Look Out Wall Street, Here I Come

I was listening to the news while getting ready for church last Sunday morning and I heard a news reporter give an interesting fact. He was talking about how CitiGroup and GM were both circling the drain. He said that as of the close of the stock market on Friday, you could buy almost three shares of CitiGroup stock for the price of what the ATM fee would be if you got money out of a Citibank ATM. He also said that you could buy two shares of GM stock for a little less then the price of a gallon of gas. I thought about these facts throughout the day and on Monday morning my curiosity got the best of me. I went online and reactivated my Sharebuilder.com account and deposited a hundred bucks, and when the stock market opened on Tuesday morning, I was the proud owner of 85 shares of CitiGroup stock. I didn't get the stock for the $1.02 Monday closing price like I'd hoped, but I did get in before the price started rising on Tuesday - fueled by a memo from their CEO saying they were "profitable." As of today's market close, I've made a total of $32.30.

This isn't my first time at playing the stock market. I did this same whimsical thing back in 2002 right before KMart declared bankruptcy. Of course we all know they went belly-up and were bought out by Sears so needless to say my $100 investment was pissed away. But I'm more optimistic about CitiGroup. And if the stock plummets tomorrow and I lose this $100, too, well, I've had more than $100 worth of fun this week just watching the price of the stock all day long. (I'm hoping my boss didn't read that last sentence.) I think of this as entertainment - it's what I would take with me on a trip to the casino boat, and my odds of making money are a whole lot better then on the slot machines.

The story doesn't end there, faithful readers. Not wanting to be left behind by me when I make millions on the stock market, my two co-workers opened up Sharebuilder.com accounts, also deposited $100 each and and now they're also proud owners of CitiGroup stocks. Yep, we're hooked. We've watched the price of CitiGroup stock this week like an crazed bidder on eBay watches during the final minutes of an item up for bid. So wish us luck. I'll keep you posted with a weekly report. And in case you'd like to keep track yourself, the stock symbol for CitiGroup is "C".