Risky Business

When I first began investing a little over three years ago, my goal was to have over $20,000 invested by the time I completed my 4-year enlistment in the Army which was supposed to be June 27, 2004. I was well on my way to achieving this goal before I found out I was being deployed to Iraq. Now, since I make a bit extra money over here and I have almost nothing to spend it on, I am well past my initial goal of $20,000. Because I have already surpassed my goal and I thought it might be fun to add a little excitement to my portfolio, I have been trading penny stocks. There are several different definitions for a penny stock; some consider any stock under $5 to be a penny stock, while others say that the limit is $1. I fall into the latter category. For the past few months I have been trading several stocks that trade for under $1, in fact, I haven't bought anything over 50 cents per share. This is extremely risky because the company could go bankrupt easily, the price per share could plummet, or the company could be a scam. However, I'm not worried about any of this, because it doesn't really matter to me if I lose all the money I've put into my penny stocks; it's all excess, and not even half the total amount by which I am over my initial goal; I only use my "play" money. I have been fairly fortunate so far and I have made a decent bit of money with my dabbling in penny stocks.

*NOTE:I do not recommend that anyone with any financial responsibilities even consider trading penny stocks. Frankly, it is stupid if you have any financial obligations, such as bills, car payments, house payments, etc. It is probably stupid anyway, but I figure my odds are a little higher than I would find in Vegas.