3,000 of futures at $6 per ounce and lost every cent.

Computer Age
As familiar as I am with computers and other new age gadgets, I am still way behind in owning many of the gadgets which are on the market and that make life so much easier and enjoyable. I noticed during the garage sale we had this past weekend that there are quite a few folks way behind me.

I had a lot of the digital gadgets for sale for 10 cents on the dollar. Most were computer related, such as the hand held PDA's (personal digital assistant) which are now outdated with the coming of much improved telephones that do much more work than what I had for sale.

Quite a few asked what the PDA was and what it does; others stated that their phone does that and takes pictures.

Walt Gray, a friend who is computer savvy and a tax guru, sent me the following which states so truly our state of the union.

You Are Living In
2009 When....

You accidentally enter your password on the microwave.

You haven't played solitaire with real cards in years.

You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of three.

You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you.

Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and family is that they don't have e-mail addresses.

You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see if anyone is home to help you carry in the groceries.

Every commercial on television has a Web site at the bottom of the screen.

Leaving the house without your cell phone, which you didn't have the first 20 or 30 (or 60) years of your life, is now a cause for panic and you turn around to go and get it.

You get up in the morning and go online before getting your coffee.

You start tilting your head sideways to smile.

You're reading this and nodding and laughing. Even worse, you know exactly to whom you are going to forward this message.