Weekly Wrap Up

What a week it has been. I managed to acquire two great companies, post quite a few paid articles on Seeking Alpha, and I also managed to come in above budget to provide that much more steam into the portfolio. That means that it's ultimately time to look back and see how I feel about it all now that it's all said and done. Let's first look at the articles that were posted on Seeking Alpha:

Hold GameStop - Unclaimed Future Opportunities

AT&T: The Future Is Here

Home Depot: The DIY Dividend King

All in all, I'm happy with the articles that I've posted this last week on Seeking Alpha. I was able to have the chance to have articles on three big companies that I really enjoyed taking a look at. GameStop (GME) was ultimately a hold while AT&T (T) and Home Depot (HD) were buys. At this time, if you've already looked at my portfolio, I only own AT&T but in the future I plan to pick up HD if I can get in on a great price for it. The company has such strong fundamentals and it's ingrained so perfectly into the American household that it would be hard to topple it. As for GameStop (GME), I'll be holding off for awhile. Their core business in gaming stores is definitely threatened with the growing digital game market and I want to see where that business model ends. Also, I fear what the economy taking a fall off the side would do to the business profits. If there are only a few dollars left on the table for an American consumer, I somehow doubt that it would go to used video games at GameStop (however much I'd prefer it to).

As for the budget, paying off the student loans for the wife has freed up a lot of cash flow in our household. Instead of having to spend half of our left over funds at the end of the month on student loans, we can now have that cash as free spending for more investing or for grabbing a few things that are needed. I'm excited to see where future prospects take these funds. I'd like to say that it would go towards paying off the last car loan that we have but quite honestly, the interest rate is so low that it's hard to justify it. I think the money would be a better use in the market where I can make more than what the interest rate charges me in capital gains and dividend payments. This is obviously where the Dave Ramsey school of thinking goes off the deep end in my mind. Why would anyone want to pay off a loan that has an interest rate of less than two percent when they can make three percent or more on the market at any given time.

Anyways, that's all I've got.