Comments on: New Contest Features Monthly Prizes and Loyalty Prize

By: Mark Berger

Mark Berger — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:40:40 +0000

The same Buying Power rules hold true for a rich Survivor as well.

To raise cash, both Rich and Pooor Survivor must liquidate existing positions if they have not enough buying power.

By: Karen Anderson

Karen Anderson — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 18:53:45 +0000

poor survivor is more than likely not going to have any buying power….hence the qualification “poor” survivor…….so it is a catch 22 situation….. theoretically you could buy $7500 worth of stock if you had portfolio of 30,000….but more than likely you don’t have the buying power to do so….

By: Mark Berger

Mark Berger — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 18:09:34 +0000

JamesLT -
You will see that you won’t have an advantage with a small Portfolio.

Take this example:
Rich Survivor has a $150,000 portfolio and Poor Survivor has a $50,000 Portfolio. Both Survivors buy the maximum amount of Yahoo @$25/share.

Due to the new 25% max. buying rule, Rich Survivor can buy $37,500 worth of Yahoo! and Poor Survivor can only buy $12,500 worth.

Now, no matter what happens to Yahoo’s stock, each Survivor will gain/lose the same percentage of their original portfolio and thus remain equal in the Weekly and Monthly standings.

So, if Yahoo gains 10% to $27.50, Rich Survivor will see a Portoflio gain of $3,750, or 2.5%. Poor Survivor will see a Portfolio gain of $1,250, or 2.5%.

Both Survivors gain the same percentage amount: 2.5% and thus gain equally in the competition to win Weekly and Monthly prizes.

By: JamesLT

JamesLT — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:02:11 +0000

What Mark said still makes me worry about he guy that has a low dollar porttfolio, A person that has a portfolio at $25,000 and at the end of the end of the month has $50,000 increases thats 100% . A player has $100.000 and at the end of the month they gain $25,000 thats a 25% increase, the guy that has a smaller portfolio has the advantage…that all my point was about…the way it stands now I have a better chance to get money with my $22k portfolio than even someone with a $75,000 portfolio….thats If I can pick the right stocks

By: Mark Berger

Mark Berger — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 13:26:49 +0000

Not true Lorelie!

Dollar gains don’t matter in the new game! Percentage gains are what matter.

Everyone has the 25% buying limit and the prizes are based on PERCENTAGE gains, not DOLLAR gains, so everyone is judged the same.

By: karand

karand — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 13:18:08 +0000

Originally my opposition to the idea was based on looking at what my permanent portfolio has been doing (it is basically a flat tire seeping air slowing)… but that is really not fair since i don’t pay as much attention to that portfolio as i do the 50k portfolio… now i am thinking it might be interesting to see how i can perform when i switch my attention to a more “real life” situation….

By: Seti03

Seti03 — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 06:47:48 +0000

I have changed my opinion, now that WSS has fully explained it to me. i think this is a great idea. Just think guys n gals. You won’t have your portfolio dumped at the end of a contest.
Think now, what happens to a stock that you bought at a dollar, the stock takes off, the contest ends. You weren’t going to sell it anytime soon, but, now that in the past, you would have to repurchase the stock at a higher price ( unnecessarily increasing your downside risk)
You get to keep the stock at the price you originally paid for.
Great Idea….does any of this make any sense…

By: Lorelie

Lorelie — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:16:43 +0000

Still.. the poor guy.. with a 25% limit of port value.. cant invest the same amoutn of money.. and cant realize the same gains.. Just like real life.. the rich get richer.. and the poor get poorer.. Very slim margin of error for the little guy…

By: Mark Berger

Mark Berger — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 14:03:14 +0000

Doug:
Commissions will remain the same for everyone: $10/trade.

By: Doug

Doug — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 16:49:41 +0000

The 25% limit does change the overall fairness. But I still don’t like it. I think we should all start out at $100K.

What about the $10 commission per trade? Will that be factored in to the % gain? I know it’s not much, but it would make a difference. For instance, using your example, Mark, Poor Survivor and Rich Survivor each buy an equal proportion of the same 10 stocks at the same time and hold them for the same amount of time. Their percentage gains would be exactly the same, except for the commission. $100 to Poor Survivor is a bigger percentage of their portfolio than the same $100 to Rich Survivor.