So remember when I had first described myself as an old geezer with rusty computer skills who was getting paid half of what he was worth?
If you wondered why my skills had gotten rusty and chalked it up to me having gotten lazy and refused to learn the trending market skills, then you would be wrong.
Well, you are right that I hadn't learnt it but wrong if you think that I was because I had gotten lazy. You see 7 years after burying myself in the field of computer science, I had wanted more for my life other than the daily tapping of the keyboard and reading of codes from behind an office desk.
I wanted financial freedom, the American dream and after I had gotten into contact with some stock broker this one time, I shifted my attention from my computers to the financial markets.
The first five months were really shaky and had left me doubtful many times but I persevered and eventually, I made it big on a stock trade.
This stock made it possible for me to boldly leave my job as a computer analyst and rather than pursue trending tech skills begin pursuing trending tech stocks.
To my memory, that had been several years ago, a time that would make me smile and a time which I was reenacting but this time several years earlier.
4thy of May 2002, my second day in the past, after waking up, I got a message from the system
[Daily mission(optional)
Do 20 pushups, 30 jumping jacks, 30 wide arm pushups, and 30 squats
Reward: 10Xp
For random bonus reward: Jog 1.5 kilometres
Mission expires after 7:30 each day]
The system notification made me chuckle considering I saw the rewards as free XP for me.
As a man who had experienced the flaws and imperfections of a 50-year-old body, only I understood how much of a treasure it was to be in a young and vibrant body, and until I hit that 50 once more, I had every intention of keeping this body in tip-top shape.
I completed the basic mission but for today ignored the extra mission.
I cleaned up and though much earlier, like yesterday I went out and bought breakfast, not forgetting to buy both a general and financial newspaper and at the moment I was in a store looking to buy a desktop.
With my newspaper folded up and under my armpit, I stood looking at the several computers in the rack, mulling over which to get.
Dell dimension 4500. Price:$1300, specs: Pentium 4 processor, 512MB RAM, 60GB hard drive
HP Pavilion 540n, Price: $900, spec: intel Celeron,128 Mb Ram, 40 GB hard drive.
Sony VAIO RX series, Price:$1500, spec: Pentium 4 processor, 512RAM, 80GB hard drive
Apple IMac G4, price:$1600, spec: powerpc G4 processor, 256 MB RAM, 40GB hard drive.
"Tch, to think I am back in a time when these things are considered cool and efficient."
With a budget in mind, I purchased the Dell dimension 4500, and then some other necessities I would need to maximize the use of my computer.
10 minutes later I was back at the apartment, having the service men set up my system and then 30 minutes later, I was online sighing occasionally as I created a Charles Schwab trading account.
The interface for Charles Schwab back in the 2000s was quite different from what it would become in the future so it took me some time to navigate it.
An hour later after a small snack, I got the hang of things and had already deposited $6000 dollars in my account and was now smacking my lips as I prepared to get into a trade.
After I left my profession as a computer analyst I fully buried myself in the world of stock trading, learning all I could about reading the market as I embarked on my journey as a trader.
I was an excellent student at the university and the desire for excellence carried over when I studied the markets and past trends.
The year 2002 was one which saw a lot of upward and downward movement in the market especially the month of May which was still suffering the effect of the dot com bubble.
My knowledge from the future let me know that on the 4th of May, there was one particular stock that would seemingly start its glorious climb to power and it was that stock that I was going to buy into
[ Company: Pfizerizz
Shares bought: 805 shares
Purchase price: $6
Balance:$1160]
[Company: Mattel
Shares bought: 54
Purchase price: $18
Balance: $180]
Pfizerizz was a still budding pharmaceutical company that was trying to navigate its way in an era where tech was all the hype.
Though at the moment its leadership board seemed to be lacking, I knew with my knowledge from the future that it actually had some big names backing it and that soon around this evening or early tomorrow morning they would be releasing preliminary documents on some drug that could stall ageing, even claiming to almost having a patent.
Though this faux will be sometime later I didn't really care, profits were all I knew.
The second stock I bought belonged to Mattel, a toy-making company. They had just entered into business with Walt Disney for the licensing right to produce the action figure of buzz lightyear and woody.
Unlike Pfizerizz, I didn't expect a ridiculous profit from them but they were still a train that could be ridden some distance.
After opening up two trades and paying fees, 180 dollars was all I had left in my Charles Schwab acct.
With this done, I logged out of my acct, grabbed a soda drink by the side and with relish began surfing the web, reading up on the financial market and the housing estate business.