Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Parachute Investing

Ever jumped out of an airplane? It’s OK if
you have on a parachute. Pretty dumb if you don’t.

Every buy any stocks, mutual funds or Exchange
Traded Funds? It’s OK if you know how much you
are willing to risk. Pretty dumb if you don’t.

Parachute investing is buying an equity
with a parachute so you won’t risk all your money
or, better yet, give back the profit you have made
as the stock or fund went up and then goes down.
If you bought that hummer at $12 per share and
during the past couple of years seen it go up to
$52 you don’t want to give back that nice
profit, do you? With a parachute you can save
most of it. How?

When you invest in any stock of fund you
must know how much you will risk before you buy it
and how much of the profit you are willing to
give back when it turns down. Take that beauty
at $12. Instead of going up it went down. Are
you willing to agonize as it drops to $5? If you
had a parachute you would have jumped out of the
plane before it crashed. If you had an exit
strategy for your stock you would have sold it
before you lost a big chunk of your cash.

The secret of a safe investment is an exit
strategy. When you bought Mr. Twelve Dollars you
shook hands and told him I’d like to be your
friend, but if you change your name to Ten
Dollars I am leaving. Maybe that that is not
very nice, but nice doesn’t cut it in the
investment world.

Mr. Twelve Dollars said I am going up and
I want you for my friend. Please follow me and if
I falter you can leave and we will part friends.
Now that makes sense. You trail along and after
it goes to $52 it does falter. Do you know where
you are going to leave or are you going to ride
it go back down to $12? In other words do you
have your parachute on?

That parachute is your continuing exit strategy
that is in place every day. In the investment
community it is called an open trailing stop
loss order. Any broker can put this in place for
you. You might be lucky enough to have a broker
who knows where to place stops, but
unfortunately there are not many of them.

The brokerage industry does not teach its
employees (brokers) how to protect customers’
money. If that is the case you might want to use
the old standard 10% rule. Have the broker place
an open stop every Friday at 10% of the closing
price of that day as it closes higher. Never
lower the stop loss. Brokers hate this as it
makes them work, but that is what they are there
for and that is how they earn their commissions.

With your parachute you can always protect
your original cash purchase from a big loss and as
your stock advances you can lock in profit as
the stock advances.

Every investment should have a parachute.

Monday, April 28, 2008

Reverse Profit

How can anything “reverse” be a profit? I travel to the Money Show every twelvemonth to see with friends who have got booths and are speakers. Then when folks are filing out of talks I listen to their remarks about what I cognize the talker have been saying.

The Money Show is for investors from all
walkings of life; however, my conjecture is the median value age
is close to 60. Those who travel have got accumulated a
nest egg and now are retired or very fold to
retirement. They came to learn more than about how
to do their money grow.

Last twelvemonth there were 256 separate events not
counting what was given in the Exhibition Hall. Almost without exclusion talkers were showing
how cash can collect faster if the listener
bought his merchandise whether it was a mutual
fund, stock, bond, partnership, software or who
cognizes what. Are there that many money makers
out there?

One talker had an hr telling the market
was owed to clang and the thing to make was purchase long
term set option. He also said if you would not
make that to purchase some authorities chemical bonds which were
paying about 2 to 3%. The issue remarks I heard
were pretty well summed up by one lady who
said, “Is helium nuts. How can we dwell off 2%?”
When in a bear market the old expression is,
“He World Health Organization loses the least is a winner”. No, it’s
hard to dwell on that small a return, but
don’t lose large sums of money by trying to be invested
at all times. There have got been many old age in the
past where cash with no percent tax return beat out the
heck out of the stock market.

Go back to 2000 and retrieve that the
NASDAQ lost 78% of it value in 3 years. If you had
been in cash from 2000 to 2003 you would have
saved about 40% to 60% of your retirement
account. The Buy Normality Holders have got got still not
recovered their investments.

