Jonathan_Hoenig: It's so good to be here.

SueDM: Tell me, how did you come to be called "The Capitalist Pig"?

Jonathan_Hoenig: I think when people first hear what I do, and the name and all, they cringe because I think the term carries a loaded meaning for people, especially older people. For me, it's not about being wealthy or greedy or materialistic. It has nothing to do with that. It's about knowing what you want and getting it; looking out at this amazingworld, where virtually everything can be bought, and just knowing what you want and turning the afterburners on and making it happen; wanting to excel in every aspect of your life. Ultimately it's money that gets you want you want. We don't fight with fists, we fight with dollars; and I want more opportunity than anyone else.

guest-Shachi: What can you tell us about "day-traders"? Is this the wave of the future for investors?

Jonathan_Hoenig: This is SO annoying to me - this bastardization of terminology. I'll answer that question, but we should get our terms straight. A Day Trader is someone who is buying or selling something in the same day and closing out the day with no positions whatsoever...like stocks. When you're day trading you're not investing at all. It has nothing to do with long-term diversification. To me, it's like you can't use the same terms in the same sentence. They are totally different. I think, as a trader, I definitely understand the attraction of trading and it's something I do a lot on RagingBull.com. The experience of putting your own hard-earned money down and taking risks and believing in yourself and having the confidence to be right and also to be wrong. That's trading and totally different from investing.

Investing is boring. It's a boring process. It's not something you do all day long. So you have to ask yourself: Am I investing? or Am I trading? The first step most people need to do is segregate their money. If you want to play, set up "risk" money accounts and move it away from your long-term investments. Keep it separate. We've seen in the last few weeks how scary stocks can be. It's important to keep your fund money separate from your long-term capital.

KennyDidIt: Which commodities do you trade?

Jonathan_Hoenig: Good question. I trade soybeans, bond futures, metal and precious metals. I wish, as a side note, that people would take more of an interest in commodities, because there's a lot to be learned watching the commodity prices. We've recently seen higher interest rates in the market. That's something that people in the commodities business have known for a long time. You can't be just so focused on stocks. You need to follow interest rates and commodities prices. Over the short-term, supply and demand ultimately moves the market. Day trading stocks is not too different from trading commodities. You're looking at averages and technical indicators.

guest-danadana: Can you explain the chain of events that occurs when I tell my broker to buy or sell stock for me?

Jonathan_Hoenig: We'll keep it simple. It's asking the question of where stocks live ... what does the trade look like? More and more we are seeing stocks trading in 3rd marketsor newer trading systems. Let's say you want to buy 100 shares of Motorola. You call yourbroker and give him the order. He will either, by phone or by electronic communication, make contact with the floor of the NY Stock Exchange where Motorola is traded and your order is given to a specialist - "specialist" is just a term for the individual on the floor who is assigned to "make an orderly market", who's basically responsible for organizing the orders and matched in an effortless process. Assuming you had an order to buy or sell immediately, the specialist would match your buy order with a corresponding sell order and notify your broker. Hopefully you would come out the winner.

The two-sided simplicity of a trade is so cool when you think about it. If you buy, say, CMGI at $80 per share, somebody else is selling it to you who thinks it's going to go down. The favorite indicator that old-time Wall Streeter's watch is the "sentiment" indicator. If you ask people what they think and they tell you that they think the stock market is going to go up, that's the indicator to sell. Psychology definitely moves the market.

guest-toms_mom: We just had a baby, and between all the family and other well-wishers we gathered $5000 dollars. We'd like to start investing for his college education. (It's never too early!) How would you suggest we start?

Jonathan_Hoenig: Congratulations! I think using a mutual fund as opposed to individual stocks is an absolute must. You can't be very diversified with $5,000. I would encourage you to get aggressive and invest in stocks that historically have been more volatile. Historically, smaller stocks have been the best performers but that has not been the case for the past few years. I think you have to see how long the "long-term" is. I recommend putting away the whole $5,000 in an aggressive mutual fund. Vanguard and Janus are excellent mutual fund families. They don't pay me to say that! They have lower fees and are good mutual funds. So I recommend getting aggressive, not touching it, and keeping the fund expenses down. I think bonds, especially now with the rise in interest rates, are a fantastic investment.

You know, part of the reason I wrote my book the way I did was because I was tired of hearing the older investors say to put everything into stocks. Bonds and stocks are just different types of financial investments. For me, I can't be totally in the stock market. My stomach and my portfolio couldn't stand one massive draw down. It's a mix of stocks, bonds and cash that makes up a good asset allocation.