A little gambling with play money? Sure!

Once a bulk of your assets have been allocated into a broadly diversified portfolio to suit your financial goals and you are on cruise control - well things can get a little boring. Long term investing if done right SHOULD be boring.

However, IMHO it doesn't hurt to set up a small "play money" portfolio (about 5% of overall asset base) just to keep things interesting. With this play money - you could trade stocks, options, derivatives, heck even buy into Cramer's tips all you want.

I would be lying if I said I didn't get a rush from watching a penny stock that I just bought triple in a couple of days. So go ahead - make a killing on penny stocks and the likes. Trade 'em, short 'em, ride 'em up the hill and speculate to your heart's content.

Just remember to do so with only your play money (money that you can afford to lose completely) and don't get carried away and big headed when you double your money in a couple days. It was probably just luck :-)

Its like eating healthy on weekdays and pigging out on the weekends - gotta have the double cheese burger and curly fries once in a while!

Happy trading.....and if you've got any "hot" picks, leave a comment. I'll check them out too.