Selling out close (I did not state at) the
top, state within about 10 or 15%, the account would
have remained pretty darn healthy. Many investors
lost 30 to 40% Oregon more than than of their hard-earned money
and they would have got been able to purchase back many more
shares when the market resumed its upward journey. That is what I mention to as a “reverse profit”. The
net income is what was not lost by hearing to the
Buy Normality Hold brokers and financial planners.

There are 100s of thousands of investors
who have got got learned not to allow their portfolios
to depreciate more than 10 to 15% because they
have learned to sell when their equities start
to travel down. They sell and reinvest in a better
stock or monetary fund or sometimes just go forth it in
cash if there is not a good equity to buy. The winning rule of the stock market is
having an issue strategy that volition prevent
losing money.

There are modern times when having cash at zero
percent tax return will beat out a negative 45% inch the
overall market. What you don’t lose is called a
“reverse profit”.

Copyright 2006 All rights reserved.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Jack and Jill

Jack and Jill went up the hill to bring a
pail of …money. Money? They are continuing
to fill up their pail with pillory without any
consideration to the value of these equities. They are not worried at all as they are buying
“safe” common funds.

Everyone cognizes common finances are safe. Jack
and Jill cognize they don’t cognize how to pick good
pillory so they go forth that to the monetary fund manager. He is an expert.

When you look at the long term record of 99%
of the common finances you will see that expertness has
been sadly lacking. I detest to remind you of the
2000 to 2003 period, but I must. In fact I must
state you it is going to go on again. Now you
desire to cognize when….and sol make I.

And that is the problem with almost every
monetary fund manager. As long as the market is going up they
can’t make much damage to your account, but when
it revolves over and caputs down they have got no idea
how to put when a bear market is in progress. Not a single 1 of them will acknowledge that
cash is a position.

Cash is a position? They are in shock. Of
course of study they are. If brokerage clients put
their money in a money market account while the
market is falling it intends they do not do any
committee at all and if they urge this to
their clients the brokerage manager will fire
them because he won’t make any money either. “Keep your clients fully invested or I’ll show
you the door” is the manager’s comment.

You must learn when to sell. Any sap can
buy, but it is the wise adult male who cognizes when to sell. To see the status of the overall market one
of the best indexes is the SP500 Index. Your
broker compares everything he makes with the
SP500 because it is a wide alkali of 500 stocks
that are widely traded.

The high-grade index is the SP500 Index. Draw a 40-week chart of the shutting prices. If you
don’t cognize how inquire your broker. He will tell
you. Write it down and salvage it. It is very
simple. Rich Person him put up a 40-week Simple Moving
Average to look on that chart. Look at 5 years
worth of prices. Immediately you will see that
if you are in the market while the 40-week ma is
going up you are making money and if you are out
of all your places while the index average is
going down you will not lose money. It doesn’t
get any easier that that.

Jack and Jill can fill up their pail as the
market is going up and need not slop their
accretion while they walk confidently down
the hill retention their bucket full of cash not
equities.

Friday, April 25, 2008

Top 5 Credit Misconceptions

We have all heard the rumors…from neighbors, relatives or friends. There are a wide variety of myths floating around about what you should and shouldn't do to improve your credit reports and credit scores. The buck stops here! Phelps Creek Financial Coaching has exposed these urban legends to provide you with the truth about credit...

1. Your score will drop if you check your credit - Fortunately, this one is definitely not true.Checking your own report and score is counted as a "soft inquiry" and doesn't harm your credit at all. Only "hard inquiries" from a lender or creditor, made when you apply for credit, can bring your credit score down a few points. Worried about damaging your credit while shopping around for a loan? Multiple inquiries for the same purpose within a short amount of time (a few weeks) are grouped together into a less damaging period of inquiry.

