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.
Brokerage companies never will advise you to sell. Last year over 1,000 stocks on the Nasdaq lost more than 90% of their value. During that same period of time brokerage companies issued 33,000 (yes, that's right, thousand) recommendations for their clients. Of that 33,000 only 125 were "Sell". What happened to those "expert" analysts who were telling you to buy on the way up? Couldn't any of them figure out to tell you to get out when a stock was headed down at breakneck speed?
When you want to know something I have a favorite method. It is, "Follow the Money". Where does a brokerage company make its greatest return? Not on commissions as you might think. It is selling a new issue of stock or a secondary issue for a company now in business or debentures of some kind. We are talking about big bucks here. Minimum six figures and most times seven figure commissions for the brokerage company. Just one of these more than makes up for the customers piddling commissions.
If the brokerage company analyst tells the truth that he doesn't think a company is a good buy anymore and to sell you can be sure the executives at that company have a long memory should they decide to sell more stock. Issuing a sell signal would be the death knell for the brokerage company ever selling any new issues for that company. And the analyst would probably get fired.
Instead of telling you to Sell they downgrade the company from Buy to Neutral or Accumulate or Underperform the Market or Hold. The latter is the worst rating you will see. Any downgrade is your signal to Sell immediately.
There is a successful way to Buy and Hold, but it will take about 15 minutes of your time each week. You could do it monthly, but you will have better results if you do it weekly. One of my basic criteria for owning any stock or mutual fund is that it must be going up. Not down or sideways. Let's say you have from one or several stocks in your portfolio. On Saturday morning you look at the closing price of the stocks you own. You figure out what 10% of the closing price would be. You might want it to be more or less. For example, if the stock is $40 per share that comes to $4. On Monday morning you call your broker and place an Open Stop Loss order for $36. Never lower the price. If the stock sells down to that level you want to be sold out.
The Hold side of the Buy and Hold formula has been met. You held it while it was going up. You don't want to hold it while it is going down, do you? This is the right way to Buy and Hold, not the way Wall Street tells you. You bought. You held. You got out with a profit (or a very small loss). Congratulations. You have outsmarted Wall Street.
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
tidy up service Glenview ..There can't be many traders who haven't at least considered... Read More
Have you been listening to the talking heads on CNBC-TV?... Read More
Duck! No I don't mean a quack, quack. I meant... Read More
The bulls and bears of the stock market are both... Read More
For some "long term" would mean holding a stock position... Read More
All of the talking heads have been telling us that... Read More
You remember (they show it on TV every year) the... Read More
On Friday or Saturday evening my wife gets a movie... Read More
Wall Street's watchword has always been diversification, but what does... Read More
When it comes to 401k's there is an overabundance of... Read More
This is an extract of an article which was first... Read More
To begin, you might look at playing the stock market... Read More
Stock investment advice is easy to find. Do you get... Read More
When most analysts, financial planners, fund specialists and investors try... Read More
You've decided to try your luck at trading stocks or... Read More
On November 17 I bought 7 different mutual funds and... Read More
Today's society gives special recognition to alcoholics, sexaholics, binge-aholics, shopaholics,... Read More
No, this is not a symbol for some Latin number.... Read More
Trading is a fascinating activity.There are so many layers to... Read More
It looks like the market is ready to start up... Read More
If you're like many investors who squander those small dividend... Read More
Everyone who invests in the stock market wants to be... Read More
If there is one term over-used when talking about making... Read More
AS BUILDERS BEGIN WORK ON THE FREEDOM TOWER in New... Read More
When it comes to buying a stock or mutual fund... Read More
full-service cleaning Mundelein ..Being wrong is OK, but let's not carry it to... Read More
When it comes to stock market trading it PAYS to... Read More
Picking a beaten-down stock requires a different kind of selection... Read More
The date October 13, 2000 will forever be embedded in... Read More
Have you been listening to the talking heads on CNBC-TV?... Read More
I was recently interviewed for a press release through a... Read More
Recently I was invited to appear on a live CNNfn... Read More
It's about time someone spoke the truth concerning outsourcing. The... Read More
Four blind men were asked to give a description of... Read More
If you don't know where you are going any road... Read More
Where is the beef? Or maybe it should be where... Read More
After finding the price of a particular stock, usually the... Read More
Starbucks earnings are up again and so is their stock... Read More
It looks like we have now entered a new bull... Read More
Let's first define insanity. It is doing the same thing... Read More
Question: How does it get better when it gets worse?Last... Read More
Index Fund Trading can be one of the most profitable...or... Read More
To begin, you might look at playing the stock market... Read More
Well, not really. What I mean is I don't mind... Read More
What! Me worry?Many of you remember the cover of MAD... Read More
Have you seen all those big full page ads for... Read More
On the 40 year journey through the turmoil of a... Read More
For the year 2000 we have seen hundreds of mutual... Read More
If you want one.And I don't recommend any broker with... Read More
'Sector funds are too risky.' 'I doubled my money with... Read More
Stocks & Mutual Fund |