Trade Mark

That's the name an uncle called me years ago when i was a little kid. Then i would see it on many different things when learning to read. So that has been in my subconscious mind for a loong time.

My dad did a lot of trading in the stock market and brought me along downtown to visit his broker from time to time. Dad worked for the phone company and was always reading articles about new ideas and products like the transistor and studied companies for new trading ideas. Maybe i should have paid more attention. He sure would have loved the computer and charts that we have today along with unlimited, endless information.

That was back in the 50's and 60's.

In 1970 i moved to Alaska. I was poor and sold any stocks i had left to build a house for Lois Ann and me. In 1976 i got a great job at the huge ammonia/urea plant. Anyone who works these types of jobs knows that you see LOTS of charts for pressures, temperatures, flows, levels etc. Eventually that kind of job; all tied in together with personal computers and discount brokers and 401k's and savings got me back into being 'Trade Mark' again. That was the 80's and 90's. Also, a gradual shift was taking place where more responsibility was given to each person to take care of their own retirement instead of the company or government doing it all for you.

We all had to learn about investments or trading, whether we wanted to or not. When you trade using charts it called technical analysis. This comes sort of natural because of 30+ years of looking at charts every two hours and more at work.

Below are 4 great websites that i check out almost every day when it is good to be in the market:

1. http://www.stockmarketmentor.com/ is a good pay site that taught me a lot about using Bollinger Bands to trade. Dan Fitzpatrick also trains you to use stops and become a risk manager. There is free info on this site also.

2. Richard Lehman at http://stockcharts.com/def/servlet/Favorites.CServlet?obj=ID1399335 uses 5 min, hourly, and longer term charts with channels on many indexes to show you where the market is going. It is amazing how often these channel lines contain the price. The last chapters of his book explain this channel system. See his other website www.Channelist.com for more information.

3. Another great one from the public chartlist on stockcharts is Joanne Klein's "Above the Green Line" http://stockcharts.com/def/servlet/Favorites.CServlet?obj=ID3387040 The Green line is a 250 day moving average and page 1 has the highest momentum ETF's and page 2 has the highest momentum stocks. The Relative Strengths are above 90. It is worthwhile to study her trading method!

4. http://blog.kimblechartingsolutions.com/ is a site you must see!! Every chart has a picture for us art fans. You learn about bullish falling wedges and bearish rising wedges, ascending triangles, support, resistance... and above all else, the best times to HARVEST!!!

During hockey season i do a lot of trading. Not so much in the summer. Just trying to make enough to stay retired and comfortable. Hope this helps anyone who thinks the stock market is a mystery.

'A time to finish'

Here is a project that was started 30+ years ago... Like Ecclesiastes 3 says, "there is a time for everything - a time to start, and a time to finish what you what you once upon a time started". It has taken a long time to do part 2. I am very good at starting projects, but it often takes a long, long, long time to finish. A few years ago i would think silently, "There's something i can do when the plant shuts down."
Now, here are some post dated blog entries and photos from April and May. Even with more time on my side it is hard to keep this blog caught up.

Survival Strategies for Tough Times

Here is how one person tripled his income by having the dog and cat helping out. (Also, the dog and cat income is tax free.)

Last Ammonia Ship

You can see that tiny ship at the end of our dock if you look hard enough. It is taking away the last of our ammonia. Larry B. is in his office that was put up for the ammonia removal. Ken C. was sampling the NH3 to make sure there was no oil mixed in it from the bottom of the storage tanks. All three of us are in the bottom photo. $700 is the price they are paying for ammonia these days. Plant 4 used to make 2100 tons per day. That comes out to $1,470,000 per day that we could be making if there was enough gas in Cook Inlet.... The ironic note is that this tiny ship is going to be cut up for scrap iron after delivering this last load from our plant. Looks like retirement is coming soon.