2. Closing old accounts will improve your credit score - To close or not to close, that is the question. Many people advocate closing old and inactive accounts as a way for improving your credit. In most cases, closing accounts will actually have the opposite effect. Canceling old credit accounts can lower yourcredit score by making your credit history appear shorter. Think twice before closing the oldest account on your credit report. If you want to reduce your levels of available credit, ask for your credit limits to be reduced or close newer accounts instead.

3. Once you pay off a negative record, it is removed from your credit report - Negative records such as collection accounts, bankruptcies and charge-offs will remain on your credit report for 7-10 years after they are first posted. Paying off the account before the end of the set term doesn't remove it from your credit report, but will cause the account to be marked as "paid." It is still a good idea to pay your debts, it can improve yourcredit score, but the major improvement will come when the record expires.

4. Being a co-signer doesn't make you responsible for the account - When you open a joint account, co-sign on a loan or become an authorized user on someone's credit card, you are taking on legal responsibility for the account. Any activity on these shared accounts, good or bad, will show up on both people's credit reports. If you co-sign for a friend's auto loan and they don't make the payments, your credit profile will be hurt by their actions and visa versa. The only way to stop this double reporting is to refinance the loan or to have the creditor officially remove you from the account.

5. Paying off a debt will add 50 points to your credit score - Yourcredit score is calculated using a complex algorithm that takes into account hundreds of factors and values. It is very hard to predict how many points you can gain by changing one factor. For a person with a high credit score, just one late payment can cause a significant drop. If a person has a low credit score, it may not cause a large drop at all. There is no magical way to improve your credit score, just keep paying your bills on time, reducing your debts and removing negative inaccuracies from your credit report. Good financial behavior and time are the two most important factors on your credit score.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Are You Tired of Money Simply Flirting With You?

If you are like most then you are fed up with the money tease. The money tease is where you spot an opportunity that could potentially be lucrative for you. You hear how the opportunity is working for everyone else. They are making money hand over fist.

Picture this tease. Someone told you about an amazing opportunity to build wealth. The money looks so attractive to you. Look, the money is even winking at you. The wink represents the claims of making $100,000 or more. You try to play it cool and ask for more information. The money nods and signals for you to come and join it for a movie. The movie is the sales pitch of a greater income.

During the movie the money moves a little closer to you. That’s when the salesperson promises to treat you right and make all your dreams come true. You smile and imagine how you will feel when you end all your financial worries.

The money moves in even closer and whispers in your ear, “I’m everything you’ll ever need”. You smile and nod your head and smiling through your thoughts say to yourself, “this is what I’ve been waiting for”. The salesperson knows its time to move to the commitment stage.

The commitment stage is where you decide to “go steady” with the product or service. You have to devote your time and effort to the product or service. Then reality takes over. You begin to notice that this “going steady” is taking valuable time away from your family, fun and other activities, so you stop devoting time to the product or service.

You later find out that you fell for the money tease. The salesperson knew that you would not follow through anyway, because most people don’t. To top it off, the salesperson most likely has not done what they have claimed (which is making $100,000).

Well let me tell you how to stop the tease. First, think carefully about the opportunity. Does it seem possible? I show clients how to easily spot financial opportunities in less than 5 minutes flat! Your time is too precious to be wasted conducting boring research.

Second, will the opportunity keep your interest long-term? I show clients how to make money from high gas prices, which in turn will make gold prices rise. Can you see two profit opportunities here? I also work to get them their first check as quickly as possible. When you make money you will be so excited that I won’t be able to hold you back from telling everyone about the Money Tracks System.

Third, is the organization accessible should you need them? It does not matter what the company promises if they are not available when you need them. No teasing here – I’m known for giving my direct PERSONAL phone number. If a customer is valuable then there’s no better way to let them know this than to give them a personal phone number.

Finally, I leave you with fortune building advice I call Dave’s Diamond™. They summarize the main points of the message.

Dave’s Diamond™ #1: Think carefully about the opportunity

Dave’s Diamond™ #2: Be sure the opportunity will hold your interest long-term

Dave’s Diamond™ #3: Be sure you can reach the organization

To Your Continued Wealth-building,

David

P.S. Visit www.themoneymotivator.com and order Wealthy Investing Secrets and learn how to Crack the Wealth Code.

