Initial Stock Rationale

Blog Post #1

When looking to invest in stocks, I decided to choose different companies covering a diverse market. I wanted companies that have historically shown increased growth. Therefore, there would be hope that my stock will steadily increase at a mild rate. I also choose companies that I already have some knowledge about and consider myself to have customer loyalty to. I think it is important to invest in companies that mirror the values that you hold as an investor. 

I choose Nordstrom as I have great loyalty ties to and consider myself a frequent customer. I am also researching Nordstrom in my Strategic Management course and wanted to learn about the company more from an investment perspective. Nordstrom's values as a company mirror what I tend to look for in a company, such as great customer service and exceptional value. In addition, I choose to also invest in Gap as I am a frequent shopper and have been interested in watching the different divisions within Gap grow and gain consumer attention. Similar to Nordstrom, I have had excellent experiences with customer service and the value of the products.

I choose Netflix because I am interested in learning more about how a company has transformed and grown with the constant changes within the global world. Amazon also sparked my attention because I am a loyal customer. I have found Amazon to successfully gain a large segment in the market, but also with heavily diverse products. I am intrigued to learn how the company as a whole has been able to reach such a large part of the consumer market and how that has assisted in the growth of this company,

I also wanted to invest in a company where I felt I do not know as much as I should. As I am not as knowledgeable about car companies, I thought it would be a good idea to start an investment in a company where I own the product. General Motors is different from the other companies that I choose because of the type of industry they cover. I choose to invest in GM to learn more about the automobile industry by starting with only investing 50 stocks at first in hopes to closely monitor my stock while researching the company to learn more about the growth and their values. Similarly, Tyson is a brand that I frequently buy from, and I also have a desire to learn more about. I also only invested 50 stocks initially to learn more about the company and their products with the goal to learn more about these two extremely different markets.

Berkshire Hathaway was another company I choose to invest in. Warren Buffet has superior knowledge in investing in a diverse range of companies and I am eager to learn more about his strategy. This company also holds much more value per stock than other stock I purchased. This sock will hopefully create balance among my other stock with its high value and with the inclusion of diverse companies. I started with only investing one share at it is valued high in hopes that I can watch the price grow.

My goals were to choose companies that demonstrated a variety in stock price. Within the eight companies I choose, the stock prices range heavily from valued over thousands per stock to pocket change. My initial plan was to invest in 100 stocks in the companies I felt I had greater knowledge about and invest only 50 stocks in the companies where I thought I needed more time to research and watch the stock before making a bigger decision. I want to give myself room to buy more stock as well and grow my portfolio. Currently I only invest about a third of the total amount granted. My strategic plan is to buy stock in companies that reflect safe investments with a variety in stock prices to create an investment portfolio that portrays diversity to grow while still having a solid base for stability. In addition to the stocks I initially bought, I hope to buy more stocks in other companies as well to broaden the diversity of my portfolio. I hope to learn more about the companies I choose to buy stock from as I gain more confidence and knowledge about investing.