Stocks & Mutual Funds Information

Take The Time


You must take the time once a month to review your investment portfolio. It won't take long - less than one hour, maybe 15 minutes.

I don't believe the average working person or business owner should own anything but mutual funds because these are the easiest to buy and evaluate. However, if you do own some stocks the first thing to ask yourself is if each issue is selling for more than you paid for it. If it isn't you must realize this is not where you want to have your money so the best course of action is to sell it NOW and put those funds into some other stock or fund that is going up. You may have a stock you bought 3 years ago and it has risen only 10% or 25% and you can't decide what to do with it - keep it or sell it - because it has been going sideways for a long time. It might go up. It might go down. Call your broker (a discount broker, I hope) and place a 10% good-'til-cancelled (GTC) stop-loss order. Each month review your stop and move it up (never down) if the stock has risen. This way you don't have to think about it and the market itself will tell you when you should be out.

Stops make you money! Brokers almost NEVER recommend stops especially when they want you to buy something. If it goes down they say it is a correction and "it will come back". But when? Remember how they were touting Boston Chicken at $35 and $40 per share? Today it is 50 cents per share.

It is my strong opinion that very few people have the ability to pick winning stocks. I've been trading more than 30 years and I'm right only 50% of the time. Even when I was an exchange member for 17 years and floor trader I would put in a stop as the same time I made the purchase.

If your portfolio is not making a better return than the S&P500 Index you would be better off having your funds in something like the Vanguard Index500 mutual fund. You will then be staying even with the market as a whole.

There are some basic things that move a particular stock. According to a recent study, 49% of the movement of an individual issue is due to the sector in which it resides: technology, financial, automotive, real estate, etc., 31% is due to the general direction of the market itself and only 20% is due to the quality of the company. In other words owning stock in a great company doesn't mean the stock will go up. The whole group must find favor with institutions, banks and pension plan buyers. They move the market.

Easier said than done: you have to be in the right place and at the right time to see your stock go up. That is why you must take the time to review your invests once a month to keep up with any changes that might be necessary.

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.

1-888-345-7870; al@mutualfundstrategy.com


MORE RESOURCES:

Why Picking Stocks Is Better Than Picking Funds
CNBC, Englewood Cliffs - 10 hours ago
Investing can be confusing. Luckily, Cramer has mapped out some road rules for all you Home Gamers trying to navigate the jungle that is Wall Street. ...


Taiwan's Cathay Life Invests in Blackstone Capital
Trading Markets (press release), CA - Aug 28, 2008
Cathay Life said its investment strategy is to diversify its invested assets into a variety of portfolio products such as stocks, mutual funds, ...


Financial planning: It pays to start right
American Chronicle, CA - Aug 26, 2008
Assets can be your bank balance, investment in stocks, mutual funds, gold, property, insurances, vehicles etc. And liabilities are the loans to repay (they ...


Inheritance strategy: Pay off credit cards, evaluate the mortgage
CreditCards.com, TX - Aug 26, 2008
Stocks, mutual funds, exchange traded funds (ETFs) are among different types of variable investments. With fixed investments, you receive a fixed rate of ...


Insurers to tap into real estate
Shanghai Daily, China - Aug 25, 2008
The investment channels could be widened to marketable securities such as bonds, stocks, mutual funds and real estate, according to the draft, submitted to ...


SEC Weighs Overhaul of 'Index' Annuities
Wall Street Journal - Aug 16, 2008
But the SEC wants indexed annuities to be considered "securities," just like stocks, mutual funds and even variable annuities. ...


Ibbotson Selected by ING Financial Advisers to Create Model ...
MarketWatch - Aug 13, 2008
Morningstar provides data on more than 280000 investment offerings, including stocks, mutual funds, and similar vehicles. The company has operations in 18 ...


Banking crisis a surprise most saw coming
The Age, Australia - Aug 5, 2008
And, as the FDIC site explains, it does not insure investments held in banks such as bonds, stocks, mutual funds, life insurance policies, or municipal ...


Easy-to-Use Solution Allows Retirement Plans to Offer Allocation ...
MarketWatch - Aug 6, 2008
Morningstar provides data on more than 270000 investment offerings, including stocks, mutual funds, and similar vehicles. The company has operations in 18 ...


Morningstar Announces Two New Fund Categories, One Broad Asset Class
MarketWatch - Aug 5, 2008
Morningstar provides data on more than 280000 investment offerings, including stocks, mutual funds, and similar vehicles. The company has operations in 18 ...

Stocks-Mutual-Funds - Google News

home | site map
© 2006