For this excercise, I chose to use the Quicken.com portfolio manager ( http://www.quicken.com/investments/portfolio/cnnfn ). The stocks I chose were Kellogg (K), Disney (DIS), and K-Mart (KM-T). All were started on October 1st. Stock Purchase Price (Oct. 1) Number of Shares Latest Price (October 4) Gain/Loss K $29.75 1,000 $28.99 -$0.76 DIS $18.50 1,000 $19.79 +$1.29 KM-T $37.00 1,000 $40.00 +$3.00 Starting with $100,000, I "purchased" $85,250 worth of stocks. In the three days, that value increased to $88,780. This is a gain of $3,530.