Flame On!

Here's what I've done: I've taken the miniscule amount of money I call my life savings and converted it into stocks. I'm now a proud part-owner of Marvel Entertainment. If I were a smart man, I would have done something for show like buy one share just to say I put my money where my mouth is but I'm a grown man and I like to do irresponsible things as often as I can.

From bankruptcy nearly a decade ago to hit movie after hit movie, Marvel is going places -- I hope. Now that Iron Man has pushed them to record heights, everyone is a true believer. I was trying to figure out if I should put in a couple of thousand or a few thousand. Big difference. I mean, that could be the difference between an unemployed Jon in the fall or an employed one. After some thought, I decided to hedge my bets and put in only enough so that I won't have to pull it out until 2009-10. The wise man invests long term. The wise man also diversifies but whatever.

So anyway, after the next slate of awesome Marvel movies comes out, I'll be a rich man. Or I'll be a pauper but with 5000 superheroes stacked behind me, ready to defend the universe -- or fend off my creditors.

After setting up my very first stock market account, I eagerly put in a purchase order yesterday. If I had done it over the weekend, I would have been far better off -- because Iron Man opened so well and Marvel's first quarter earnings report came out to great acclaim on Monday, the price jumped nearly ten percent -- but it's better late than never right? Of course, as soon as I put in my order, I started second guessing myself and tried to figure out if I should wait a week to see if the stock goes up or down. In the end, I just closed my eyes, gritted my teeth, and said "Avengers Assemble!"

I bought in at $33.05 Monday morning. Now it's at $33.49. Haha, I'm rich! This stock market thing can seriously make you crazy. I went down four percent in the morning and then up a bit by the time the market closed. I stayed up until 6:45am to make sure my trade went through and to find out how the market was reacting to my initial foray into day trading. Now that my money's working for me, I just hope it didn't inherit my work ethic.

Make Mine MVL.