Stock Market Wisdom from Chicken Little

by: Gary Wollin

One day, while Chicken Little was walking in the woods, an acorn fell and hit him on his head.

"Goodness gracious me!" said Chicken Little, "The sky is falling, the sky is falling. I must go warn everyone."

We see this all the time. The stock market goes straight up for eight or nine months, and if there are 2 or 3 down days in a row, there is hand-wringing and the moaning all over the place.

Who are these people that panic at the first sign of a downturn or with the slightest bit of profit taking?

The first group are people who get in the near the top and are now worried that their small losses will turn into big losses. Also, people who haven't invested in the stock market are in this same box. For many, many years they were wrong to not have invested, but now that the market has declined very slightly for a few days they would like the point out how smart they are and how dumb everyone else is.

Short–sellers are the next group. Short selling is selling a security that the seller does not own but is committed to repurchasing eventually. It is used to take advantage of an expected decline in the security's price.

The press comes next. You have heard this before: "bad news sells newspapers."

The 24–hour television news stations must make every tiny move in a stock or in the stock market seem like a momentous occasion. Imagine hearing such a stupid statement as "this is the largest stock market decline since last week."

The slimiest are the politicians whose party is out of power. They try to make themselves look good by making the other guys look bad. It does not matter which group you belong to or who is in power or out of power at the moment.

An out of power politician must find the cloud in every silver lining.

So, how can you protect yourself? What should you do to keep out of "the sky is falling" trap?

The most important thing that you can do is to be clear about your long-term financial goals and objectives. Yes, in the very short run, many circumstances can affect the value of your portfolio. In a well-diversified portfolio, these declines will be relatively small and short lived.

Twenty years from now, it will not have mattered who was shot during the past twenty years or who was in power or who went to jail or to war. Simply ask yourself, "how will three dollar a gallon gasoline affect my retirement twenty years from now?"

Don't worry about tales of imminent doom and gloom. Don't listen to, and certainly, don't act upon rumors and scare stories. And, most of all, don't spread these stories yourself.

About The Author

Gary Wollin is a Warren Buffet style investment advisor with 45+ years of Wall Street experience. He has been regularly featured in The Wall Street Journal and New York Times. He writes and speaks on sales, customer loyalty, and the stock market. http://www.garywollin.com

5 Tips to Investing Successfully in the Stock Market

by: Chris Strudwick

Here is a simple 5 Step process to help get you started out on the right track..

1. Finding a stock.

This is the most obvious and most difficult step in stock trading. With well over 10,000 stocks to trade in a good guideline is to consider first in which sector you wish to trade in first.

Of course you would be looking at a sector that is receiving good media coverage and in which the stocks concerned are going in in value.It stands to reason that you would not be looking too hard at a sector that was experiencing a severe downturn.

Once you have decided in which sector you want to invest in, you can then commence to start researching for a stock.

It is always best to have a system of rules already in place that will be used before buy each stock.

2. Fundamental Analysis.

A lot of short term traders might argue with the need to do any Fundamental Analysis at all, however knowing the stocks past history and the latest up to date news regarding the stock can be very crucial.

A good example would be the earnings season. If you are planning on buying a stock that has missed its earnings target the last 3 quarters, I dare say caution might be very wise.

3. Technical Analysis.

This is the part where the indicators play a part. Stochastics, the MACD, volume, moving averages, RSI, CCI, support levels, resistance levels and all the rest. Whichever batch of indicators you choose, whether they are lagging or leading, may entirely hinge on where you get your information from.

Keep it very simple when you first start out, for using too many indicators in the first place is a guarantee to achieve big losses. Get comfortable using one or two indicators first. Learn their intricacies thouroughly, and you'll be on the road to making more profitable trades.

4. Follow your choices.

Once you have committed to a couple of trades you should then start to manage them properly. For instance if the stock is meant to be a short term trade you would then obviously be watching it more closely for your exit signals. If it's a longer term trade you then of course need to set up different time frames such as weekly or monthly checkups on the stock.This effectively frees you up and gives you more time to do other things.

You can use this time wisely for keeping up to date with the news, determining your price targets, set stop losses, and keeping an eye on other stocks that you may want to purchase in the future.

5. Keeping an eye on the bigger picture.

This is best achieved by following the particular sector in which you bought your shares .For instance, if you are expecting a share price to go up on an oil stock you purchased and nearly all of the other stocks in oil sector are also rising, then this is cofirmation that you may have made the right decision.

But of course the reverse holds true as well. If the oil sector is starting to show a decline then it might be a good idea to take your profits and run. By knowing in advance and being aware which sectors are hotting up or cooling off stacks the odds in your favour.

For more information on Researching and other related articles go to our Education Section here at Asxnewbie

You just never know which GEM of information might turn up which could lead you to your next profitable trade.

About The Author

Chris Strudwick is a successful share trader on the Australian Stock Market Visit his weblogs at both http://www.asxnewbie.com AND http://www.aussie-retiree.com/ for more useful information about the stock market.