I'd suggest for starters, you share your stock picks here.

Next, if you are looking to re-enter the job market, start on a(nother) college degree or certification. Long journey begins with a single step.

My personal opinion is that depression is a state that encourages non-action, and non-action leads to powerlessness and pain so quickly that depression and pain are considered identical. (I doubt they are.) Anyway, the cure for depression, drugs and therapy aside, is action.

Have you considered taking or starting to take college courses geared toward enhancing your resume?

Best of luck.

Time for you to enhance your education ( college or IT school )while you do your investments thing ..good luck and don't give up.

Check this article out related to picking stocks. It's from last year but you get the idea.

I've been over-employed, and spent a period unemployed. The latter can be demoralizing, particularly if you tend toward workaholism (I did.) My only suggestion would be not to concentrate on making money right now---concentrate on figuring out what kind of employment you would love. The kind of job that you wake up in the morning eager to get started. You can look into vocational testing to assess potential areas of strength, but I'd guess in your heart of hearts there is something that you have always wanted to do; perhaps wished you were doing while you were at your daily job. If your plans truly invigorate and excite you, go for it! Only live once--to avidly look forward each day to your work is pure pleasure....rather than waking with a sense of anxiety, stress, or even dread. Perhaps a degree,certificate, etc. in some new area of interest to you might open some doors. This coming from a woman who was a psychotherapist for 20 plus years....burned out....my new position has nothing to do with social work or disturbed adolescents and is something I would do for free. Luckily, I'm paid for doing something I love! Best of luck to you, and keep us posted....

My stock picks were:

These were all purchased last year 11/24/2000:

Ballantyne of Omaha (BTNE)
Centennial Bancorp (CEBC)
Donnelley, R&R (DNY)
Jefferson-Pilot (JP)
Kaneb Pipeline (KPP)
Monterey Pasta (PSTA)
Polaris Industries (PII)
Theragenics (TGX)
USFreightways (USFC)
Velcro Industries (VELCF)

I was looking for companies cheap on a PE and Price-to-Book basis but which also were significantly off their high prices. I also looked for past growth, which I was hoping these companies would return to. I wasn't specifically seeking out small companies, but most of them turned out to be small. Also, if the companies paid significant dividends, that was a plus.

Around April I sold out VELCF because I received the newest annual report and couldn't figure out what their business strategy was. I broke even on that.

In May, I used the money I had sold to buy Primesource (PSRC) at $4.30. In August the company was bought out by Fuji at $10.00 per share. That pick alone accounted for 13% of my 41% gain.

Of the others that I sold this past week, the biggest winner was TGX, which gained 80% on revived distribution for their cancer treatment product. Kaneb Pipeline gained about 55% on an improved general environment for some energy stocks (until recently). Centennial Bancorp gained about 35% on lower interest rates from the Fed. Most of the others gained between 10% and 25%. Although Monterey Pasta had a nice 20% + gain, if I had somehow picked American Italian Pasta that stake would have doubled.

Jefferson Pilot, barely broke even, a disappointment. Ballantyne of Omaha (BTNE) is the lone loser. I bought this at a cost of $0.69 and it recently traded at $0.55. I still have faith that it will come back in the new year.

Part of the 41% gain was a 2% dividend yield overall.

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I would be happy to share my future stock picks with this board. What I think I will do is create a new FreePer ID just for my investing stuff, to disassociate myself from some of the other things I've said under this ID.

Whenever I have a pick I will post it here as a vanity and link it to my board (where I explain why I think XYZ stock is good). How does that sound? If I do well it may be a way to get traffic.

Hold on, depending on how I post, could it be considered spam? I don't want to spam anyone!

Another related one here

Most firms are laying off people ; however , you might want to consider an " upstairs " job at an Exchange. I assume that you are in no position to buy a seat right now. Seat rentals are VERY high, so I wouldn't necessarily advise you to do that either; especially if you haven't ever worked on a floor of an Exchange.

I do wish you luck and also my well wishes for ALL of your family. I'll pray for the return of good health for your wife, happiness and stability for your wee ones, and sucess in whatever you wind up doing.

Thanks for the articles. I will save them for reading tomorrow when I'm wide awake.

Forget all the advice about returning to college and learning new skills. That's all a waste of time for you. In fact, it's been a waste of time for most people for at least the last 20 years.

Start a business. Become an entrepreneur. Find something that you enjoy or can tolerate and in which your wife and family can participate. Then, work like hell. The work will take your mind and your wife's mind off your problems.

You'll never get rich working for someone else. Look at all the immigrants who come to this country and are forced to become entrepreneurs because no one will hire them. Within 10 years, many of them are driving a Mercedes and wearing a Rolex. And of course, the guys who went back to college are working for them.

Good words of advice.

I would add that since he says he has a year's worth of money saved he is in a much better position than most at starting his own business.

I am 55 years old. I give you hard earned wisdom.

Everybody needs a trade. Saint Paul made tents.

