Keeping score

Market direction

I continue with amazement at the number of people not saving money. Very few of my coworkers even know what they are contributing to retirement funds IF they contribute at all. They have no idea what the money is invested in. One gal suggested she would go talk to a financial advisor to tell her what to do! I suggested she read Jane Bryant Quinns "Making the most of Your Money" or even consider some Dave Ramsey books (never read them but get the idea).

I have no idea what direction the market is going. But we were beaten down so bad for so long that I suspect those that had to sell sold and that nobody is left that has to sell.

I cancelled my remaining newsletter from Gilmo but have paid thru November, gonna grab the stick on my own again. I've traded better of late that way.

I remember a biblical story of a man that had a demon cast out only to attract seven more demons. I view the search for trading truths somewhat similarly in that in looking for the holy grail one opens oneself up to partial or half truths (demons). It just takes a lot of time and perspective to figure this out some. You gotta be careful looking for something as it might just be found.

Save your money, pay yourself first, manage risk so the benefits of compound interest can work for you.

I'm giddy

Gotta get away and do some hard labor. Current positions in trading accounts are up: 47,14,14,42,9%. This brings one of the accounts up >10% YTD! Gotta stick with rules and ride them until the trend is over.

Computer set-up

I have a few years old HP dual core computer. I can't find much that will help me trade better yet so I stick with what I have until much better comes out or my net service gets faster. I have 2 monitors of different size so that I can see charts, generally keep 3 issues up, the one I am most interested in has it up in 3 time frames, otherwise just 2 time frames for the others.

I have to use internet explorer for IBD graphs. I use Mozilla Firefox for all else, Thunderbird for email. I try to turn all auto updates off, do not want things screwing up my day. If I see computer start slowing down, I shut down everything except my trading platform. I might also open the task manager to look at processes running and using lots of memory or whatever. Then I shut them down if I can tell what they are.

I regularly scan with Norton and the following:
http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware_free.php
http://download.cnet.com/Spybot-Search-amp-Destroy/3000-8022_4-10122137.html

I will also run whatever preloaded clean your computer up stuff their is with the computer and more so the application that come with Norton. I'll also look at all programs installed and get rid of what I do not use or want. Extra programs really bog things down.

Stay away from net filth!

If trading speed is important, less is best.

Flavorful pears

Ground bees

I've received a few calls and heard some stories about ground bees that gave folks a run for their money. I always assumed these were a small yellow jacket kind of bee until a few days ago when I was weedeating near the house. I came across this nest, at first I thought that it was just a couple but it ended up being more like hundreds. The three stings I got hurt like heck.

5. Name a risky thing you have done and why.

Like many traders I have seen the turtle trader books on the shelves. I've passed them by time and again after flipping through their pages but have just recently picked one up by someone that studies great traders. I highly suggest Michael Covel's Trend Following: Learn how to make millions in up or down markets. I find many powerful ideas in this book that many do not talk or write about.

If you click on the title of this post you ought o go to a video that answers this question for me that was brought forward to the original turtles. I did this at a time in my life that I was expressing little personal power, had barely a nickel to my name, no real education, and I allowed others to do my thinking for me. Since that time, or as part of the whole process of changing my life, many of those things have changed and I am a different person.

Fear does not bind me into inaction.

Rethinking

So I determined that I would change some stuff with how I invest, focus on ETFs that allow swing trading without easy 10-20% losses the way some IBD "leading" stocks have done at so called technical breakout points. I still need to get back to getting this list together, formulate how I will track them, and then determine entry and exits.

Having said that, chance favors the prepared mind. I've recovered some with some decent trades off the bottoms in two stocks whose charts I'll try and post here. CNO entry was unexpected but the action a few days ago screamed it was ready to go higher. Story wise I suspect that it is not as oversold as AIG but should see some significant upside action in coming years. I traded for some nice profit in this one already. C is a similar story, I've had it for a short while, now with a cushion to consider being an investor. Both of these stocks were hit poorly by market selloff of late. I think moneys here could be doubled in near term with some market magic.

Reflecting further on IBD complaints, I think the poor performance of this style for now is really an indication of market conditions being not too hot near term. Rubber band theory working well, things coming more to neutral after being stretched too far in odd directions. Also, banking and insurance are highly rated groups in IBD but likely have too much fear associated with them to be amateur subscribed.

Yo dips, buy the dips!

The fed is closing another thingamabob they been propping the economy with with in October. This is a good thing. Prechter is wrong-nobody left needs to sell, I expect he'll be waving to lost money. Price is telling a different story dude. And for those without money in the market right now, waiting for the story to be different, turn your news outlets off and look at charts. We are playing around with new highs for the year right here and now. Ignore your emotions, get a set of rules to live and trade buy. Buy buy.

Weekend Reflections

I am amazed that I can have my finger on the overall big picture of the market reasonable well and do so poorly in my active trading. The growth in retirement accounts at work and an annuity still have me up over 15% YTD, but the trading accounts are dismal. I am fairly well resolved to stick with what positions I have (4 stocks) until they violate serious long term averages like the 30 week or 50 week and if they do this to then only trade in ETFs of mutual funds for big picture moves.

The stocks I am in vary a bit. One has a lot of industry attention as a leader and might go further. It seems like some folks are selling it as it has moved to new 52 week highs this past week. Another is one I have visited a few times before and vomited all over the place, back in at new highs on volume, some folks are saying it has bad pattern. After I bought it tanked and has hurt my best performing trading account seriously. Two others do not meet normal criteria that I look for, but seem to be moving up a lot on potential. If swine flu turns out to be a big problem it might have me rolling in mud like a happy pig. I traded CNO for nice short term gain. It looks like it could be a buy and hold issue.

We canned some tomatoes, apple saucce this weekend. I've got the best and loving spouse in the world. I am grateful for these things.

I need to put in more footwork!