Never lose money in the stock market again. Yeah, I know. Don't buy any stock, but that is not what I meant. There is a clear and easy way to protect your capital ? what you have now and what you might decide to buy in the future. And don't count on your broker to tell you this.
As you are aware we have been in a bear market since the beginning of 2000. That is a long time and if you have held your stocks and mutual funds for all this time you have some pretty terrible losses. Losses you did not have to take if you had a knowledgeable broker or financial planner. Financial planners don't know any more than brokers so you can't count on them to save your money from being flushed along with everyone else. It is a shame that brokers and planners are not taught how to protect your capital.
When a broker is hired he is given 2 manuals to study. One is on SEC (Securities and Exchange) regulations so he will not break any rules so his company will not be fined for misconduct. The other is on how to open new accounts - how to get you to send money. There is no training on how to trade ? buy low and sell high. His training manual consists on how to do "research". Research is knowing all about a company to determine if it is well run and they are making money or have the ability to make money some time in the near future.
You can obtain complete reports of everything you want to know and even more from Morningstar. They will bury you in information. This kind of "research" is worthless. Why? Because if you can find it out then everyone in the world knows it and it is reflected in the current price. The one thing you want to know is if you buy it will it go up.
The average broker has about 300 accounts and unless you have lots of money he will not pay much attention to you. As new brokers get a large number of accounts they give away the small accounts (those with less than $50,000) to the new, less experienced brokers so they can concentrate on the big boys with big bucks.
That is why you, and only you, must learn how to protect your investments. In a bear market the one who loses the least is the winner and the way to do it is with Stop Loss Orders. If you bought a stock or mutual fund you must immediately decide how much you will risk if it should go down instead of up. Usually 10% is a good rule of thumb. If you paid $40 per share you should sell it immediately of it goes down below $36. Don't ask your broker because he has been taught to Buy and Hold and that philosophy will break you. As your stock goes up you must raise your stop (never lower it) so it trails 10% behind the closing price posted very Friday in the newspaper. There are literally hundreds of thousands of people today who wish they had done this during the past 2 years.
If you were one of them it is not too late to start now so your retirement account will be there when you need it.
Al Thomas
Author of "If It Doesn't Go Up, Don't Buy It!"
Never lose money in the stock market again.
http://www.mutualfundmagic.com
affordable house cleaning Park Ridge ..Among the largest forces that affect stock prices are inflation,... Read More
The trading method you employ to approach the stock market... Read More
Have you seen all those big full page ads for... Read More
As I have said many times before in this column... Read More
Most stock market traders have a favorite technical indicator.The one... Read More
Have you been listening to the talking heads on CNBC-TV?... Read More
People are always asking me when should I sell my... Read More
I use the P/E ratio as a secondary indicator for... Read More
So you're started trading, you bought some positions with your... Read More
Because there are so many stocks that are NOT paying... Read More
Have you bought any mutual funds this year or late... Read More
Should the market turn against you, it is important that... Read More
For weeks, no, months we have been bombarded with nothing... Read More
When will the stock market stop going down and start... Read More
Success in small cap & micro cap stock trading like... Read More
Hello Inflation, it has been awhile, I see you on... Read More
One of the main reasons many of us get into... Read More
This is a rather simple strategy with which I am... Read More
Ever have one of those sample boxes of candy? Each... Read More
For years investors have been taught to look into the... Read More
As an investor you will want to check out any... Read More
One of the things people are always asking me is... Read More
This article describes the model of a natural relationship between... Read More
Four blind men were asked to give a description of... Read More
Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a... Read More
affordable house cleaning Mundelein ..A recent cartoon in my daily newspaper showed two guys... Read More
Let me start by saying that...Most online brokers do not... Read More
I cringe every time I hear a novice investor tell... Read More
Every successful trader has a winning system. There are of... Read More
Let's assume that you want to make some serious money... Read More
Very few people, even professionals, have heard of the Dalbar... Read More
There is so much involved in developing peak performance, that... Read More
What can I expect to make my first year of... Read More
Let's first define insanity. It is doing the same thing... Read More
There are formulas for just about everything, but it has... Read More
One of the great "secrets" of successful people is discipline... Read More
Picture one of those clubs where only the real heavyweights... Read More
Now where have I heard that before? I know. It... Read More
There is a famous cliff on the ocean in Acapulco... Read More
Suppose your position has made a big move and you... Read More
There are red lights, green lights, blue lights and spot... Read More
Day trading is all about making buy and sell decisions.... Read More
According to Investopedia Inc. the penny stock market has seen... Read More
You have decided to buy some stock or mutual funds,... Read More
For the last few weeks we have seen the stock... Read More
You read and hear a lot about hedge funds. Unfortunately,... Read More
Every broker and financial planner will tell you that you... Read More
Today's society gives special recognition to alcoholics, sexaholics, binge-aholics, shopaholics,... Read More
Quick, look out the window. It's raining. No, the sun's... Read More
An insane person cannot evaluate an insane evaluation system.As you... Read More
Stocks & Mutual Fund |