Sunday, April 20, 2008

21 Secrets of Self Made Millionaires

Self-Made Millionaires are not smarter or better than you. They have got just discovered these secrets and used them to go wealthy. You can make it too.

(1) dream BIG DREAMS. Thinking Big will change your life. For a clang course of study on this read "The Magic of Thinking Big."

(2) CREATE Type A particular picture OF WHERE YOU'RE GOING. The more than than specific you are the more likely you are to get there.

(3) think AND act LIKE YOU'RE THE owner OF A BUSINESS, THE BUSINESS OF EVERYTHING YOU DO. Even if you work for person else, you're attitude will set seeds for your independent greatness to grow.

(4) love WHATEVER YOU ARE DOING NOW. If you don't love it, leave of absence it. By saying no to doing work just for money you are magnetizing work to you that you can love.

(5) CREATE Type A MASTERMIND GROUP. Rich Person a regular meeting with others who are committed to edifice great lives. Share what you're up to and support each other.

(6) ESTABLISH Type A HEALTHY work ETHIC. Brand pickings action your best friend.

(7) COMMIT TO constant NEVER-ENDING IMPROVEMENT. Every twenty-four hours be searching for how you can learn more.

(8) see YOUR work AS SERVICE. Helping others will turn your business.

(9) KNOW YOUR BUSINESS FROM top TO BOTTOM. That's your job.

(10) PREPARE FOR OPPORTUNITY. It will knock. Volition you be ready?

(11) stay PHYSICALLY FIT. Strong heads make strong bodies. Weak organic structures are the consequence of weak minds. Your physical and mental wellness are the core of your success in life.

(12) PRIORITIZE YOUR LIFE. Bash what's most of import first.

(13) DELIVER MORE THAN YOUR customer EXPECTS. This constructs loyalty and repetition business. It experiences good too.

(14) discipline YOURSELF. Fill your life with activities and people that do you grow. Discard activities that have got negative consequences in your life.

(15) wage YOURSELF FIRST. This is the first regulation of the wealthy. Put money into nest egg before you pay bills. And DON'T touch it.

(16) make time TO be ALONE. This clip is for planning and hearing to what's inside you. Give your creativeness clip and silence to talk to you.

(17) go FOR GREATNESS. Value the best and don't settle down for less.

(18) honesty IS THE BEST POLICY. Know who you are and what you want. Express this with unity at all times.

(19) make decisions QUICKLY AND be SLOW TO CHANGE THEM.

(20) failure IS NOT AN OPTION. Your mentality is focused on success. You will have got success.

(21) be DETERMINED TO ATTAIN YOUR GOALS. Bulldog continuity constructs assurance which leads to victory.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Start Small and Your Wealth Will Get Bigger

We’ve all heard the phrase, “You have to start somewhere.” Nothing could be truer of creating wealth and prosperity in your life. Sometimes the idea of becoming wealthy can seem so overwhelming that we don’t know where to begin. After all, if we’re up to our eyeballs in debt or barely making it, how can we possibly think about getting wealthy?

Start small. This is one of the greatest wealth creating habits. If an oak tree can spring forth from a miniscule acorn, a money tree can certainly grow from a tiny bit of seed capital. Starting small can work in two ways to generate wealth: saving small amounts and investing small amounts.

Let’s start with the savings end of the equation. If you’re spending equal or more than your income each month (and most people are), then you need to slowly decrease your spending. It’s easier than it seems—just start small. Each month, choose one way in which you will decrease your spending. For instance, if you go out to eat once a week, see if you can cut that down to just once or twice a month. Are you saving a whole lot? No. But you ARE saving, and that’s what’s important. It’s also important that you don’t spend more in another area of your life to “make up” or reward yourself for spending less in your chosen area. If you consistently spend less each month, you will eventually begin to make headway. This wealth creating habit will help you develop your wealth slowly but constantly.

