The 10 Commandments

Wall Street has been preaching for years and years to investors how and where to put their money. The "experts" have put forth these ideas for so long that they seem to be carved in stone just like Moses did with God's 10 Commandments. The only difference is that what Wall Street preaches is lies that will make you broke.

It will be difficult in this short space to elaborate on them, but please stop and give a long think to all of these commandments.

1. Do research
2. Buy and Hold
3. Dollar Cost Average
4. Diversify
5. Buy a good stock and put it away
6. You can't afford to be out of the market
7. Never try to time the market
8. Rearrange your portfolio with age
9. Your broker will watch your account
10. The market always comes back

The first 3 are preached by every broker who breathes. Consider that if you can find out about a company so can everyone else so what good is it? If you haven't figured out Buy and Hold by now you are either broke or have not owned any stock. Dollar Cost Average is only for suckers ? you could have bought Enron from $90 to nothing. When your broker says diversify he means he doesn't know what to do with your money so he recommends putting some here and some there and a little in the safety deposit box or under the bed and hopes some of it will make a profit. He doesn't know.

Hope is the most expensive word in the dictionary of any investor.

Buy a good stock and put it away. That is what the talking heads in CNBC-TV have been saying. Brokers, analysts and financial planners touted Enron last year as a quality stock. Even their bonds carried an investment grade rating. I don't mean to leave out Xerox, Global Crossing, Pan American (for you old timers) and about a thousand others if you want to take the time to look. I am not exaggerating. In 2000 there were more than 1,000 stocks on the Nasdaq that lost 90% of their value.

Charles Schwab says you can't afford to be out of the market. He wants to keep your money. I'm sure he will say you can't time the market, but there are many of us who have been doing it for years. When they say that I know they have not taken the time to learn their trade ? investing to make money. Rearrange you portfolio with age should be rearrange your portfolio to make a profit and not lose what you have.

Your broker will watch your account ? get smaller. He never tells you to sell those losers or put in a stop-loss order. And you know because you have been told so many times that the market always comes back ? except when it doesn't, especially to the stocks you own.

Put these lies, oops, commandments, up on your wall and recite them to your broker when he calls or you might want to send him a copy.

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.

1-888-345-7870; al@mutualfundstrategy.com

---

I Love To Lose Money

Well, not really. What I mean is I don't mind... Read More

A Penny for Your Stocks

According to Investopedia Inc. the penny stock market has seen... Read More

Different Ways of Buying Stocks

Let's say you are interested in this one company. You... Read More

Stock Market Investing Odds

The greatest stock market myth is the idea that investing... Read More

The Three Little Pigs Went to the Stock Market

Three little pigs went to the market to stock up... Read More

Basics of Stock Market

Financial markets provide their participants with the most favorable conditions... Read More

Stuff

I continually hear from economists, talking heads, other market letter... Read More

Why Stock Is More Risky Than Options!

You probably have been told that options are risky. Even... Read More

Prosperity

It has fallen upon the consumer to make our economy... Read More

Dividend Reinvestment Plans: Investing on Automatic Pilot

If you're like many investors who squander those small dividend... Read More

Buying New Issues

Has your broker been calling you recently with the "great... Read More

Prospering with Mutual Funds: How Anyone can ?Afford? an Investment Advisor

Recently I was invited to appear on a live CNNfn... Read More

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Stock Market

On the 40 year journey through the turmoil of a... Read More

Choosing A Fund

For years I have been saying you must have a... Read More

You Don?t HAVE To Be Trading

As a novice trader, you'll often feel the need to... Read More

War Market

There is no question that the stock market is being... Read More

Never Fall In Love!

Recently I watched my favorite football team lose a vital... Read More

Stock Market Investments

If there is one term over-used when talking about making... Read More

How Much Information Do You Need?

You have decided to buy some stock or mutual funds,... Read More

Buy and Hold: How to Perpetuate Your Investment Losses

A recent cartoon in my daily newspaper showed two guys... Read More

Complacency Indicator

If you haven't heard of the technical indicator with the... Read More

Gold Fever

Right now there doesn't seem to be any "gold fever".... Read More

Understanding a Stocks PEG Ratio

A PEG ratio cannot be used alone but is a... Read More

Making Outsized Returns in the Stock Market - Using the Dow Theory

The Dow TheoryCharles H. Dow... Read More

Fools Gold

The stock market has been in an up trend for... Read More

Emotional Involvement

I'll bet with almost anyone that has stocks or mutual... Read More

Lights of the Stock Market

There are red lights, green lights, blue lights and spot... Read More

Picking Mutual Funds to Outperform the Market

With over 6,000 mutual funds available, it may be tempting... Read More

Understanding Stock Market Indexes

A stock market index is a statistical measure of changes... Read More

The Stock Market - How Just One Question Will Tell You All You Need To Know About Your Stock Broker

Last time we looked at the real performance of the... Read More

Being Wrong Buying Stock is Okay

Being wrong is OK, but let's not carry it to... Read More

Shorting Stocks ? The Basics, Part I of II

What does it mean to short a stock?This means that... Read More

Trading Baskets II: The Crapolio, A Roll of the Dice in the Stock Market

In a previously written article, we expanded the use of... Read More