My Investments

This is the second and last action project of our Economics course. The purpose of this project was to make goals that we wanted to achieve in a certain amount of time and then make at least 2 different investments to reach those goals. I learned a lot about how stocks work and how to work the stock market and to actually make money. Another thing I learned was the definition of ROI, asset allocation, P/E. I am proud of my investments because I achieved my goals.

I believe in looking for trends in the market and also look for things that are new within a company that have the opportunity to grow. Also invest on small companies that have the opportunity to grow. watch the stocks everyday and if they are growing enough I will ride it out and if not I will just sell the share and invest in something else. I also believe in investing in companies that have a good reputation in the market and really have not seen big drops in stocks.

According to the Rutgers University’s Risk Tolerance Quiz. I have an above-average tolerance for risk. I am more likely to get into risky situations if my chance of success is greater than my chance of failure but enough money can tempt me into taking a big risk for a big cash reward.

I feel like all of my goals are pretty flexible but my long term goals are a lot more important to me than my short term goals. I will definitely allow for there to be shifts in my short and long term goals if necessary but as for paying of my student loans, that is my main priority. Below are my three financial goals I chose to look at for this project. 

• 1-year goal: Buy a car ($8000)

• 5-year goal: get an apartment $1,850 * 12 = $22,200 for a year -- be able to pay rent for 2 years  - $44,200 

• 25-year goal: buy a Maserati - $182,009

When choosing what to invest in, I had to reflect on my personal investment philosophies to find what companies would be best for me to invest my money in. I believe that the impact I make with my investments can ultimately shape the future and I want to make sure I make the right decisions with my money. If I were to invest in a company I want them to strive to make money cause if they make a good profit then I make a good profit. I also want them to have worker equality because if they are on the news for worker inequality then some people might shy away from shopping/working there and they may lose money. I also want my company to stay up with trends and not lose it relevance (Kodak)

I have chose to invest in Walt Disney Co, and Alphabet (Google) because they are both very successful companies and are innovative and continue to improve on themselves as a company. Even though there industries (entertainment and technology) are very different they have shown to be the lead in terms of the most innovative ideas and products. I feel like these are the companies of the future because Disney shapes the minds of the young and Alphabet (Google) is in my opinion the most innovative company out there as of today. Let me tell you more about my chosen companies.

Walt Disney Co. - Walt Disney Co is unmatched when it comes to the scope of entertainment, with shares in animation, television, film, theme park, and merchandising industries and is guaranteed to grow. Disney also has a P/E ratio of 22.4 compared to an entertainment average of over 100. They do offer dividends, recently $0.66/share. Also Disney is releasing 6+ Star Wars movies. I feel that Disney will do great with this movie just as they have done for many other movies and they will make a huge profit over the years and will hopefully continue to make profit.

I see Alphabet (Google) as one of the most innovative and up to date internet company out there today. I feel like Google is not only staying up to date with what's going on today but they are crafting the future. Google’s parent corporation, Alphabet, has an P/E of 34.86, compared to the industry average of 20.41, Which is not very good at the moment. I feel that Google has many more better years ahead and I am willing to stick with it. Google does not pay dividends to its shareholders.

Portfolio I - 1 year goal

invest 10,000-> ROI of $3,000
Google - ROI 21.9% - $1,980.20 - 2.82 stocks
Disney - ROI 32.1% - $8,019.80 - 70.92 stocks

Portfolio II - 5 year goal

Invest $22,100 --> ROI of $44,200 - ROI of 200%
Google - ROI 57.1% - $1267.44 - 1.8 stocks
Disney - ROI 208.7 - $20,832.56 - 184.23 stocks 

Portfolio III - 25 year goal

Invest $18,456.08 --> ROI $182,009 -->ROI 986%
Google - ROI 858.9% - $18,368.07 - 26.1 stocks
Disney - ROI 27,965.7% - $88.01 - .78 stocks

Stock sector is the industry that a corporation is in such as entertainment, internet, healthcare, energy, utilities and telecommunications. Walt Disney Co is in the entertainment business which means they deal with movies shows and making people entertained. Alphabet (Google) is in the Internet sector and basically that means anything that is online. I have invested in the two industries that I know will constantly be in demand.

The reason I chose to invest in two different stock sectors is because if one year the stocks aren't doing good in the internet sectors then I will still have the entertainment sector to fall back on till the internet rises again.

some assumptions I have made for the purposes of this project were.

1. One assumption I made is that Disney’s P/E will go up due to the 6+ Star Wars movies that are coming out.
2. Google is not doing very well right now but I have high expectations that their stocks will rise.
3. I also overall we have assumed that our plans for the future will stay the same and everything will work out exactly how we want it to

Citations

"Google." Google. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2015.

"Maserati." Maserati. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2015.

Investopedia Staff. "Stocks Basics: Different Types Of Stocks."Investopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2015.

"Google." Google. Google Finance - Yahoo Finance - MSN Money, n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2015.

For the Love of Skateboarding

This is the last Action Project for my Journalism course. The purpose of this project is to write a spot story about an event that you attended. For my spot story, I chose to go to the largest skate park in Chicago - Grant Skate Park. I chose to go there to create my spot story because skating is a very important part of my life and the sport get a bad reputation. I just want to show people the average day of a skateboarder and help get rid of the stereotypes about who we are. While completing this project I also learned a lot about my friend; we never really talk about him as a skater and why he skates. We kinda just skate and go with the flow. Now, since I got to interview him, I know and respect him more after learning his reasons for skating and what skating has done for him. I am proud of the video I made to accompany my spot story, which shows us skating at the park. it was a very fun day and the video of my friend and I skating is pretty cool in my opinion and I hope whoever views it feels the same.

