New Year

There’s not too much to add recently.  We managed to make it through the holiday spending season pretty well, and we’re still gaining ground in terms of saving for both our retirement and for emergencies.  After almost 2 years of learning the stock market (I turned $1,000 into about $600), I’ve now started experimenting with trading options.  I’m only using money that we can easily live without (i.e. not putting any additional money in the brokerage account), but my $600 is now up to $1,100 after reaching almost $2,000 a couple weeks ago.  Even though options can be risky, that same risk allows for amazing returns (and some crazy volatility).  So, gone are the days of watching our account value move up and down 1, 2, or 3% per day.  Now everything moves 10, 30, or 50+% almost every day.  Hopefully I can continue to do well and get us some extra money…