Investment Advice

I have been interested in stocks and investing since my uncle gave me a stock certificate, one share of Libby McNiel and Libby, back in the early sixties. I don't remember what happened to that share I doubt that I sold it.The commission would have cost more than the stock brought. Anyway, after I started work in 1970, some of the folks I worked with were buying stocks. That was before the advent of the 401k. I took most of the little bit of money I had saved and bought 20 shares of Southern Company. Later on, after I was married, I bought 20 more shares. A few years later, around 1980 I got a divorce and sold my Southern Company stock and several other things. That pretty much put an end to my stock trading. Then, sometime in the late 90's, one of the guys I worked with opened an eTrade account. He convinced me that it was lots of fun and a good way to make a little extra money. Buy low, sell high. You know the story. Anyway, I took $3000 out of my meager saving and opened an eTrade account. Through careful study, judicious trading and my usual luck, I managed to turn that $3000 into $1600 in less than a years time. So much for stock trading. It was along about that time that another of my co-workers and my boss made me an offer, jokingly, I think. They offered me $50 to tell them before I bought a stock. They were going to short it before I bought. Since everything I bought went down, they figured to make a killing. Sure thing, can't miss. Unfortnately for them I lost interest in turning dollars into half-dollars, so we never did strike a deal.

Fast forward to last week. I have been reading a lot about gold. Last week I decided to test the waters so I bought a little bit of gold. That was the day before the biggest single drop in the gold price in years. I wonder if those guys still want to buy my investment advice, I need to recoup some losses. ;>)