look, listen, learn

I was flipping through one of my money magazines the other day and came across an artice about 401k savings and how a person putting away $10,000 a year can retire at 65 with over $370,000 in savings if they start at 24.

Quickly thinking to myself that $370,000 isn't really all that much, or at least it won't be by the time I am 75 decided that 401k's aren't for me. I don't think there is really anyway I can safely save myself into a good retirement without upping the ante and putting away at least $50,000 a year... but since I barely make 1/2 that at my job now its entirely unrealistic that I will be able to save anything near what I will need.

So I started reading further into the article and it left me with an entirely sour taste in my mouth, then it occured to me that putting my money in a bank account will net me 3%, but what does the bank do with the money I give them? ..

After a little searching I learned that the banks loan my money out to other people! and charge them 20-30% interest.. So where does all the banks profit go to?

I should open a bank!

It's been said over an over again that it takes money to make money. And this is true... I suspect it doesn't take that much money to make money though. I did a little more research and soon discovered that making money is just a matter of scientific research. I give my money to the bank so they can loan it out and invest it in stocks and bonds, but what if I cut out the middle man and loaned my money out myself, and bought my own stocks...

Then it all dawned on me... It all crashed upon my head like a cool spring rain, so refreshing and .. .. you get the point.

But how can I make sure that the stocks I pick aren't stinkers? How do the people at the bank pick their stocks? How do I make a profit?

I have decided to use Ameritrade to purchase my stocks because they are quite respected, and only charge $10.99 per transaction. I will start out with a meager $1000 investment in 3 different stocks chosen by key statistics and company health indicators. So it will cost me $65.94 per $1000 to invest and recover my assets. this means I must have at least a 6.6% gain in order to at least break even on the first round of investing, but I plan on so much more. With each new level of investing I will be able to reduce my risk, while reducing my required profit margin.

Initially I planned on making 3% per business day, but that is some-what unrealistic. In test investment strategies I have made around 1-2% per day. This being said I still have much more research to do to ensure a level of secuity I am comfortable with.