Quote:
Originally posted by Bill Verburg
Then you are chum for the financial industry sharks, You have my sympathy....
Successfull investing for the amateur is all about asset allocation that will maximize gain while minimizing risk....
|
I'm not sure why you're giving me your sympathy -- or how you can figure that I'm "chum" for the financial industry sharks -- I'm up over 1000% in my Roth IRA over the past three years. I haven't had as spectacular gains in my regular brokerage account since I tend to trade less, looking for things to hold for at least a year so I can sell with a long-term capital gains rate, but my gains there exceed the "fund manager's" averages many time over.
All the gains are from trading individual stocks. I have had some losses too -- I took a $25k loss in the Roth earlier this year -- not fun to do since the loss can't be applied against gains; it was in an OTC stock -- and it really sucked too since I could have taken a gain on it in 2005, but I got too greedy and held too long!
You seem to be suggesting that only people in the financial industry can understand business and investing. Sorry, but I don't share that view.
In fact, the suggestion that individual investors somehow "need" the financial industry -- and all sorts of complicated formulas -- to help them make their investment decisions in-and-of-itself is a red flag that should make investors extremely cautious.
A person may
choose to turn his money over to someone else to manage, but one should not be "intimidated" into thinking that one "needs" an expert to make investment decisions.
If someone tries to tell you that you can't understand investments, but that they can, I say you should
run, not walk away from anyone giving such advice.
Most of the financial "experts" out there are primarily interested in lining their own pockets and have worked hard to spread the myth that they are somehow "essential" for anyone who wants to make money investing. They continually attempt to instill "fear" in the public about how "dangerous" investing is; and how they "make it safe" for the individual investor.
Successful investing/trading is not easy and not without risks, but it
is something an individual
can do if he has reasonable intelligence, plenty of common sense, and a willingness to put the effort in that is needed.