BKJ, Grant clips (2015)

For The Love Of Skateboarding

by BKJ, GCE Chicago 10/24/15

“I don't get up everyday and skate to get known or be professional; I don't really care about that. I do it for the love of the sport and because it keeps me away from bad influences in my life.” These are the words of my friend, Rafael P., who believes that skating is life. As a fellow skater myself, I agree with him and feel that this is how people should view skaters. In reality, we are not all bad people. Rafael first started to skate as a kid in the Philippines because he had a boogie board and thought that skating was the same thing but on land. So he got his first skateboard and from then on he grew to be the kid he is today - one that doesn't go a day without wanting to skate.

On Monday, October 19 at around 3:30 pm, I walked the 8 blocks to Rafael’s house so we could go to the skate park.  Together, we skated to the brown line, which we took to Belmont. Then, we transferred to the red line and took it to Roosevelt. We skated for a block and a half to Grant Skate Park. The ride to the park was for the most part silent (other than the rough sound of skateboard wheels) because we were thinking of tricks that we wanted to get on film and make the best of the day.

The park is almost a full block long and has many obstacles for Chicago skaters to navigate such as the 8 stairs, the 6 stairs, various ramps, rails, rock gaps, marble benches, etc.. Grant is basically all gray besides the orange edges on the ledges and ramps. At the entrance of Grant along the right side there is an artsy stone formation with many colors that extends along the whole wall.

When we arrived at the park, it was rather unusual to hear Rafael say, “damn Grant is surprisingly empty today.” Grant opened Monday, December 8, 2014, and from that day until this one, the park attracts hundreds of people a day. Not only do skaters love going to Grant, but a usual day there will see scooters, bikers and skaters, and even a few people who just want to enjoy and maybe take photographs of the beautiful park. That day, Rafael and I only saw around 50 people, and so, yes, to us this made it feel "empty".

We spent our afternoon at the park casually skating around and when we had thought of something we wanted to film we would take turns filming each other.We eve saw something  unusual thing that happened at the park on that day was that there was a guy who had a pitbull on a leash pulling him around the park for almost 2 hours. I had a great time that afternoon. I felt very accomplished at the end of the day because we got a lot of footage and we landed most of the tricks that we came there for.

On a normal Monday, Rafael and I wouldn't have gone to Grant, but I did not have school since I’d broken my arm playing basketball and had to go to the hospital to get it checked out. Ironic, eh? Still, even though my arm was broken and I was mad that I had to keep the cast on for another 2 weeks, I was still relieved that I could enjoy skating with Rafael.

Rafael had another reason to visit the park that day. He had gotten an IPhone 5s and wanted to film with it using the slow motion feature, so we went to get footage for our skating YouTube channel. What better place to do that than the best skate park in Chicago?

Skaters have always been thought of as dirty, scumbag, potheads that don't go to school and only do bad things and that is not true for all skaters. One of my friends named Henry is a straight A student and he said that skating is fun but the one thing that he hates is that everyone looks at him bad and thinks down about him just because he is on a board.

More people should know about skating. Nowadays people like to assume they know everything about something without really knowing much about it at all, and this leads to all kinds of misconceptions and stereotypes. Not everyone knows about skating, but when people see a skater, they often think of someone who is dirty, has no life, doesn’t go to school, does drugs and other illegal things, and just is an all-around bad person. assumptions like these make me feel like I am being judged every time someone looks at me.

In my personal opinion and experience, skaters are some of the most dedicated, passionate and biggest dream chasers there are in the world of athletics. For a skater to get up from falling down 8 stairs, rolling an ankle and getting bruised and scraped up and have enough willpower and mental strength to get up and try again and again no matter how many times he or she fails obviously shows the greatest levels of dedication and passion for the sport.

For some kids like my friend Rafael, skating is an escape, one that helps to keep him strong, motivated, and free. Rafael "stopped smoking and stealing and hanging out with people that will distract me from following my dreams”. He made the value and importance of skating very clear, and I know this is true and real for many people, not just my friend and I. Skating has given me an escape from problems; when on a skateboard I feel invincible to any negativity. Skating has done so much for me and my friend. I don’t know where i would be in life without skating but I know it would be a bad place.

The Perfect Voice

This is the second Action project for my journalism course. For this project we had to choose a voice that speaks to us and do a podcast explaining why we think this voice is important and what makes it important. I chose to do Morgan Freeman because I feel that his voice is amazing and is one of the best voices out there today. I learned a lot about Morgan Freeman that I never knew like how he was enlisted in the United states Air Force. I am proud of my podcast and all the research I have done about Morgan Freeman. Please enjoy!

Brick Layer

For the first action project of my economics course we were asked to make a plan for our lives after high school. The purpose of this project was to choose two different career paths and see which one worked out. I feel like this project really helped me to figure out what I want to do after high school. Before this action project I had no real idea what i wanted to do after high school  but now I feel like I do. I learned a lot more about the cost of college from this class and also how I will be making a living. I am proud of the work that I did because I made it my own and I wrote about something that I can realistically do in the future.