The great thing about spending less each month is that the results are cumulative. Let’s say the first month you decide to eat out half as much as you usually do, saving you $20 a month. The second month, you decide to spend less on entertainment by switching from your premium cable service to the less expensive service. This switch saves you $10 a month, plus you save the $20 from going out to eat less. You saved a total of $30 the second month, and $20 the first month – that’s $50 in just 2 months. Now, let’s carry that further. If you were to reduce your expenses by $15 each month (cutting an additional $15 of expenses each month), by the end of the year you would have saved $1,170!

If you’ve got thousands in debt looming over your head, $1,170 may not seem like much, but you have to start somewhere. Starting small and being patiently methodical is better than never starting at all! Plus, every month your level of savings increases until your small start becomes a giant tidal wave of savings. This will help you get out of debt faster and begin building your wealth. When you start saving, even in small amounts, you will have implemented another great wealth creating habit!

Monday, April 14, 2008

The Predicament of the Newly Rich

They are the object of thinly disguised envy. They are the raw materials of vulgar jokes and the targets of popular aggression. They are the Newly Rich. Perhaps they should be dealt with more appropriately within the academic discipline of psychology, but then economics in a branch of psychology. To many, they represent a psychopathology or a sociopathology.

The Newly Rich are not a new phenomenon. Every generation has them. They are the upstarts, those who seek to undermine the existing elite, to replace it and, ultimately to join it. Indeed, the Newly Rich can be classified in accordance with their relations with the well-entrenched Old Rich. Every society has its veteran, venerable and aristocratic social classes. In most cases, there was a strong correlation between wealth and social standing. Until the beginning of this century, only property owners could vote and thus participate in the political process. The land gentry secured military and political positions for its off spring, no matter how ill equipped they were to deal with the responsibilities thrust upon them. The privileged access and the insiders mentality ("old boys network" to use a famous British expression) made sure that economic benefits were not spread evenly. This skewed distribution, in turn, served to perpetuate the advantages of the ruling classes.

Only when wealth was detached from the land, was this solidarity broken. Land – being a scarce, non-reproducible resource – fostered a scarce, non-reproducible social elite. Money, on the other hand, could be multiplied, replicated, redistributed, reshuffled, made and lost. It was democratic in the truest sense of a word, otherwise worn thin. With meritocracy in the ascendance, aristocracy was in descent. People made money because they were clever, daring, fortunate, visionary – but not because they were born to the right family or married into one. Money, the greatest of social equalizers, wedded the old elite. Blood mixed and social classes were thus blurred. The aristocracy of capital (and, later, of entrepreneurship) – to which anyone with the right qualifications could belong – trounced the aristocracy of blood and heritage. For some, this was a sad moment. For others, a triumphant one.

The New Rich chose one of three paths: subversion, revolution and emulation. All three modes of reaction were the results of envy, a sense of inferiority and rage at being discriminated against and humiliated.

Some New Rich chose to undermine the existing order. This was perceived by them to be an inevitable, gradual, slow and "historically sanctioned" process. The transfer of wealth (and the power associated with it) from one elite to another constituted the subversive element. The ideological shift (to meritocracy and democracy or to mass- democracy as y Gasset would have put it) served to justify the historical process and put it in context. The successes of the new elite, as a class, and of its members, individually, served to prove the "justice" behind the tectonic shift. Social institutions and mores were adapted to reflect the preferences, inclinations, values, goals and worldview of the new elite. This approach – infinitesimal, graduated, cautious, all accommodating but also inexorable and all pervasive – characterizes Capitalism. The Capitalist Religion, with its temples (shopping malls and banks), clergy (bankers, financiers, bureaucrats) and rituals – was created by the New Rich. It had multiple aims: to bestow some divine or historic importance and meaning upon processes which might have otherwise been perceived as chaotic or threatening. To serve as an ideology in the Althusserian sense (hiding the discordant, the disagreeable and the ugly while accentuating the concordant, conformist and appealing). To provide a historical process framework, to prevent feelings of aimlessness and vacuity, to motivate its adherents and to perpetuate itself and so on.

