So the title of this post is a bit extreme. I don’t claim to have the full answer. I don’t think anyone really does. But I have been researching this for a while and trying to figure it out. Why are some people happy and others not? And more importantly, how can I be more happy?

I have a couple resources that might help if you are also looking for answers to these same questions.

1. The book Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh – this book is actually the story of Zappos.com but there is a section in the end about happiness, and reading about how Tony figured out what made him happy and how he built his life and company around that, and was still able to profit was inspiring.

2. Another book, by Shawn Achor – but actually I have not read the book yet. I downloaded a brief work that [...]

In this video, I show you a tool that I use to sometimes help me find trades.
This free website can literally give you hundreds of trading ideas no matter what kind of trader you are.

Ever want to know what it feels like to fly over the earth?

Check this out:

 Here’s the description from the original choppy version of the video:

A time-lapse taken from the front of the International Space Station as it orbits our planet at night. This movie begins over the Pacific Ocean and continues over North and South America before entering daylight near Antarctica. Visible cities, countries and landmarks include (in order) Vancouver Island, Victoria, Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles. Phoenix. Multiple cities in Texas, New Mexico and Mexico. Mexico City, the Gulf of Mexico, the Yucatan Peninsula, El Salvador, Lightning in the Pacific Ocean, Guatemala, Panama, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Lake Titicaca, and the Amazon. Also visible is the earths ionosphere (thin yellow line), a satellite (55sec) and the stars of our galaxy.

This is Charley Reese’s final column for the Orlando Sentinel… (I have never heeard of him but a member forwarded this  to me and it makes sense to me so I am positng it here)
He has been a journalist for 49 years.
He is retiring and this is HIS LAST COLUMN.

Be sure to read the Tax List at the end.

This is about as clear and easy to understand as it can be. The article below is completely neutral, neither anti-republican or democrat. Charlie Reese, a retired reporter for the Orlando Sentinel, has hit the nail directly on the head, defining clearly who it is that in the final analysis must assume responsibility for the judgments made that impact each one of us every day. It’s a short but good read. Worth the time. Worth remembering!

545 vs. 300,000,000 People
-By Charlie Reese

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then [...]

There is a lot of volatility in the markets these last couple weeks. The DOW is up 100 points then down 124 the next. Then up again, then down. But overall the short term trend has been down.

But there is a sector that is doing well.

Fast Food. Well not exactly fast food, but whatever they call the sector that is lower than the sit down meal with the waiter.

Take a look at CMG – Chipotle.  And PNRA – Panera Bread.  and MCD – McDonalds.

All doing well, all at 52 week and all time highs.

Why? Well run businesses with pricing power. But also because they are growing by building more stores, mostly overseas.

All 3 of these are in my retirement accounts and will stay there for years to come.

Here is an interesting article by Dan Froomkin of the Huffington Post.

Orginal article here

Members of Congress Get Abnormally High Returns From Their Stocks

Members of the House of Representatives considerably outperform the stock market in their personal investments, according to a new academic study.

Four university researchers examined 16,000 common stock transactions made by approximately 300 House representatives from 1985 to 2001, and found what they call “significant positive abnormal returns,” with portfolios based on congressional trades beating the market by about 6 percent annually.

What’s their secret? The report speculates, but does not conclude, it could have something to do with the ability members of Congress have to trade on non-public information or to vote their own pocketbooks — or both.

A study of senators by the same team of researchers five years ago found members of the higher chamber even better at beating the market — outperforming it by about 10 percent, [...]

Can I make living trading options?

That’s what everyone wants to know.

Seems everyone hates their jobs and wants to sit back and trade options for a few minutes a day and make a very nice income.

And why not? Heck, that’s what I want. But it is doable? Is there anyone out there trading options for a living?

Answer: YES.

There are many people who trade for a living. But most traders don’t stick to just options or just stock. The ones I know trade everything – options, stock, bonds, commodities, even forex from time to time.

Can you make living selling options?

YES again. If you don’t get anything else out of my emails, I hope you see that making 10% on an option selling trade like an iron condor or butterfly is not that hard. We do it every month. The trick is to manage your positions and avoid loses since not every trade [...]

Are you a Boomer Trader? You are not alone.

Baby boomers make up the majority of OptionGenius.com members and prospects. And they seem to be the most motivated to learn how to trade quickly. This is a good thing but boomers have to be very careful. There are a lot of snake oil salesmen in the stock/investing/trading world that want nothing more than to take your money to “teach” you some magical trading system that does not work in the real world.

I am glad that you are motivated and taking action to take care of your own money, because no one care about it as much as you do.

The following article is from Forbes magazine.

The Golden Age Of Trading

Emily Lambert, 03.23.11, 06:00 PM EDT
Forbes Magazine dated April 11, 2011

The number of retirees trading actively online is growing.

 Maureen Christensen had put in 32 years as an information technology specialist when in June [...]

It’s been a couple days since I asked the question, “What will LVS do?”

From what I can tell, LVS hit the resistance, and fell back into the channel.

Why? Well fundamentalists will tell you it is because LVS missed on earnings. Actually their earnings were pretty good but below analysts expectations so the stock took a beating.

Was that it? Or was it a technical move – LVS hitting its head on the ceiling of its trading range?

Who knows? But it was fun to play. Congrats to all those that got it right.

As for my trade, it is still doing ok. I don’t get into trouble until LVS goes below 145. Even then, I am happy because I will get to buy the stock at that price, which is the lower end of the range. I want to keep LVS long term and trade around it, so i plan to sell the [...]

Part of the reason trading is so addictive and fun, is that you never know what a stock is going to do. I found a trade setup and thought we could make a game out of it. it’s called, What Will LVS Do?

Here’s a screenshot of a daily chart on LVS as of midday today. As you can see from the chart, LVS has been trading in a range the last couple months, but with the news today is moving towards the upper resistance level.

Click on the Image to Enlarge

So What Will LVS Do?

Will it hit resitance and drop back into the range, or will it break through and go higher?

If you pick correctly you get the amazing prize of knowing you picked correctly.

So please post your answer and your thinking as a comment, and maybe we can all learn together about how stocks move and [...]