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Stocks & Mutual Fund Information
Shorting Stocks ? The Basics, Part I of II
What does it mean to short a stock?
Shorting Stocks ? The Basics, Part II of II
After the publication of the first part of this two part series, I had a few questions asking if shorting stocks is legal and I will quickly reply with a big YES. Some people believe that shorting shares of American companies is not patriotic or does not seem like the right thing to do. Shorting stocks is not my primary method of making profits in the market as many of you already know, but it is a valid strategy that must be covered especially since the market has focused on red flag and shorting opportunities since December 2004. In the world of supply and demand, things go up and things go down, it?s human nature. Stocks have been shorted for over a century and have provided investors with an alternative strategy to making profits.
Trading as a Business
What can I expect to make my first year of trading?
Bollinger Bands Strategies
The Bollinger Band theory is designed to depict the volatility of a stock. It is quite simple, being composed of a simple moving average, and its upper and lower "bands" that are 2 standard deviations away. Standard deviations are a statistical tool used to contain the majority of movement or "deviation" around an average value. Bear in mind that when you use the Bollinger Band theory, it only works as a gauge or guide, and should be use with other indicators.
Peer Groups
Whenever I see mutual fund comparisons in the trade publications and in the financial section of the newspaper they almost always mention a specific fund and tell you how good it is in relation to its peer group. A peer group is a specialized sector of mutual funds that all invest in about the same type of stocks or areas of the world or size of companies or some such categorization.
Why This Bear?
People are constantly asking me why is the stock market going down. What is causing this bear market? It is relatively simple so don't ask an economist. He will give you a 200-page answer that is undecipherable. Can you understand Mr. Greenspan?
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.
How To Buy And Hold
One of the most believed bits of conventional wisdom from Wall Street is to Buy and Hold. Any stock or mutual fund should be put away for eternity and never sold. This is total hogwash and is guaranteed to reduce your investment income.
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.
Social Insecurity
Just about everything you have been told about Social Security is an obfuscation. That is a big word for convoluted truth or lie.
Risk Control
Everything you invest in has risk so you want to do your research before you put your money on the line.
Protect Your 401K
Checked your 401K lately? Going back to about a year ago many of these retirement accounts have shrunk by 30%, some even more. What Happened?
One Way Street
Ever turn down a street, get half way and suddenly realize it is one way and you are going the wrong way? Is that the way you feel when you look at your stock brokerage statement?
Top 25 Growth Funds
On Monday, November 25, 2000 Investor's Business Daily listed on page B1 the Top 25 Growth Mutual Funds for the last 36 months along with their performance for the year 2000 to date. Only four showed a profit this year of 21% and the other three had increases of 12%, 5%, and 5%. Fifteen had loss of from 10% to 28% and the other 6 were down slightly.
How To Pick A Mutual Fund
Mutual funds by definition are a mixed bag of stocks, bonds and a little cash. Their price per share is the NAV, Net Asset Value of the total amount of money in the mutual fund divided by the number of shares. They seek to be fully invested at all times.
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Dividend Reinvestment Plans: Investing on Automatic Pilot
If you're like many investors who squander those small dividend checks from your stock portfolio, a Dividend Reinvestment Plan (DRP) might be just what you need. Just as its name implies, a Dividend Reinvestment Plan allows you to reinvest some or all of those dividends into more stock of the issuing company. Unlike purchases made through traditional means, partial or fractional shares, as well as whole shares, are available.
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.
Dont Spend Another Dollar on Business Opportunities Until You Read This
With an insecure job market, overworked employees,
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Hedge Fund Advertising
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Swing Trading Strategies
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War Market
There is no question that the stock market is being affected by war jitters. When it looks like peace we have a strong rally. When it looks like shooting will begin momentarily the market takes a dump. What should you do with your stock, mutual funds or cash that is waiting to find a home?
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.
Seecrets on Investment: Tired of Making Huge Losses in the Stock Market ? Part 2
Fundamental analysis.
Hold Em and Fold Em
When most analysts, financial planners, fund specialists and investors try to decide whether to buy a particular stock they immediately go to the financial statements to determine the growth potential of the company. Numbers and more numbers. Then management analysis and industry speculation. Unless you are an experienced financial analyst (and there are not very many good ones) the numbers in the reported statements can be very misleading - just as the company Controller wants them to be.
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How To Beat The Mutual Fund Companies At Their Own Game
You'd have had to be living on a desert island with no TV, newspaper or internet connection to have missed hearing about the great mutual fund scandal of 2003.
Price Targets
Every day in any financial publication you will find the Wall Street mavens giving their predictions on many stocks. It was issued here and should go there. It is now undervalued and is worth that much more. Really?
Planning Your Dive and Diving Your Plan ? Trading!
A colleague of mine just returned from a scuba diving trip in
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Is Active Trading The Answer?
One of the main reasons many of us get into investing is to become financially independent. Who isn't trying to amass a portfolio with enough income to ensure that we don't have to work when we should be playing golf or traveling the world. While there are several strategies to invest, is active trading one of the ways to become a millionaire?
The Shadow
The Shadow knows. There used to be a radio program called The Shadow where the hero, Lamont Cranston, the Shadow, would overcome the shadowy forces of doom by clouding the vision of those around him. "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men" was their intro line. They were great shows and you can still find them on the Internet.
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