A trade is a skill that is in demand nearly everywhere, and whose practitioners are scarce. People working at trades are why the world works. They are generally hard work.

You mentioned that you were starting an investment website that gave advice for free and that you were going to try becoming a top reviwer for Amazon. Neither of these two things will put money in your pocket. That is what you need to do. I would take an entry level position at any company that would have me and work my way up from there. If you are a bright energetic young man you will be recognized and opportunities will follow. What you are doing now is useless BS that will just waste your time and put you deeper in the hole. Your stock picks are not that mind boggling. I hear all kinds of gen-xers touting Theragenics as the next Microsoft. Stop looking to get rich quick and get a real job that pays real money, regardless of what that may be and make your way up by working hard and showing up every day. That is how people get ahead in this country.

Sent to the wrong person...

Your post is dead on. You are absolutely correct. It took me years to learn the same thing and changed my life. It's not about how much money you make. It's about doing what you enjoy.

You never mentioned what skills and training you possess.

My advice: While you're waiting around for the perfect job to find you, stop screwing around with your computer all day and go out and get a job - any kind of job. And don't tell me there aren't any, because there are. Construction trades, waitstaff, landscaping...whatever. You might be surprised to find that with a little overtime, you will be making as much as you used to make at that fancy job.

It is obvious to me that the reason your wife is seeing a psychiatrist is that she has no future right now. If you love her, you'd better get busy and build her one.

I am so sorry for your difficult circumstances, fellow FReeper. The weight of the responsiblilty to "fix" it all must be enormous...I can only imagine.

Please get a Bible, and begin reading it to your wife, or even your whole family. Start with the Psalms, where you will find sympathy, prayers for help, and great encouragement. By reading the Word of God aloud to your wife and/or family, you will not only be acting as the spiritual leader in your home, which, really, is your most important role, you will be blessing yourself and your family members by sharing Truth, comfort, and wisdom with them. You will bless yourself and your hearers. You will be built up by the action itself as well as by the words you read. Reach up before you reach out.

I heard this the other day:

Love that reaches UP is worship.
Love that reaches OUT is compassion.
Love that reaches DOWN is grace.

Reach UP, ReveBM, and then you will be given the strength to reach OUT - to your wife, your family, and your community - with the career that is just right for your gifts, interests, and abilities. God's grace came DOWN from heaven in Christ; what a perfect time of year to receive Him!

If you don't own a Bible, Sir, I would be privileged to mail you one...just FReepmail me an address...it would be my honor.

My fiance reads the Bible to me. I can not tell you how it blesses and encourages me that he does so. Of course I can (and do) read the Bible on my own, but to have the man God chose to be my leader doing it makes the communication sweeter. We pray together as well. The saying, "The family that prays together, stays together," is a little trite, but it has truth in it. Pray hard.

May God bless and prosper you with true riches. Amen.

"more education"

Since you are homebound, try www.onlinelearning.com

You can go to school online. It's not the only school; just a suggestion.

Nobody is hiring right now. There's nothing you can do about that. But there are grown men and women supporting themselves and families by trading Pez dispensers on Ebay. I think that the traditional employment pattern hasn't been working very well for a long time. There is no loyalty between employers and employees. My Dad was just laid off and found out that the company that laid him off has a policy never to call back salaried workers after a layoff; seems they think they can't "trust" them.

The moneymaking paradigm has shifted. Maybe you're going to hit onto the new paradigm and everything will be okay for you and your babies. I hope so. In the meantime, seriously--pray about it. Taking care of your babies while your wife gets well IS a worthy occupation for any man. Get a blessing (if your church practices that--if you have no church then maybe this would be a good time to adopt one--lots of contacts if naught else) and suggest your wife get a blessing too.

If you have a grand a month in expenses right now, you need to try hard to make that grand a month somehow. There are lots of ways to make money if you're not proud. To feed your babies I know you'd be willing to stand by the road with a sign. Once you've humbled yourself to that extent, there's nowhere to go but up.

Your wife's depression is a real disease caused by faulty neurochemistry *BUT* the poster above is correct in saying that getting busy, with a purpose, is part of the cure. Still, you can't be leaving her alone with tiny babes to care for while you go out job hunting, not until she's significantly improved. Even if she's no danger to herself or them, she is no good to the children until she's better. She's your helpmeet and gently enlisting her in the cause of helping you two (four!) get back on your feet is what she's here to do. What does she enjoy? Ask God to help you find something to do that will also help stimulate her interest and participation.

Try to look at this time as a blessing. You are getting a chance to spend time with your children that most fathers can't even dream of doing. Your wife will get better and you will have an income and a castle of your own again. HANG IN THERE.

Is military service possible for you? I assume you're still young, and your wife's health care would be covered. Don't even look into this if there's no possibility that your wife will get well enough that you could go. I too get depressed and have difficulties with mood, but my time as a military wife greatly increased my resourcefulness and strength. I don't miss the long separations but I have to admit that they were, on the whole, good for my character.