| |
| |
|
Investing Information |
|
|
|
Effective Advice For A New Generation of Investors
CATCHING A FALLING KNIFE One of the most common mistakes made by inexperienced investors is trying to "catch a falling knife". This is a habit, common among new investors, of buying stocks that are in "freefall", and it's a bad idea for an investment strategy. Unfortunately, it's common even among old and experienced investors. I have to admit that I've even made that mistake myself. There are two primary approaches to investing: fundamental analysis, and technical analysis. At my firm, we generally fall into the fundamental camp, since we evaluate stocks based upon their valuations, rather than looking primarily at their short-term price movements. We take this direction because we believe this provides the greatest potential for long-term success. Just looking at the fundamentals of an investment, however, can limit an investor's profits and lead to some unpleasant positions. This is because there are real limitations to buying a stock as it falls. You may purchase a stock that looks great at $10, only to see it fall to $5. If the stock rises again to $20, you may have been "right" to buy at $10, but maybe you weren't "right enough". Buying at $5 would have yielded a 300% return, while you settled for only 100%. Furthermore, if you thought that $10 was a reasonable price, you might have saved time by buying it on the way back up instead of on the way down. Let's face it: buying a stock that is in mid-fall is not a pleasant experience, and it isn't difficult to come up with a variety of other strategies that will bring better results. Still, we shouldn't avoid all stocks that have dropped. In fact, studies show that investors who buy stocks that have fallen hard, tend to outperform the market on a regular basis. In fact, this "bottom-fishing" strategy can provide one of the best performance levels of all, but missing out on these opportunities can be costly. The decision then is not whether to buy "fallen angels", but when. This is where a bit of technical analysis skill comes in handy. Unless you're willing to buy any piece of junk that happens to have good price momentum, technical tools can't really tell you which stocks to buy. But they can lead us to a better understanding of timing. Once you select a good investment based on fundamentals, it is time to decide when to put the money down. A good first step: watch for a positive movement on good volume before committing. As long as the stock is dropping, there is a good chance you may get it at a better price. Better to wait a few days (or weeks) to assure your purchase is timed right. There's no advantage to buying before the time is right, even if the choice of stock is ideal. In this case, patience really is a virtue. Remember: don't try to catch a falling knife - pick it up after it hits the floor! R. Scott Pearson is an investment advisor, writer, editor, instructor, and business leader. As President and Chief Investment Officer of Value View Financial Corp., he offers investment management services to a wide variety of clients. His own newsletter, Investor's Value View, is distributed worldwide and provides general money tips and investment advice to readers both internationally, and in the U.S. Prior to founding Value View, Scott edited the Pearson Investment Letter for eight years, and served as a Registered Investment Advisor for Pearson Capital Management. His newsletter articles and recommendations have been reprinted in other leading investment publications, including Investor's Intelligence, Bull and Bear and the Dick Davis Digest. In addition, he has written columns and articles of general interest for various newspapers, covering a wide range of topics from investments and IRAs to mortgages and credit issues.
MORE RESOURCES:
Investing - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
How To Start Investing For Financial Independence, Part 1 Today, I am going to start a multi-part series about how to go from being a beginning investor to being "financially independent" in a steady and predictable way. At our website, we get tons of e-mails about how do I start, how do I start with little $'s, etc. Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? I am sure you have probably read about the power of compound interest. And how if you invested $10,000 at 10% return and let it compound for 50 years you would have a little over 1 million dollars. Now is the Time to Invest for Your Retirement! Yes, it's the time we've all been waiting for?tax season! We know you've gotten a jump start and filed early this year, right? Of course not, but rather than dreading this part of the year, we should all look to it as a point for new opportunities. Many readers don't realize that even though the New Year has come, they can invest money as if it were still 2004! That's correct, it's not too late. A Secret Revealed: Why Most (Day) Traders Fail The following perspective on (day) trading comes from my many years of experience of active day trading or being the moderator of one of the largest day trading chat rooms on the Internet.One of the biggest problems I see with new traders (and even some old ones) has nothing to do with the software or the broker they are using. The Differences Betweeen the Wealthy and Everyone Else I recently received an e-mail from a young lady who had doubts about the principles of wealth found in "Rich Dad, Poor Dad". She mentioned a couple of past failed investments, and wanted to know what I thought about investing and financial freedom - whether it was just a myth, or whether it could be acquired. Overbought/Oversold Has your broker ever told you that a stock is "overbought" or "oversold"? He probably went on the explain that the stock you own (I hope you didn't) had gone down so far that it now was oversold and due for a rally. He might also have encouraged you to buy an equal amount to "dollar cost average" your position so that when ("if"- he didn't say that, I did)) it did go back up you could "get out even". How to Choose the Right Share Class You'll want to opt for the no-load or institutional share class instead. If you're a no-load investor who is determined to buy a fund that's primarily broker-sold, go through a supermarket and opt for the D shares. What Age Should I Start Saving For Retirement? Ask this question to 100 people and you will receive 100 very different answers. The fact of the matter is there is no right age to start. Options Made Easy and Investor Education - Simple Enough for a 10 yr Old Kid How many of you out there think that the market is performing well?How many think the market is performing poorly?And how many feel the markets performance is neutral?Actually none of these answers is correct. You see, learning and reading our options made easy articles, you will realize that the market does not perform, you do. Investing: The Art Of Making Your Money Work For You There is a lot to know about investing. It all depends on what type of investing you are interested in as well. Why the Rich Keep Getting Richer Rich people: fortunate, lucky, selfish, and arrogant? Or highly educated, caring, brilliant individuals? Becoming rich isn't hard, but it does require a bit of time and knowledge. Having time to get rich, educating oneself, and buying assets are the three key factors in attaining untold wealth. Part II of Day Traders and Swing Traders and Options? Maybe! Before every protective put trade it is possible to calculate your anticipated maximum loss. Use the formula: (stock price minus strike price) plus option price. Should You Put Your Annuity in an IRA? Let me start by answering that question.. Coca-Cola - A Value Stock? There has been much talk lately about Coca-Cola and its potential as a value stock - as it now spots a dividend yield of 2.6% (which is the highest dividend yield since the late 1980s) and a P/E or less than 21 - right at the bottom of its five-year low. Expand Your Pool of Investors for Your Company If you own a company that sells complicated products and you want more investors, consider having topics on your web site that discuss the background needed to understand your products and your company. For example, if your company specializes in producing and researching monoclonal antibodies, post articles discussing exactly what monoclonal antibodies are, how they are produced and what research your company is engaged in. Trading Systems A trading system consists of a set of rules for viewing markets and making trades. The advantages of trading systems can be hidden when they become associated with trading platforms involving trade order submission and processing. Bearish or Bullish? If you are interested in stock investing and the stock market, you may have plenty of questions. Even if you have already started investing, you may still have many questions about the details of the stock market and your options. It Must Be Joe Cockers Market Agonizing displays of poor theatrics failed to entertain my mind one recent Saturday evening. I scrolled across several television channels hoping for an engaging program. Retirement is Never Urgent Until If you're like many people, your retirement savings have not been growing consistently over the years. We're not referring to the wild fluctuations in the stock market, but rather the fluctuations in our short-term needs. Volatile Oil The Light Crude Continuous Contract fell from $67.70 a barrel on Monday to $62.
|
| home | index |site map |
| © 2006 |