The second type of New Rich (also known as "Nomenclature" in certain regions of the world) chose to violently and irreversibly uproot and then eradicate the old elite. This was usually done by use of brute force coated with a thin layer of incongruent ideology. The aim was to immediately inherit the wealth and power accumulated by generations of elitist rule. There was a declared intention of an egalitarian redistribution of wealth and assets. But reality was different: a small group – the new elite – scooped up most of the spoils. It amounted to a surgical replacement of one hermetic elite by another. Nothing changed, just the personal identities. A curious dichotomy has formed between the part of the ideology, which dealt with the historical process – and the other part, which elucidated the methods to be employed to facilitate the transfer of wealth and its redistribution. While the first was deterministic, long-term and irreversible (and, therefore, not very pragmatic) – the second was an almost undisguised recipe for pillage and looting of other people' property. Communism and the Eastern European (and, to a lesser extent, the Central European) versions of Socialism suffered from this inherent poisonous seed of deceit. So did Fascism. It is no wonder that these two sister ideologies fought it out in the first half of the twentieth century. Both prescribed the unabashed, unmitigated, unrestrained, forced transfer of wealth from one elite to another. The proletariat enjoyed almost none of the loot.

The third way was that of emulation. The Newly Rich, who chose to adopt it, tried to assimilate the worldview, the values and the behaviour patterns of their predecessors. They walked the same, talked the same, clad themselves in the same fashion, bought the same status symbols, ate the same food. In general, they looked as pale imitations of the real thing. In the process, they became more catholic than the Pope, more Old Rich than the Old Rich. They exaggerated gestures and mannerisms, they transformed refined and delicate art to kitsch, their speech became hyperbole, their social associations dictated by ridiculously rigid codes of propriety and conduct. As in similar psychological situations, patricide and matricide followed. The Newly Rich rebelled against what they perceived to be the tyranny of a dying class. They butchered their objects of emulation – sometimes, physically. Realizing their inability to be what they always aspired to be, the Newly Rich switched from frustration and permanent humiliation to aggression, violence and abuse. These new converts turned against the founders of their newly found religion with the rage and conviction reserved to true but disappointed believers.

Regardless of the method of inheritance adopted by the New Rich, all of them share some common characteristics. Psychologists know that money is a love substitute. People accumulate it as a way to compensate themselves for past hurts and deficiencies. They attach great emotional significance to the amount and availability of their money. They regress: they play with toys (fancy cars, watches, laptops). They fight over property, territory and privileges in a Jungian archetypal manner. Perhaps this is the most important lesson of all: the New Rich are children, aspiring to become adults. Having been deprived of love and possessions in their childhood – they turn to money and to what it can buy as a (albeit poor because never fulfilling) substitute. And as children are – they can be cruel, insensitive, unable to delay the satisfaction of their urges and desires. In many countries (the emerging markets) they are the only capitalists to be found. There, they spun off a malignant, pathological, form of crony capitalism. As time passes, these immature New Rich will become tomorrow's Old Rich and a new class will emerge, the New Rich of the future. This is the only hope – however inadequate and meagre – that developing countries have.

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Stock Analysis

I receive emails from Morningstar. This company provides statistics and analysis of just about every publicly traded stock company you can think of as well as voluminous information on mutual funds around the world.

You can ask them about a company's sales, management, marketing plan, their performance within a corporate sector, ratios of all kinds, etc, etc. The have it. After you have gleaned all these facts and analyzed them there is still one unanswered question. If I buy this equity will it go up? You definitely will not get that answer and that is the only answer that means anything. It is the bottom line for all research.

