editor Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 With the economy in the crapper and a lot of people watching their 401(k)s turn into vapor, it's time to see which HAIFers are the best at investing, and if any of them can beat the market.Announcing: The HAIFinance Challenge.The rules are simple: Each HAIF member has $1,000 in pretend money to spend on whatever stocks they want. You don't get to trade in your HAIF portfolio until the end of the challenge. We'll see how well those stocks do by December 31, 2008. The winner wins a prize to be determined later, but probably a $20-$50 Starbucks/Amazon/whatever gift card. Everyone has one week to pick their stocks. To do it, simply reply to this message listing the stocks you want to play with. For example:I want...AAPL - 10 sharesXOM - 30 sharesJNJ - 15 sharesPTR - 40 sharesOn Sunday, October 19th, your HAIFinance account will be credited with those stocks at their closing price on Friday, October 17.If the prices have gone up a lot since you posted, I'll knock shares off the ticker symbol at the bottom of your list to get it as close to $1,000 as possible, so list the stocks in the order you like them. If the prices have gone down since you posted, the extra pretend cash will remain in your account and be counted toward your total score at the end of the challenge.The person with the most pretend money in their account by the end of the year wins.OK, you've got one week to pick your stocks... GO! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
memebag Posted October 11, 2008 Share Posted October 11, 2008 Put mine all in GOOG. Right now that's 3 shares, but there's no telling how much I can get by 10/19. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
20thStDad Posted October 11, 2008 Share Posted October 11, 2008 I am insane. Give me $600 of GM (122 shares at $4.89) and $400 of Ford (201 shares at $1.99) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNiche Posted October 11, 2008 Share Posted October 11, 2008 $1,000 in Ultra Financials (UYG). Also, I'll need to open a HAIFinance margin account and will borrow $500.If I had the time and inclination, though, I'd be looking for specific stocks (rather than a diversified ETF) that are highly-leveraged and on the cusp of bankruptcy, that have a pending lawsuit with the decision to be made before year-end, or a small-cap pharmaceutical with an upcoming FDA decision. RRI crossed my mind.A word to the wise: this is a discrete sequential zero-sum game with perfect information and relatively few players. The objective is to be top-ranked. The consequences of a continuous infinitely-long non-zero-sum game with imperfect information and essentially an infinite number of players (i.e. real life) vary tremendously. Individual players also have varying utility functions in real life (for instance two individuals can each be more satisfied with their own payoff than they would be were those payoffs to be swapped), whereas all players in the HAIFinance Challenge would prefer a gift card to the alternative of no gift card.If we are to assume that all players in the HAIFinance Challenge are rational and that they will conduct adequate research (they aren't and won't), the returns over a discrete period of time will probably be a probability distribution with two modes, a minimum result of -$1,000 (with one of the mode bins and probably the median bin being within or very near that) and a maximum (the winner) at some extreme level, reflecting an outlying datapoint. This is in contrast to real-life returns, which are more of a normal distribution with a much, much, much, much...much tighter standard deviation, to the point that Std. Dev. loses all meaning as a comparative descriptor against this game.EDIT: 20thStDad gets it (mostly)! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UrbaNerd Posted October 11, 2008 Share Posted October 11, 2008 Just for the heck of it, I'd like 1000 worth of gold stock. Just wanna see what happens to it over the next few months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flipper Posted October 11, 2008 Share Posted October 11, 2008 MCD - 5 sharesTXT - 12 sharesAPC - 9 sharesTGT - 7 sharesflipper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarahiki Posted October 12, 2008 Share Posted October 12, 2008 Hey Editor, I'm in. Put all my money in KFT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedScare Posted October 12, 2008 Share Posted October 12, 2008 I think you should diversify. Therefore, I will buy 8 shares of Chevron at $57.83, and 8.62 shares of Exxon-Mobil at $62.36. EDIT: Oops, just saw you don't credit me until Friday. In that case, buy 8 shares of Chevron (1st choice), with the remainder purchasing XOM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highway6 Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 No whammy.. No Whammy... No Whammy!i'll take 5000 shares of BE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark F. Barnes Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 Put all mine in CHK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoolBuddy06 Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 500 in MCD, 500 in AAPL.If the prices have gone up a lot since you posted, I'll knock shares off the ticker symbol at the bottom of your list to get it as close to $1,000 as possible, so list the stocks in the order you like them. If the prices have gone down since you posted, the extra pretend cash will remain in your account and be counted toward your total score at the end of the challenge.The person with the most pretend money in their account by the end of the year wins.OK, you've got one week to pick your stocks... GO!Instead of this why don't we just invest whatever amount and you calculate percentage profit or loss at the end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoustonMidtown Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 All in AAPL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
