If you go to Haiti or other places in the Caribbean you may run into the Voodoo tradition of magic. There are long and mostly noisy rituals with the medicine man spouting words that bring great power and conjure up whatever it is the supplicant desires. Great amounts of smoke and mirrors.
Does this remind you of anything?
I hear the mesmerizing words of my broker telling me about a wonderful stock. He produces multicolored charts and graphs that dazzle my eyes. His chanting is "BUY, BUY, BUY". I can't resist. He has me under his spell. Thus the magic of Wall Street. Great amounts of smoke and mirrors.
Brokerage houses and mutual funds only want you to do one thing ? BUY and HOLD. Never sell.
To escape the hold of these magicians you must start to think for yourself. I am sure you realize that for the past 3 years you have been losing money. The recent rally has returned some of your losses and Maul Street wants you to hang in there as the rest of your money will be returning. Maybe. If the broker (magician) keeps doing what he has been doing you are going to get more of the same results. If you have lost 30 to 50% of your savings during the past 3 years don't you think you could do as well without the "help" of a broker or financial planner?
OK. No more glossy colored folders (smoke and mirrors) about how wonderful a company is. If you know it then so does everyone else. This type of 'research' is worthless. Leave that to the mutual fund managers. It seems to be what they do best - or is it worst?
Wall Street preaches the lie that if you hold you will make money, but that is only half the story. You have to be able to hold for 30 years. Oh, they forgot to tell you that?
The most important thing about the stock market is not buying ? it is selling. Did you realize that every 10 years about 40% of the S&P500 index changes? Mr. Standard and Mr. Poor realize you can't hold onto a loser so they drop out the weak ones and replace with stocks that are going up.
You want to be in the market when it is going up, not down. You have to know when the market is going up and that is called market timing. It is not cheating by late trading; it is understanding that the long term trend is up (or down) and you want to own funds at the time (or be out of the market entirely). A broker or financial planner will not help you, but it is very easy to learn. Go to the search engine called www.Google.com and type in market timing. You will be flooded with information.
You must to get out from under the Voodoo spell of Buy and Hold as it is a guaranteed loser.
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
family-safe home cleaners Northbrook ..In 1960 an engineer working for a watch company in... Read More
During the month of January the Dow Jones Industrial Average,... Read More
(1) Stock Market is Tough Place to Make Any Money... Read More
Should the market turn against you, it is important that... Read More
The Shadow knows. Remember him? It seems a shadow has... Read More
Robert Rodriguez likes to buy stocks at their lows. When... Read More
As a novice trader, you'll often feel the need to... Read More
Over the past few months, several investment professionals have brought... Read More
It looks like the market is ready to start up... Read More
Stock trading can be a very profitable activity. You can... Read More
The fight continues to rage among traders who use technical... Read More
Everyone who follows the financial news has heard of mutual... Read More
On the 40 year journey through the turmoil of a... Read More
I often play a little game with myself when I... Read More
In a previously written article, we expanded the use of... Read More
In his wonderful book, 'Multiple Streams of Income', best selling... Read More
What can I expect to make my first year of... Read More
No, this is not a symbol for some Latin number.... Read More
How many times has this happened to you? You're at... Read More
When is a dividend not a dividend?The latest thing "conservative"... Read More
This is a guide to the different types of mutual... Read More
The higher the market goes the more confusing are the... Read More
The following are a list of nine things you want... Read More
This is the continuing story of our two imaginary traders,... Read More
There is nothing more exciting than finding an undervalued stock... Read More
residential cleaning services Deerfield ..You probably know the story of Sherlock Holmes and the... Read More
Because you don't feel too sure about which stock or... Read More
The stock market has been in an up trend for... Read More
Let's go into the details of why non-indexed mutual funds... Read More
If you are a baby boomer, time is not on... Read More
There is a current movie entitled "Eternal Sunshine of the... Read More
Forget making a profit; instead focus on the income provided... Read More
Wall Street has been preaching for years and years to... Read More
We have two candidates for president that have really different... Read More
Day trading is all about making buy and sell decisions.... Read More
During the day I watch CNBC-TV, the stock market channel.... Read More
In a previously written article, we expanded the use of... Read More
Being wrong is OK, but let's not carry it to... Read More
Reduce your investing and stock market risks by:Setting your sights... Read More
What does it mean to short a stock?This means that... Read More
As GuruFocus updates the stock buys and sells of gurus,... Read More
Every publicly traded company is required by the SEC(Securities and... Read More
At some time in your life you have been on... Read More
As I have said many times before in this column... Read More
This is the continuing story of our two imaginary traders,... Read More
Did you know you can make money (and a lot... Read More
Are you paying any attention to your retirement savings? Do... Read More
Very few people, even professionals, have heard of the Dalbar... Read More
Many people would like to diversify their portfolios to expand... Read More
One of the great truisms of Wall Street is "Don't... Read More
Stocks & Mutual Fund |