As I said in Part I everyone in the insane asylum looks normal, but at least the doctors are sane. Unfortunately, in the insane asylum known as the stock market all the doctors (brokers) are also insane.
The doctors in the insane asylum went to medical school to learn how to treat the patients so the could get well. On Wall Street you go to the doctor (broker) who is supposed to help you become financially well, maybe wealthy. Almost none of these Wall Street experts ever learned their profession. They have all been taught the three great prescriptions that make no sense at all: Do Your Research, Buy and Hold and Dollar Cost Averaging. This is what the brokerage houses teach.
As I said previously research is worthless, as it will not tell you if a stock is going to go up. Buy and Hold is taught the wrong way. It is OK to Buy and Hold as long as the stock is going up, but not when it goes down. No broker is taught how to protect a customer's money.
When I was a floor trader I learned in a hurry not to hold on to something that was losing money. The very simple prescription for this is called a Stop Loss Order. Brokers hate them and will discourage you from entering them. Why? Because it means he will have to watch your account because if a stop order is not properly and timely executed he must pay it out of his pocket.
Brokerage houses do not teach brokers how to use this simple method to protect capital. The house does not want to become known that it will sell a company's stock when it turns weak. The brokerage company makes more in good will from the poor performing company than they do in commissions from you because if they ever encourage selling it means they will not get a chance to handle an Initial Public Offering (IPO) for that company. Suppose they did have a stop protection policy for customers and they then had an IPO that came out at $30 per share, but instead of going up it went down. The customers would not lose more than $3 or $4 per share because of their protective stops, but the house would then be stuck with all the unsold stock. It is OK for you to have this money-losing dog, but they sure don't want it in their inventory. You can see how logical this is, but you won't hear it from a broker. Stop orders are not insane.
The insane conventional wisdom that both brokers and customers have been taught cannot remain once it is exposed to truth.
You must take the initiative with the stocks you own to protect yourself from loss of capital. If your broker argues with you there is one solution - fire him and find a good broker who will protect your money. Just because he has learned an insane system doesn't mean you have to be nuts too.
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
http://www.mutualfundmagic.com; 1-888-345-7870
limousine Ackley .. Lockport Chicago limo O’HareThe stock market has not been very kind to your... Read More
The stock market has been in an up trend for... Read More
Profitable day traders recognize that momentum trading is among the... Read More
After some forty years of banking and investments, I retired... Read More
For years investors have been taught to look into the... Read More
When it comes to buying a stock or mutual fund... Read More
What does it mean to short a stock?This means that... Read More
When most analysts, financial planners, fund specialists and investors try... Read More
Every day I see in the financial section of newspapers... Read More
A few years back ? it seems like an eternity... Read More
You'd have had to be living on a desert island... Read More
At some time in your life you have been on... Read More
Ever done any whitewater rafting or canoeing? Long periods of... Read More
Everybody is riding the Wall Street Roller coaster. Even if... Read More
I continually hear from economists, talking heads, other market letter... Read More
I know there are a lot of you out there... Read More
It has fallen upon the consumer to make our economy... Read More
Everything you invest in has risk so you want to... Read More
For some "long term" would mean holding a stock position... Read More
During the month of January the Dow Jones Industrial Average,... Read More
Before we get into all the good news out there,... Read More
We learnt the following the hard way! If any of... Read More
Cat or dog? Maybe Zebra. Shucks, I don't know, but... Read More
Economists know more about how the fragments of society work... Read More
Every day on CNBC-TV they show a 200-day moving average... Read More
shuttle from O'Hare Alexander ..Everybody is riding the Wall Street Roller coaster. Even if... Read More
We learnt the following the hard way! If any of... Read More
I am sure that if you have a brokerage account... Read More
How many times have you said to yourself, "I'd like... Read More
There is a famous cliff on the ocean in Acapulco... Read More
As a novice trader, you'll often feel the need to... Read More
When an individual investor wants to roll up his sleeves... Read More
Success in small cap & micro cap stock trading like... Read More
Checked your 401K lately? Going back to about a year... Read More
The Law of Chaos is the theory of random unpredictable... Read More
Sometimes the best way of lowering exposure to risk is... Read More
In 1960 an engineer working for a watch company in... Read More
As an investor you will want to check out any... Read More
This is a rather simple strategy with which I am... Read More
When you become interested in a stock or mutual fund... Read More
Did you run out to buy that duct tape yet?... Read More
Outlined below are some of the advantages and disadvantages of... Read More
Every stock market investor faces one primal enemy. An enemy... Read More
Sometime in the third quarter of 1997, someone told me... Read More
If you are fed up with early redemption charges and... Read More
The demand for world oil is increasing while world reserves... Read More
Mutual funds were moderately successful in creating a presence in... Read More
I have watched my cat play with a bag of... Read More
Now that you have some money burning a hole in... Read More
There are formulas for just about everything, but it has... Read More
Stocks & Mutual Fund |