Every time I see the ticker symbol NEWT, my mind goes to Gussie Fink-Nottle. Augustus “Gussie” Fink-Nottle is a fictional character in the Jeeves novels of comic writer P. G. Wodehouse. Gussie is a friend of Jeeves’s master Bertie Wooster and a member of the Drones Club. He wears glasses and studies newts. Cindie and I watched the hilarious comedy and learned about Gussie’s fascination with newts. If you want to see a newts segment here it is: Jeeves and Wooster.

“I’m not going to have my newts stared at by all and sundry.” – Gussie Finknottle

Jeeves & Wooster TV series: Gussie Fink-Nottle is on the right. Bertie is in the middle.

Buying Less Than 100 shares

newts, as funny as they might be in a comedy, are not my purpose for this post. Far too often novice investors think that they should, must or can only buy 100 shares of a stock. If they believe that, then they are tempted to buy cheap stocks or stocks with a low price like $5.00 stocks. That is a huge mistake. It is also a mistake to think that you have to do an all-or-none order. When you enter a buy limit “all or none” order you are saying I want all of the shares, not just a partial order. However, there are times when it pays to set the order at no share limit (none) even when you want to buy 100 shares. The reason for this is that some sellers don’t have 100 shares to sell. But they are willing to sell you one share or 33 shares  or 75 shares. You can still get your price, if a seller is selling, but you might not get all of what you want.

NEWT – Newtek Business Services Corporation

NEWT is going Ex-Dividend on July 14, 2020.

NEWT position after I added another 100 shares

This morning I wanted to add to my position in NEWT. At first, I entered a buy limit order for 100 shares specifying “all or none.” I then thought “I will accept any shares at my price.” So, I changed my order from “all or none” to no limits. I immediately got my shares – all 100 of them in three transactions.

NEWT transactions – probably three different sellers.

Price Indifference

I am price-indifferent when it comes to buying shares. I will buy 5 shares of a $100 stock if the company fits my requirements rather than buy 500 shares of a $1 stock that is a junk gamble. The reality is that any stock that trades for less than $5 per share is probably trading for less than $5 for a good reason. It means other long-term investors aren’t usually interested.