[Day Zero Project] 12.Make a 10% return on some kind of financial investment. COMPLETED!

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This is part of the “Day Zero Project – 101 Things I Want to Do in the Next 1001 Days” series.

Day Zero Project update!

I started investing in stocks and mutual funds a couple of months ago, not to make money per se but to get a personal taste of the inner workings of various financial markets. And to keep myself motivated, I set a goal of making a 10% return on some kind of investment, which in my opinion is not unrealistic at all but is not that easy to achieve either. And guess what? I just did it!

As you can see below, I bought 100 shares of BIOS on Nov 3, 2010 at $4.40 and sold them exactly two months later at $5.30. Taking into account the commission and transaction fees, that is a 16.06% return in total!

Of course, I am pretty happy with the investment overall. However, I wish it had not taken that long. On hindsight, I should have specified the time horizon of the investment. But since the original goal was stated as “Make a 10% return on some kind of financial investment” without reference to any specific time horizon, I don’t think I have cheated by holding the investment for two months before liquidating it.

And for those of you who are interested, my total portfolio has grown from $3,000 to about $3,180 in two months – a 6% increase. Again, it’s nothing miraculous, but it’s still much better than letting that money sit in a savings account. And I learned so much in the process!

As of now, I divide my portfolio between Charles Schwab (for their commission-free in-house mutual funds and ETFs) and TradeKing (for their low commission fee and excellent customer service).

(And if you want to open a TradeKing account, let me know. I will send you a referral email and both of us will get $50. )

Remember, you can always check out the full 101-Things-I-Want-to-Do-in-the-Next-1001-Days list on the side bar to your right or read the initial blog post. You can also follow my updates about the entire project here