Mad Money Machine

by Paul Douglas Boyer

I guess we gotta go from CTRN

A not insignificant part of the Portfolio Smackdown is to gauge how a joe schmo like me would perform following Jim’s picks. I am supposed to act like Jim has all the calls on all the stocks and if I miss a show, that’s part of the game. Well, apparently I missed something on the 5 July show that said we should sell CitiTrends (CTRN). He referred to an email on his 7 July show about CTRN and talked about how he had a CitiTrends jacket on his chair and stabbed it like in Psycho. Wow, what an ambiguous call that is. How am I supposed to handle my money with hints like that?

Anyway, so like I was saying I am getting caught up on Mad Moneys and so I saw that and then went to theStreet.com and typed in CTRN and lo and behold, he said to sell it on 5 July. So playing Joe Schmo, I am going to sell it right now, 3:59 today at 27.84 per share. And since the market is just about to close, I don’t have time to figure out a stock to swap into yet. Perhaps JC Penny or ANF?

The good news, if any, is that we can take the short-term tax-loss and apply it to previous short-term tax gains to offset our taxes.

And if I had watched the show and sold it on the opening the next day? I would have possibly gotten $38 per share instead of the $27.84 per share we’re getting now. YIKES! The lesson: NEVER MISS A SHOW TO YOUR PERIL! 🙂

Tue, August 1 2006 » Blog