| |
| |
|
Stocks & Mutual Funds Information |
|
|
|
Which Way The Market
I am hearing predictions by brokers, financial planners, talk show hosts and the talking heads on TV that the market is going back to its old highs - DOW 11,700 and NASDAQ 5000 here we come. It seems to me that in 2000 I heard these same people saying there was no top to the market and were looking into their crystal balls for DOW 30,000 or some other fantastic number. Suddenly the market turned over with the DOW dropping 3,000 points and the NASDAQ losing 80% of its value. Can it happen again? I don't predict and all I can say is the market can do anything. BUT what if it does turn down? Are you going to sit as you did before and watch your money disappear? Right now everything looks rosy and the momentum is carrying the indexes higher almost every day. Buy and hold is the right strategy. Hind sight is always 20/20 and you will want to own stocks and mutual funds now, but not get caught in the next down draft. There will be one! There always has and you can see it clearly if you are a student of market history. Since 1900 there have been 16 to 18-year cycles of bull and bear markets and within those there have been other shorter cycles of ups and downs. Many brokers and investors try to predict when those turns will occur and they are mostly wrong. It is definitely not a good idea to try to outguess the market. You must learn to read the rather obvious signs of the major turns. I say obvious, but it is clear they are not obvious to most brokers or financial planners. Having been a professional trader, exchange member and floor trader for many years I will tell you the obvious 'secret'. Using a 200-day moving average of any one of the major indexes (I prefer the S&P500) you can plot these every day and when the index penetrates the 200-day line in an upward direction it is a signal to buy. That is where we are now. Inversely when it penetrates that line going down it is time to sell and put your money in cash or bonds. If you don't want to do the math computations there is an excellent chart in the Investor's Business Daily newspaper called their Mutual Fund Index that will do all the work for you. It is nothing more complicated than that and you can go back into history as far as you wish and you will see it proven time after time. You are holding stocks or funds while the market is going up and you are in cash while it is going down. Don't be fooled by "research" or by any other complicated method. This works. There is no need to predict the market. It will tell you in simple language what it is doing and whether you should be a buyer or seller. 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:
Question From A Reader – Refinance A Home To Pay Taxes For A Roth IRA Conversion? - FavStocks (blog)
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Dividend Paying Stocks I would like to share with the reader an article printed in the financial section of U.S. Mutual Funds are Dead You may have wondered why your mutual funds have been going down for the past 2 years. The answer is very simple, but not one you will hear from Wall Street as they want you to send money. Stocks: Understand What You Buy! "There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action!"Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)I don't really know how cars actually work. Not really! I know how to drive them, but if you asked me how they work, I would not really know how to definitely explain it. High Price/Earnings Ratios and the Stock Market: a Personal Odyssey After some forty years of banking and investments, I retired in 2001. But since I do not golf, I soon found retirement to be very boring. Successful Trading - Taking Profits - Part 2 Suppose your position has made a big move and you moved your stop to your purchase price as recommended. Then let's say your stock continues to make a big move and now we're asking again the questions we asked back in the first paragraph. Long Term Financial Vehicles Investing in long-term financial vehicles give you the most gains but it also puts your funds at greater risk. There is much truth to the saying, "there is no gain if there is no risk". The Value of Stocks of a Company The debate rages all over Eastern and Central Europe, in countries in transition as well as in Western Europe. It raged in Britain during the 80s: Is privatization really the robbery in disguise of state assets by a select few, cronies of the political regime? Margaret Thatcher was accuse of it - and so was the Agency of Transformation in the Republic of Macedonia. Stock Chart Reading As an investor you will want to checkout any equity before you buy it. Many investorsgo to Morningstar which is one of the largestproviders of mutual fund information in the world. Protectionism First let's see what protectionism is. According to Mr. No Load Mutual Funds: Boost Your Portfolios Returns Investors who exclusively use broadly diversified, no load mutual funds for their stock investments often lose out on opportunities to increase the reward potential of their portfolios. This article looks at two methods investors may use to enhance the performance of their portfolio of diversifed, no load mutual funds. How Much Information Do You Need? You have decided to buy some stock or mutual funds, but wonder which one to buy. You need more information so you call your broker for advice. Is the Stock Market for You? Many people would like to diversify their portfolios to expand their holdings. Making it big in the stock market has been a dream for many people who want to strike it rich. Complacency Indicator If you haven't heard of the technical indicator with the stock market symbol VIX it is now time to pay some attention to it. When the number is running low, as it is now, around 15 to 18 it means everyone is happy and thinks the stock market is going to continue up or at least continue on its current path and there is no need to sell anything. 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. Stock Market Investments If there is one term over-used when talking about makinginvestments in the stock market I would think that termwould be: buy low, sell high.Buy low? Sell high? How low is low and how high is high? Ilike the term buy low, sell dear, much better! But betterstill are the terms buy and hold, and dollar-cost-averaging(buying the same stock at different prices through theyears). Buy and Hold Investment Strategy "Buy and hold" is one of the most heralded investment strategies promoted today. "Buy and hold" is also one of the few investment methods where you are guaranteed to lose money 2 out of every 5 years. Quality Investment Information: Standing Firm In the Face of Opposition THERE'S SOMETHING TO BE SAID FOR standing firm in the face of opposition. Interestingly, most of the best stock decisions have come at times when the mainstream is saying precisely the opposite. 9 Deadly Trading Mistakes! The following are a list of nine things you want to avoid at all costs. Anyone of them can literally destroy your financial dreams and goals!1. Some Good News for A Change Before we get into all the good news out there, let us first take a look at what the term "news" really means. By definition, the term "news" means the exception to the norm. The Cub; II We keep hearing about this bear market and that the bottom is "in" or "very close" so we should be invested in these bargain basement prices to take advantage of the next bull so we won't lose out on the expected huge profits.This is not a big bear market - yet.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
