After an up and down week, my stock portfolio came out up five dollars for the week. My latest purchases didn't fare all that well but the options that I have on Bank of America and Citigroup saved the day. And yes, it's probably not a good thing when your life jacket is two failing banks. Then again, a couple of prominent investors bought long into Bank of America (BAC) so things could be looking up.

For my lifetime, I'm still down about a thousand bucks, more than half of that loss stemming from my initial foray into the market. A few years ago, I bought 500 dollars worth of 5 stocks that basically became worth little more than 5 dollars in 5 minutes. 

I'm pretty happy with what I have right now but I may try to dump a couple of options this week. We shall see.