Box Of Chocolates
Ever have one of those sample boxes of candy? Each little piece is beautifully wrapped in colorful foil or decorated with an interesting design. Taste just one. So good! One more. And another. Before you know it the box is empty. Nothing left.
This upmove in the stock market is very tempting - and could leave you with a tummy ache.
All the market "experts" are telling you that the bull market is back and to get your buying clothes on. Open your wallet and get in before it is too late. Mr. Schwab says it is dangerous to be out of the market. There are great values out there. These stocks are so low they can't go any lower. And there is a Santa Claus and an Easter Bunny.
There is one position I do advocate, but most broker and financial planners won't like it. It is called CASH. No broker believes cash is a position. They say you must always be "invested". It seems they have forgotten that investing means making money and another important part of investing means not losing money.
For the last month we have seen the market go up and some of you have seen some of your money come back. Not too much, but some. You want desperately to believe the bull market is back and your winnings will be restored. I sure hope so. Just suppose this is what is called a rally in a bear market and that it will not last. Then what? You don't want to see your investments slip away again, do you? You don't know if it is a good idea to sell now or wait. Your broker won't be any help.
There is a solution. Stay with your stocks and mutual funds as long as they are going up, but sell them if they go down. How? Every Friday after the close you get the settlement prices of your various issues and you then call your broker Monday morning to put in a "Good Til Cancelled Stop-Loss Order" that is approximately 10% below that closing price. As long as the stock is going up you follow this procedure every week and eventually you will be stopped out. Never move your stop down. You no longer have to guess if this is the highest price that your stock will reach. The stock itself will tell you.
Now you have cash and, if you want to, you can buy a better stock or mutual fund that is going up..
When you pick out a new chocolate (stock) do it carefully and don't try to eat the whole box at once. Sometimes it is best to put the box (your cash) away so you can come back to it another day.
Al Thomas' book, "If It Doesn't Go Up, Don't Buy It!" has helped thousands of people make money and keep their profits with his simple 2-step method. Read the first chapter at http://www.mutualfundmagic.com and discover why he's the man that Wall Street does not want you to know.
Copyright 2005
al@mutualfundstrategy.com; 1-888-345-7870
More Resources
Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exitingMore Stocks & Mutual Funds Information:
Related Articles
The Big Bad Bear
The big bad bear is stirring again. So far he has stretched, yawned and peaked out of his cave.
Seecrets on Investment: Tired of Making Huge Losses in the Stock Market - Part 2
Fundamental analysis.Fundamentals analysis says the best way to predict the future trends of a stock is to understand the financial figures of the underlying company.
Complacency
During the month of January the Dow Jones Industrial Average, usually referred to as the DOW, had an almost 1,000 point range, most of it down and the average investor has yawned and said 'so what, this has happened many times before'.Is there any reason to worry now?The terrible event of September 11 shocked investors who sold heavily and then watched the market climb back to where it was on September 10.
Trading Tips No 5: Stock Trading Curve Drawdown and Commitment
All stock trading and investing methods must deal with the inevitable drawdown from the most recent peak in one's stock trading curve to a bottom before reversing and making a new high. Seasoned systems traders are well familiar with the drawdown phenomenon and the importance of drawdown as a percentage of annual average returns in evaluating a trading system.
Parachute Investing
Ever jumped out of an airplane? It's OK if you have on a parachute. Pretty dumb if you don't.
Expense Ratios
Mutual funds and brokers are always preaching not to buy any fund with a high expense ratio. That is the annual costs of the fund to pay for trading of stocks within their portfolio, salaries, rent, telephone, analysts, etc.
Low Expense Ratio
One of the big advertising kicks today from mutual funds is to tell how low their expense ratio is and that you will make a great deal more money if you buy and hold with them. Partly true, but that is not the whole story.
Box Of Chocolates
Ever have one of those sample boxes of candy? Each little piece is beautifully wrapped in colorful foil or decorated with an interesting design. Taste just one.
Stocks: Understand What You Buy!
"There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action!" Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)I don't really know how cars actually work. Not really! I know how to drive them, but if you asked me how they work, I would not really know how to definitely explain it.
The 1% Solution
You probably know the story of Sherlock Holmes and the 7% solution. He had a drug addiction.
What To Buy?
Now that you have some money burning a hole in your pocket and the stock market is going up you have decided to buy some stock or maybe a mutual fund, but you have the momentous decisions to what to buy.At this point you have three decisions to make besides which equity to buy:1.
Dollar Cost Averaging
Dollar cost averaging is one of the most popular ideas in the investment community. Everyone seems to like it and it has become a watchword among stock and mutual fund brokers.
Duct Tape
Did you run out to buy that duct tape yet? Don't forget the plastic sheeting, bottles of water, canned food and a couple of books to read. What are you waiting for? I know - things to get better so you can resume your normal life style.
No Load Mutual Funds or Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs)?
If you are fed up with early redemption charges and ever increasing mutual fund management fees on top of bad-performing fund managers, read on. There is a quiet revolution going on in the no-load mutual fund industry and you, the individual investor, may benefit from it greatly.
The Club
Yesterday I received my monthly issue of MONEY magazine. This issue has the special feature called "The Ultimate Investment Club" that highlights their picks for the top mutual fund managers.
How to Short Stocks? How to Make Money when Your Stocks Go Down by Shorting
The stock market can present you with a lot of hot stocks every day. Many of them are new technology stocks that come from the nanotech, biotech, voip, healthcare, homeland defense or internet sectors.
A Good Fund Manager
Every Wall Street analyst, financial planner and broker will tell you that the right way to pick a mutual fund is find a good money manager of a fund that has a long time record.Yes, I believe that too, but it is amazing that when you go back in time to see what this genius did with the mutual fund, you will find years he has had some terrible losses.
A Stock Market Investment Plan that Never Lets You Down
The bulls and bears of the stock market are both tempting and scary to the investors. Speculators are enchanted by the stock market's potential to help them in making quick money with a big M.
Stock Loans
Hedge current portfolio positions and gain access to capital resources through loans against free trading, aged affiliate or aged non-affiliate securities. Make proper use of your assets while waiting for performance and hedge your position should the asset move against you.
Oil Stocks As A Long Term Investment
The demand for world oil is increasing while world reserves are decreasing. This is a known fact.