Brokers and financial planners use this type of service to determine if a stock or fund is a "good" buy. When it comes right down to it you must ask, "If I can get this information then so can everyone else so why is it any good?" It isn't. After you have been doing this a few years you will find that it is a useless exercise. Brokerage firms want you to do it so that if the stock goes down they can say to you that it was your decision to buy it based on all those "facts". Yes, you had all that information, but it is nothing more than disinformation.

They tell you that every conservative investor does his homework, his research. The term conservative investor is an oxymoron, like military intelligence or honest politician. There is no such thing as a conservative investment if there is the slightest possibility that you could lose all or part of your money. And that is true in just about everything whether it is stocks, bonds, real estate, collectibles, you name it.

Their ad stated that every month they would have information on the best and most popular mutual funds. Since when has popularity got anything to do with a stock or a fund going up? Fidelity Magellan is one of the most popular mutual funds in the world yet it dropped from $145 to $73 (a 50% loss) and is now trading at $100 still down 31%. Janus Balanced Fund dropped from $25 to $17.50 and has since rallied to $20. TR Price Japan Fund hit a high of $16, fell to $5 and is now $8 still a 50% loss. Did any of their “information” ever tell you to sell? Popularity is not a yardstick for profits.

And they also will give you the hot picks of 150 analysts. You might as well use a dartboard as listen to those guys. They are high priced guessers who put you in and never get you out when something starts down. Morningstar is providing you with information. The information is not worth the paper it is written on.

Their facts are useless even though they are facts. Bottom line: research is worthless.

Monday, April 07, 2008

The Next Bull Market

We are already in it, but you can't see it. It doesn't look like the 1 we had in '99. Like the prestidigitator who have you watching what he desires you to and with the other manus he is doing something else that is what is happening in the stock market today. The prestidigitator is the Dow Mother Jones Industrial Average, the Nasdaq or the S&P500 Index. These have got Toilet Q. Populace mesmerized.

The Nasdaq have given back 63% of the mass meeting high since September 17 low while the DJI have only sold off about 18%.

As you see these averages going almost sideways or down and your ain stock and common monetary fund portfolio is doing the same so you come up to the decision that the market isn't going anywhere right now. But there are 100s of pillory making new high terms for the twelvemonth just about every day. In fact, the bulk of pillory that compose the S&P500 are higher. Why aren't yours doing the same?

Analysts separate pillory into different groupings that they name sectors. There are common finances that bargain pillory associated with these sectors and then the finances are separated into classes called equal groups. If you are not in the strongest equal grouping you are not making money, but you cognize that. Or did you?

Picking an individual stock that volition double in a twelvemonth is very hard so I don't urge you try. Instead look to see which are the strong equal groupings to seek to happen a no-load common monetary fund that is doing better than others. There are tons of them when you cognize where to look. This going to take a batch of work so I get person to make it for me. Helium is an expert. A stock professional. A manager of a no-load common fund. No-load because I don't desire to pay commission.

Some common finances are limited by their charter as to what they may purchase so you can't travel with them. Others make not have got these restrictions. You restrict your choice to these. There are 3 that are very outstanding now – the Small Cap Value, Mid Cap Value and Real Number Estate equal groups. They are all in dual figure net income district while most common finances as a grouping look to be going sideways. These tin be most easily establish by searching on the Internet or calling a price reduction broker to see if he will get you a list. Most of them make not desire to make the work for you especially since there is no committee involved. If you care about your money you will make you have searching.

Making money in the market is all about being in the right topographic point at the right time, but no 1 is going to make it for you.

Friday, April 04, 2008

Trapeze Artist - Swinging with the Stock Market

When we travel to the circus we see a trapeze creative person workings on a high wire or swing either alone or with other athletes. They cognize what they are doing because of changeless practice, but every once in a piece there tin be a mistake, even a small 1 that can cause 1 of them to fall. The consequence is death or serious injury when they hit the ground.

