 |
|||
| |||
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
|
Kick The Tires
Before you buy another car you walk around the lot, kick the tires, slam the doors and look at the mileage indicator. That's an odometer. I know. That is about all the "research" you can do other than what the car salesman tells you and I hope you know better than to believe him. The same goes for buying stocks or mutual funds. All the brokerage companies tell you to do your research before you buy. Kick the tires. Slam the doors. Look at the odometer. But how do you do this and can you really get the true story about any equity because you can't take it for a test drive and you don't want to believe any broker. Wall Street wants you to read the prospectus, study the annual report, find out about management, learn the P/E ratios, see that their sales and earnings are increasing and on and on and on gathering statistics until your head hurts. OK, now you have all that information, but what do you have? The Annual Report. The title ought to give you a clue. Much of the information in it is already a year old and much older depending upon when you are looking at it. The Prospectus. Did you know that this complex document was not written for you, the investor? It was written for some Dilbert in his cubicle at the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington who studies it to be sure it meets all the regulations for full disclosure, whatever that is. If you read the prospectuses for any stock or mutual fund that is a real winner and another where you will lose all your money you will find they are both almost identical. It is a waste of time to read these. They belong in the bottom of a birdcage. Company management. Do you think they are going to tell you anything bad? Come on. Shall we keep on going or are you getting the idea? What you are gathering is information that everyone else can access, some of which can be distorted and will not tell you the most important thing of all. Will the stock or mutual fund go up if I buy it? Your broker has all this information so don't ask him as he will regurgitate this mess and make it sound important. In other words he doesn't know either. When it comes to buying stocks and mutual funds you cannot do any worthwhile research the way Wall Street tells you. When your stock goes down and you lose money they can look you in the eye and say you did your research and it is not our fault you lost money. It is their way to keep from being sued for bad advice. Kicking tires the way the big boys tell you doesn't work. In a later column I will go into how to find equities that do go up and you won't need any of that Wall Street disinformation to find winners. Al Thomas' book, "If It Doesn't Go Up, Don't BuyIt!" has helped thousands of people make moneyand keep their profits with his simple 2-stepmethod. Read the first chapter athttp://www.mutualfundmagic.com and discover why he's the man that Wall Streetdoes not want you to know. Copyright 2005
MORE RESOURCES:
Stocks-Mutual-Funds - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Stock Market Insanity Let's first define insanity. It is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Bad News is Good News For weeks, no, months we have been bombarded with nothing but negative news about the economy in general and thousands of individual companies. The stock market has dropped thousands of points and more than $8 trillion in paper assets have disappeared. Inverted Interest Rates Inverted interest rates? What's that? Who cares? Even if you don't understand what Mr. Greenspan is saying (and almost nobody does) it is important to you because it could mean you might lose you job next year or have to cut back on some of the things you want to acquire. Buy and Hold: How to Perpetuate Your Investment Losses A recent cartoon in my daily newspaper showed two guys sitting in a bar. One is saying to the other: "I did learn something from my broker. Chart Reading As an investor you will want to check out any equity before you buy it. Many investors go to Morningstar that is one of the largest providers of mutual fund information in the world. The Problem With Hedge Funds Are hedge funds a suitable investment for you? Hedge funds are an appropriate investment for qualified purchasers with a net worth above one million dollars and an annual income exceeding two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Purchasers are often required to sign an acknowledgement confirming their qualifications to invest in hedge funds. Stock Trading Success The ABC's of Stock Trading SuccessStock trading success.. Rebalance And Diversify The stock market has not been very kind to your investments lately. Your broker knows this so you may have received a call from him suggesting it is time to 'rebalance and diversify' your portfolio. The 401(K): How The Insider Has Stolen Your Retirement! Mutual funds were moderately successful in creating a presence in the stock market until the advent of the investment retirement account and in particular the 401(k). Corporate insiders persuaded the federal government to allow for the 401(k) in lieu of offering employees the traditional pension. How to Pay Less and Get More: Discount Broker vs Professional How do you invest? What do you really pay? At the end of the day, what are your real results? These are questions smart investors should be asking themselves (but usually don't). In this era of more fees, misc. Swing Trading Strategies Using Swing Trading Strategies and Technical Analysis when Trading Stocks to Make Consistent Trading Profits.This article is one small part of a series of lessons using Swing Trading Strategies and Technical Analysis developed by WD Gann which are designed to show how anyone can build a profitable Stock or Commodity trading business from scratch. Living Trust Investing: Income Considerations when the Grantor Dies A common problem I often see when working with living trust beneficiaries and trustees is the lack of attention in rethinking income strategies in the event of the grantor's death.When the grantor of a living trust dies, the trustee (especially a family member or close friend) sometimes feels reluctant to revise the portfolio, feeling it's an affront to the wishes of the deceased. You Wont Like This Why? Because I am going to shatter your conventional wisdom as I have many times in previous columns about the lies that Wall Street continues to tell you. This time we are going to go deeper into the economy to unearth the truth about lies the politicians are telling you. "Fears Only Enemy Is Action" What a great statement!I just heard someone use it in the context of personal and financial success and it struck me as a brilliant summary of an issue we raise in the SMG Tutorials.Fear is a huge issue with a lot of traders. How Eating Bitumen Made Me a Better Trader Trading is a fascinating activity.There are so many layers to it. The Next Bull Market We are already in it, but you can't see it. It doesn't look like the one we had in '99. Overvalued & Underbought With all the bad news that has been dumped upon the economy for some reason the stock market is going up. Why?The SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) has just set up new guidelines for core earnings. Investing in Dividend Paying Stocks I was recently interviewed for a press release through a financial question and answer format. One of the questions asked of me in the interview was:Where do you think the stock market is headed over the next five years?My Answer!Charles M. Leverage - Margin Debt What is leverage?Here is a definition of leverage from an online dictionary "leverage - The use of credit or borrowed funds to improve one's speculative capacity and increase the rate of return from an investment, as in buying securities on margin."Essentially, the core idea of leverage is that investors can use less money to control bigger amount of investment so that investors can make more money when the price movement is in investors' favor. Stuff I continually hear from economists, talking heads, other market letter writers, analysts and assorted "experts" that I need to know all kinds of "stuff" about the stocks and mutual funds I am going to buy and I should keep up with them on a regular basis.What is this important "stuff"?Let's see.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |