A Day In The Life Of A Part-Time Investor – The Essentials

While many of the readers here trade stocks full-time, there are many others who are part-time investors in various forms.  I am one of the latter.  Having a job that does not allow you to constantly monitor the market and make frequent trades, I have to bridge that gap by using many of the tools and technologies available today.

With this post, I aim to share the essentials tools I use to help me keep the edge in this fast moving market.  Here’s the day in the life of a part-time investor:

The Gears

• iPhone – This is by far one of my most important assets I use for trading on the go.  Not only do I use this tool for trading, I take full advantage of the application library it offers.
  1. Mobile Browser – I currently use Scottrade as my broker.  I’m thinking about going to Interactive Brokers or Think or Swim, but I haven’t quite made the move yet.  Mostly out of laziness.  Scottrade, however, does offer a mobile site that comes in handy when I’m looking at my positions on my iPhone.
  2. Tweet Deck – Tweet Deck is now available on the iPhone!! How else can I effectively access all of the key tweets mentioned on Stocktwits?
  3. CNBC – The mobile version of CNBC loads very quickly, extremely simple to use, and is REAL TIME.  It’s certainly one of my favorite tools for iPhone.
  4. Byline – Although it costs you a few bucks, it’s well worth the investment.  Byline RSS reader allows you to sync with Google Reader, and even cache all of the articles/images so that you can read all of your favorite posts no matter where you are without the internet!  Since I commute to work, losing internet connection from time to time, this is a must.

• Firefox or Internet Explorer – using the tab features, I separate my work related stuff with the investing related sites artfully.  By using CNBC’s real time quote feature displayed right on the tab of your browser, I manage to keep track of my prices real time without people even noticing!  Now that’s skill.

• Dual Monitor – If you don’t have a dual monitor as an active trader.  You failed. Go get one.
• Pidgin – If you haven’t heard of this chatting tool, you’re missing out.  Pidgin is a free instant messaging software that allows you to sync all of your IM accounts into one (Google Chat, AIM, Yahoo Chat, MSN, you get the idea).  I use this to chat with a few folks I trade with all the time.  I even had some IM exchanges with Quint from Tickerville.com and heard that he’s watching Master Card (MA) short.  What did I do? I actually looked at MA myself and decided to short it for a nice profit a few days later.

The Action

• 6:30 AM PST – I wake up to an annoying alarm every morning to start the day with Wall Street.  I log onto my computer with a 37″ LCD monitor and check how the market kicked off the day.  Sometimes if I have some trades that are exciting, I wake up extra early to check the pre-market and formulate some trading strategies.
• 7:30 AM PST – I leave home to work after making a few trades if I had chosen to do so.  Sometimes I make no trades.  Now, this is when my iPhone kicks in fully and I get onto my mode of reading investing articles, checking twitter messages, and so on.  I also handle my blog related businesses while I commute.
• 8:30 AM PST - Drink coffee.  That’s about the only significant part of the morning.
• Throughout the day I constantly monitor my screen while working to see where the market is headed.  If I’m tied up in meetings all day, I make sure to bring my iPhone with me so that I attempt to look busy checking my work emails on the go.
• 12:00 PM PST – It’s game time.  In my mind, the last trading hour is the busiest and most volatile hour of the day for Wall Street.  As I go grab my lunch, I’m keeping a close eye on the market to see what it’s doing.  Man does it get crazy sometimes.  How many times can you guys recall the last 30 min rallies and sell-offs this year? Just crazy.
• I pretty much work hard rest of the day until 6-7:00PM PST.  I’m a workaholic, I know.
• 7:00 PM PST – I start my 2nd job as a blogger.  This is when my real job gets going.  Checking emails, writing articles, interacting with others, reading articles, tuning up my site, and the list just goes on and on and on.
• Somewhere in between, I manage to keep my relationship with my loved one.  I don’t know how we do it sometimes, but I’m glad she’s supportive.
• 1:00 AM PST – Pretty much run out of gas and hit the sack.  At the end of the day, you feel pretty accomplished and fulfilled.

What makes you tick as an indivual? One thing I can tell you is….always go after something you are passionate about…because no matter how hard it gets, you feel fulfilled.

Share YOUR stories.  Email me and I will post them!