The Sun's Financial Diary

So I didn’t buy Google two years ago and now it’s traded near $500. But I have LFC. China Life Insurance (LFC), my biggest gainer so far, is on track to close above $100 for the first time today. Currently traded at $101.70 per share, LFC has seen its stock price more than tripled in [...]

I opend a QQQDirect account about two weeks ago and set up an automatic investment plan (the plan that offers one free QQQQ purchase every month) with $50 monthly purchase of QQQQ. When I checked my account last Friday, there was still no record of any investment yet, though the date I chose is the [...]

John Bogel, founder of Vanguard and pioneer of index mutual funds, is aiming his firepower at ETFs this time, especially the index and sector ETFs. Of the total asset in all index mutual funds is about $900 billion, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) now take a 38% share. In an article appeared on Bloomberg.com yesterday, Mr. Bogel, [...]

I have been investing in China for more than three years and the first China related financial product I purchased was Mattews China Fund (MCHFX) held in my brokerage account with Scottrade. I sold all my position at the end of 2003 when Scottrade started to charge commissions for even the non-load funds. Shortly after, [...]

When I looked at the quote of Nortel Network (NT) this morning, I couldn’t believe what I saw: $20.96 per share, up 875% from yesterday! What’s going on? Well, nothing much except that now I only own 230 shares instead of 2300 shares yesterday. NT implemented the consolidation today. The reverse split is at a [...]

It has been a little over four years since I opened my Scottrade brokerage account and started trading stocks. Back then, I was so excited about making quick money from the stock market that I kept the Scottrade trading window open from 9:30 am to 4:00 pm almost every day and didn't really do any [...]

Early last week I learned from SeekingAlpha.com that QQQDirect.com is now offering one commission free purchase of QQQQ, the ETF of NASDAQ-100 tracking stock, every month. After reviewing their website and fee schedule, I opened an account last Wednesday. MyStockFund.com, which offers QQQDirect plan, also supports other two fee-based investment plans: Basic Plan ($5.98 per [...]

According to SeekingAlpha.com, now you can buy the ETF QQQQ at QQQDirect commission free. The article on SeekingAlpha.com also reported that The NASDAQ is sponsoring and subsidizing this arrangement. After opening an online account and choosing a payment option, QQQQ can be purchased automatically in amounts of as little as $25 per month. After I [...]