When you look below them you will see a net. Thank goodness. No 1 desires to see them get hurt. As expert as they are they take precautions. In almost every community or athletic event there is some sort of safety network available and this is true in the stock market for all investors. There is never any ground for investings to fall to the point the investor is hurt. Are there a nett that interruptions that autumn and maintains the investor from losing all or portion of his money? Yes there is.

It is called a Stop Loss Order. Brokers don't like them and never urge them because it intends he must watch your account and the average broker have too many clients to make that. However, you can instruct him to put an Open Stop Loss Order that agency it is automatically in every twenty-four hours protecting your shares from loss. If you are not allowed to put this sort of order you should travel your account to another brokerage house. They obviously don't care about protecting your money.

Let me give you an example. Suppose that last twelvemonth you bought Lake Herring Systems (CSCO) at $50 per share. The first inquiry to inquire yourself is how much am I going to put on the line in lawsuit this stock travels down instead of up? You set up $5,000 and bought 100 shares. How much are you willing to risk? $500. $1,000. More? Well, today it is about $15 so if you did not have got a loss protection you would be out $3,500 and that is too much. The Stop Loss Order is your Safety Net! If you don't have got one you can be seriously hurt. One of the basic regulations is never to lose more than than 10%. Look at what you have got to see if you would have more than money today if you had placed a Stop Loss Order just below the highest shutting terms for your stocks. I cognize you would be money ahead.

There are literally thousands of pillory that have got lost 80% and 90% of their value. For those poor people (pun intended) who did not have got a safety network they are badly ache and some are just about dead. Sorry, folks, it did not have got to happen.

I don't care what you own. Now you should immediately look at everything in your portfolio and make up one's mind where you need to put those stops. If you don't set a nett in topographic point you could be hurt.

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Which Way The Market

I am hearing anticipations by brokers, financial planners, talking show hosts and the talking caputs on television that the market is going back to its old highs - DOW 11,700 and NASDAQ 5000 here we come.

It looks to me that in 2000 Iodine heard these same people saying there was no top to the market and were looking into their crystal balls for DOW 30,000 or some other antic number. Suddenly the market turned over with the DOW dropping 3,000 points and the NASDAQ losing 80% of its value. Can it go on again? Iodine don’t foretell and all I can state is the market can make anything.

BUT what if it makes bend down? Are you going to sit down as you did before and ticker your money disappear? Right now everything looks rose-colored and the impulse is carrying the indexes higher almost every day. Buy and throw is the right strategy.

Hind sight is always 20/20 and you will desire to have pillory and common finances now, but not get caught in the adjacent down draft. There will be one! There always have and you can see it clearly if you are a student of market history. Since 1900 there have got got been 16 to 18-year rhythms of bull and bear markets and within those there have been other shorter rhythms of ups and downs.

Many brokers and investors seek to foretell when those bends will happen and they are mostly wrong. It is definitely not a good thought to seek to outguess the market. You must learn to read the rather obvious marks of the major turns. I state obvious, but it is clear they are not obvious to most brokers or financial planners. Having been a professional trader, exchange member and flooring bargainer for many old age I will state you the obvious ‘secret’.

Using a 200-day moving average of any 1 of the major indexes (I prefer the S&P500) you can plot these every twenty-four hours and when the index penetrates the 200-day line in an upward direction it is a signaling to buy. That is where we are now. Inversely when it penetrates that line going down it is clip to sell and set your money in cash or bonds. If you don’t desire to make the mathematics calculations there is an first-class chart in the Investor’s Business Daily newspaper called their Common Fund Index that volition make all the work for you.

It is nil more complicated than that and you can travel back into history as far as you wish and you will see it proved clip after time. You are holding pillory or finances while the market is going up and you are in cash while it is going down. Don’t be fooled by “research” Oregon by any other complicated method. This works.

There is no need to foretell the market. It will state you in simple language what it is doing and whether you should be a buyer or seller.