editor Posted October 13, 2008 Author Share Posted October 13, 2008 No whammy.. No Whammy... No Whammy!i'll take 5000 shares of BE.A masochist, I see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pumapayam Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 A masochist, I see.Shares are ultimately based on Fridays closing price? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
editor Posted October 13, 2008 Author Share Posted October 13, 2008 Instead of this why don't we just invest whatever amount and you calculate percentage profit or loss at the end.Because this makes it more of a challenge for you.Shares are ultimately based on Fridays closing price?Right. The closing price on October 17, 2008. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pumapayam Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 Because this makes it more of a challenge for you.Right. The closing price on October 17, 2008.So my share amount that I pick today won't be exact.So we submit them over the weekend then? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highway6 Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 The people buying in apple.. I'm sure they rather have todays or last fridays price, before tomorrows new line of laptops are unveiled - More room to go up.What if something important happens this week that greatly effects either positively or negatively someone's choice?It would have been nice to add a "Know when to buy" component if just for a week..... let us lock in a price at any time during this week, instead of setting us all at friday's close. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pumapayam Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 On Sunday, October 19th, your HAIFinance account will be credited with those stocks at their closing price on Friday, October 17.Is this a new fantasy account, or have people had access to something like this for their real portfolio the whole time.Where is this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TJones Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 I'll take 62 shares of Morgan Stanley please. I am in a little late but I still like it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crunchtastic Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 Why, all in AIG, of course. Since they suspended our ESOP, I guess I could pretend I'm getting my 15% discount.Here's hoping they announce details of a pending asset sale this week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
editor Posted October 13, 2008 Author Share Posted October 13, 2008 So my share amount that I pick today won't be exact.So we submit them over the weekend then?If the prices have gone up a lot since you posted, I'll knock shares off the ticker symbol at the bottom of your list to get it as close to $1,000 as possible, so list the stocks in the order you like them. If the prices have gone down since you posted, the extra pretend cash will remain in your account and be counted toward your total score at the end of the challenge.Is this a new fantasy account, or have people had access to something like this for their real portfolio the whole time.Where is this?It's in a little spreadsheet on my computer, and I will post periodic updates with pretty charts in this thread for those who don't want to set up their own tracker in Google Finance or wherever.I looked into doing a whole streaming stock results thing and adding it to people's profiles, but it was going to be more time and/or money than it was worth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pumapayam Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 It's in a little spreadsheet on my computer, and I will post periodic updates with pretty charts in this thread for those who don't want to set up their own tracker in Google Finance or wherever.I looked into doing a whole streaming stock results thing and adding it to people's profiles, but it was going to be more time and/or money than it was worth.Okay easily done and clear now, so this weekend will be okay still? So I know my share situation? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark F. Barnes Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 Better read the fine print on the 4% gratis for the after hours trading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwilson Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 I would stick every dime in AIG.At present value that is 413 shares ($2.42). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jm1fd Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 I'm all in on DUG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flipper Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 I'm all in on DUG yowzer, down 36% today. hope your luck changes by Sunday (but not really) I wish the dagum thing started today. My stocks are up 7%, 10%,10%,23% flipper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoolBuddy06 Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 All in AAPLDid you realize that your probability of beating me is 1/2? If someone else stuff their 1000 in MickeyD's then I can never win. It doesn't mean you'll win though, just that either of you will make more profit than me, assuming the stocks do well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sifuwong Posted October 15, 2008 Share Posted October 15, 2008 Anyone seriously considering AIG? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
native_Houstonian Posted October 15, 2008 Share Posted October 15, 2008 Well, to win this I'm going to guess that you will need something that will be volitile and trade in high quantities. I'm going to guess with $1000 worth of SIRI (XM Sirius Radio). I know I'm personally hooked and will forever keep my subscription. All or nothing, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chamo Posted October 15, 2008 Share Posted October 15, 2008 Let's blow $1,000 going the OTC route:$500 worth of OOIL ($0.37 this a.m) and $500 worth of ZIPI ($0.08 this a.m.)The little money I have left after the last couple of weeks, will remain under the mattress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.