bigdog’s Blog posts
Friday Community shout-out!
I found some real goodies in my community-crawl today: Bob Lunder, government bond trader turned full-time self-directed investor '“ plus he's a surfer and budding film producer. Keep l... more
my musical secret
So here's my little interview secret: every time I'm asked to speak with a reporter or on TV, I try to sneak in a quote from a song somewhere. Some are obviously money-related' quotes, others not s... more
a customer-service credo I can get behind.
John Sawers, our director of Web Applications, forwarded me this post from Joel Spolsky's blog; he's a developer and founder of Fog Creek software for bug tracking and other IT fixits galore. Joel'... more
trading options in pennies
Here's another industry development I've been meaning to, ah, get my two cents' in on: penny trading for options. (Dominic Basulto at our very own TradeKing Blog beat me to the punch'¦) The Wal... more
Friday Community shout-out!
Just took a fast coffee break and checked out our latest Community compadres '“ and found quite a few in the armed forces. Wink, Paul Goodsmith, and Austin Hill (aka the Educated Gambler, who just ... more
the NYSE goes digital
I've been meaning to weigh in on the NYSE going digital. Forbes did an interesting, although slightly sentimental article about the dying-out of the floor broker, and I've seen plenty of similar co... more
social bookmarking: the new buzzmaker
Further to my earlier posts about social media for investors and traders, I thought I'd share this Wall Street Journal article, 'œThe Wizards of Buzz', about another angle on this trend, social bo... more
have you fed your IRA lately?
Time to pay Uncle Sam, people. I'm sure you're firing up your TurboTax, or frantically filling your shoebox with tax-deduction receipts -- whatever your pre-April 15 ritual may be. If feeding y... more
TradeKing in USA Today
It's not every day a cartooned-you graces the pages of USA Today, so I hope you'll forgive me for sharing this clip. I got a real kick out of it '“ and I bet my mom will, too! more
TradeKing's got fixed income!
We just rolled out our new fixed-income offering, in partnership with ValuBond. Just go to Trading > Fixed Income and take a peek. We think you'll dig what you find there. We're powered for... more
we're married!
Just wanted to share my great news with everyone: my girl Courtney and I finally tied the knot on Saturday, February 24. I could say plenty about it, but let's just say the most important thing:... more
lessons from lots of dads
I felt sure there were other 'œlessons-from-dad' in the blogosphere, so I went a-looking. Here's a few you might want to check out. This blog describes how a father's career advice showed a yo... more
TradeKing site updates
I'm in a rush today, but I just wanted to give a shout-out to Kevin Corrigan's blog, our VP of Project Management. He wrote a really interesting post on all our recent site updates, some of which a... more
Dad-tip #5: plan your work, and work your plan.
Tell me your dad didn't tell you this one a million times. I've asked a few friends what maxims their dads had on heavy-rotation, and this one proved extremely popular. I think what Dad meant in t... more
Friday community shout-out!
Maybe I'm the only one who's noticed, but our profile pages have been climbing steadily in the last few weeks. Looks like we're going to crack four figures any day now. Today's shout-out goes t... more
Dad-tip #4: say yes first.
Okay, just to set us straight: Dad didn't say 'yes' to literally everything. (Believe me, I was a teenager under his roof. I got just as much 'no' as 'yes', sometimes more.) But he did make a po... more
Dad-tip #3: catch people doing something right.
I think that catch-phrase might be from a popular management book (perhaps the classic '“ The One Minute Manager), but I think of it as 100% Dad. What he meant was that curious phenomenon among bos... more
Dad-tip #2: communication is only half about talking.
Whenever I think about how complex communication really is, I recall this classic exercise my Dad used to run in his training classes: everyone takes a sheet of paper and holds it under the table. ... more
Dad-tip #1: it's all about enthusiasm.
The thing I remember most about my dad, in business as well as in life, is that he's all about enthusiasm. It infused his attitude, how he carried himself, and definitely his work. If you bring y... more
my business guru: Dad.
Most of my business sense I learned from my dad. Donato Sr. worked in pharmaceuticals for over 30 years, and throughout my childhood to the present, I've always picked his brain for ideas and fee... more
