mefla, what did you decide re: the mortgage? We are paying our mortgage down and I go back and forth between throwing extra cash at pay down or investments. In the end, we'll do a little bit of both things. If we get a good dip soon, this month's check will go to the brokerage instead of the mortgage.
My active stocks are --
Apple, Amtrust Financial, Walt Disney, Starbucks, Skyworks, Facebook, American Tower, Wells Fargo, Bank of the Internet, Skechers, Ambarella, Gilead, Papa John's, Snap On, Seaspan, Medtronic, Visa, Paraxel and Nokia.
I'd like to narrow it down and focus it a bit more so I can be very attentive to each company. I listen to a few sources, Motley Fool Pro, Saul @ the free boards at Motley Fool and Jim Cramer's podcast. My annual fees for advice are just under $1,000 and my port is big enough it can gain or lose more than $1k in nearly any day of trading, so the fees are not killing me and I enjoy being part of the investing community, and especially getting some hand holding when I'm nervous or have questions. Many of the stocks I own are covered by analysts from the service so I have help in selecting and monitoring the companies and that gives me great peace of mind.