Friend Me by John Faubion Read Free Book Online Page A

conservative mix of common stocks, AAA bond funds, and a high-yield-percent money market to give it flexibility and keep it nimble. He could bring the current return higher, but it would be at the cost of a lower annual return. Archer would just have to live with that.
    Unless . . .
    He’d never been comfortable with options trading, but a good trader could do very well with options. With a “call” option, he could control a block of stocks for three, six, nine, twelve months or more. It was risky, but when it was profitable, it was very profitable.
    Gleason Archer’s portfolio was down and Scott had to bring it up.
    Almost all of Scott’s trading and investment strategies had been based on the fundamentals of traditional investing. He was accustomed to looking at the strength of the company, its value in the marketplace, its management, its track record.
    Options trading was based more on what traders called technical analysis. Technical analysts looked at the patterns in the stock over time. They looked for stock prices that rose and fell in repeating patterns. They attempted to see into the future. Scott understood how it worked, but as a conservative investor, and particularly as one who invested for other people, he had always stayed away from it. Now, however, the pressure was on. Could he do it, and do it right? He was not an amateur trader. It was time to marshal his skills and do what he had been trained to do.
    When he pulled it off, the Archer account would jump backon track overnight. If he failed, then he was probably no worse off than he already was.
    He turned to his computer and pulled up his charting and analysis tools. He would work and study until he could determine if an opportunity existed. And if it did, then maybe he would just take it.
    Carpe diem . Seize the day.

CHAPTER SEVEN
    Flat
    S cott wanted three specific chart patterns in a range of midcap stocks over the last five years. He keyed the criteria into his Stock Scan software. A small box popped up indicating that the scan would take forty-three minutes.
    He picked up the Bible from the shelf in his cube, turned to today’s date. It was arranged in a one-year format. If he was faithful, he could read the whole Bible in a single year.
    The Old Testament portion looked long. He skipped to the New Testament and read the story of the woman taken in adultery. He stopped when he got to the selection from Proverbs about the immoral woman at the end.
    â€œLet not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths. For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by her. Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death.” There were worse things that could happen to a marriage.
    He sat back in his seat and looked at the screen. Twenty-two more minutes. What could he do while he waited for it? Whilethe scan was in progress he couldn’t do anything else with his computer or he’d risk slowing it down. Many of the staff had left for a tax seminar so he had a little more privacy in his cubicle than normal.
    He could call Rachel and apologize for the way he’d been acting. He’d been treating her more like she was in his way than in his heart. When was the last time he’d just stopped what he was doing and looked into her eyes?
    He slipped his office phone headset on, then punched out his home number. Five rings later the automatic answering system picked up. Hello, you’ve reached Scott, Rachel, Scotty, and Angela. We can’t talk right now, so please leave a message . Before he reached the end of the announcement he hung up the phone. Where could Rachel be? Oh, today was a Hugest Loser day. She might still be out.
    That’s what he felt like right now, the world’s Hugest Loser. If he lost his job his reputation would be toast. Then what would he do? In the financial industry you couldn’t survive being blackballed. The question