Just for fun

If you've ever wondered if you can pick stocks successfully, I've got a website I'd like to recommend to you: www.marketocracy.com

The concept of the site is that there may be many people out there that are good at managing money, but have never had the chance or are simply in a different career field.

Marketocracy allows you to start out with a theoretical portfolio of $1 million. You pick the stocks you think will beat the market, make theoretical buys and sell orders, and then can track your performance over time. The site allows yo to compare your performance to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500, the Nasdaq and the top 100 players on Marketocracy.

It's actually a lot of fun, too. I started a couple of fantasy portfolios there in the fall of 2001, and my picks have done pretty well. See here for yourself: Mike Rivers Mutual Fund and Rivers Capital. They've also let me experiment with some specific methods of applying the value investing philosophy before doing it in my own or my clients' accounts.

If you've ever wondered whether you're good at picking stocks, you may want to give Marketocracy a try. If you're good, you may want to start managing your own money, and if you're really good, perhaps you can become a professional money manager yourself!

Nothing in this blog should be considered investment, financial, tax, or legal advice. The opinions, estimates and projections contained herein are subject to change without notice. Information throughout this blog has been obtained from sources believed to be accurate and reliable, but such accuracy cannot be guaranteed.