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Learning Center - Investing Articles

Learn to Invest In Stock

Investing for Beginners
Investing for beginners provides the basic steps to achieve financial independence.

Bear Market Investing or how to regain what you have lost.

Best Stock Market Books
My list of the best stock market books for investors.

Earnings Season - A time to be careful
During earnings season an unexpected announcement can have major ramifications.

Five Bear Market Strategies to get you on the right track

Interest Rates and Stock Prices.
Does an increase in interest rates signal a decline in the stock markets and in the price of stocks?

Are you diversified?
Many investors think they are diversified and therefore protected from the market’s risks (at least somewhat). Well, this might not be accurate.

Learn from your investment mistakes.
Repeating the same investing mistake time after time will lead to financial ruin. Discover how to learn from our investment mistakes and become a better investor and trader.

Compound interest.
As you learning to invest compound interest is fundamental for long term success for investors and traders who wish to beat the market.

Buy Low, Sell High is Wrong.
Often said, but how do you know when the price of a stock is low?

Investing Books for Beginners.
My top ten list of best books on investing in the stock market for beginners.

Rule Investing
Successful investors and traders follow a proven rule investing process that helps them remain disciplined. They cannot let emotion get in their way. Follow these investing rules and you will be well on your way to success.

Sell in May and Go Away, 2008
The theory is the stock market goes into hibernation for six months from May to November, and during the other six months it gets back into gear and makes its move up.

Sustaining Your Investment Discipline
Whenever you waiver from your investing discipline, you are subjecting your stock portfolio to losses. Learn to sustain your investment discipline each day.

The Summer Pause that Refreshes.
“Sell in May and go Away” that means that most of the money tends to be made between November and May.


Fundamental Analysis of Stocks

S&P 500 PE Ratio - Forecast for 2010 and 2011
A forecast of the S&P 500 index and the PE ratio for 2010 and 2011.

S&P 500 PE Ratio September 2009
Will the S&P 500 index be higher or lower over the next year?

S&P 500 Earnings Expectations
Are earnings expectations sufficient to support the current level of the S&P 500?

Are Bonds Hinting the Rally in Stocks Will Continue?
Stocks and bonds typically move in opposite directions.
What does the trend in bond prices tell us about the trend for stocks?

Beta in Stock Market.
Beta in stock market is used by stock investors to help them identify opportunities in a market that is trending up. Beta in stock market also helps to identify lower risk stocks during a bear market.

Free Cash Flow Yield. A better measure of a company's potential to generate cash from operations. Value investors use free cash flow yield to help them identify good investing opportunities.

GARP Investment
Growth at a Reasonable Price GARP investment offers an excellent way to evaluate companies that offer the most potential with limited risk.

Rising Interest Rates on the Horizon
Rising interest rates are likely. Four factors are contributing to higher rates. As they form rates will rise.

Stock Market Average Annual Return
Looking at the averages can be misleading for followers of baseball as well as investing.

Three Stock Warnings of Trouble Ahead.
Are you worried that the stock of the company you own might be headed for trouble? Investors who seek to beat the market know that they must monitor the financial performance of their company looking for warning signs that tell them to sell before the stock price plummets.

Return on Capital Employed (ROCE) Ratio.
Return on Capital Employed (ROCE) Ratio is one of the important tools used to identify companies that offer good value and have the potential to grow.

Free Cash Flow Valuation
Free cash flow valuation is one of the best ways to analyze a company's fundamentals. It is straight forward and helps to disclose the real results of a company.

Best Buy in Refiners
What factors will determine what are the best buys in the refiners in 2008?


Beat the Market

Stock Market Strategies
The steps we use to Beat the Market each year.

The Business Cycle Phases
Identifying the business cycle phases is imperative to success in the stock market.

Stock Market Trend Analysis
Being on the right side of the trend contributes at least 60% of the return from the stock market.

Stock Selection Guide
Selecting stocks that offer Growth At A Reasonable Price comes from the world's best investors.

Disciplined Investing
Following a straight forward set of rules gives investors the discipline to be successful and reduce risk of loss.

Stock Portfolio Management
Once you have bought a stock or ETF, you must keep up with your homework to further reduce risk and enhance your returns.


Economic Analysis

Anemic GDP Growth Rate is Not Good Enough
The United States GDP growth rate of 3.2% is insufficient to to overcome high unemployment and underemployment. It only covers those entering the job market for the first time.

Rising Interest Rates and Dollar Revaluation
Rising interest rates and a U.S. dollar revaluation will be one of the dominate investing themes for 2010.

Natural Gas Outlook 2010
The outlook for natural gas remains negative as the supply of the fuel outstrips demand. This situation will remain in place throughout the 2009-2010 heating season, unless the U.S. experiences an extremely cold winter.

Bull or Bear Market - Case for a Bear Market Rally, 9/8/2009
Are we in a bull or bear market? That is the question many are asking with the S&P 500 up 50% from its March 9th low. Here is the case for a bear market rally.

Case for Jobless Growth 11/09/2009
The U.S. economy is about to embark on a jobless growth phase that will last for many years.

Debt to GDP Ratio, the Looming US Debt Crisis
The US debt to GDP ratio is reaching worrisome proportions. What indicators tell you the US debt situation is becoming a crisis?

Don't fight the Fed, 10/2/2009
Given that this is still true in today’s environment, what might take place over the next six to twelve months with interest rates, especially the discount rate?

Emerging Markets 2010
Emerging markets will lead the global recovery in 2010.

Global Economic Trends - U. S. Dollar Devaluation
Three important economic trends are causing the U.S. dollar devaluation.

Global Growth Trends - The Shape of the Recovery
If you can be on the right side of global growth trends, your portfolio will thank you. What trends are important for the next five years?

Is the Bond Market Rally Over?
Bond rates have declined for 30 years.  Is the end in falling rates here?  Will bond prices start to climb?

Sovereign Credit Crisis
The sovereign credit crisis in Europe could be the beginning a a longer term malaise that affects the world.

What a Changing Savings and Export Rates Tells Us, 9/4/2009
What can we learn from the insight that the U.S. consumer is saving more and Chinese exports are falling?

Export Investment, 11/09/2009
Export investment offers the best opportunity to take advantage of export biased growth growth in GDP.

Recovery in Housing Sector Not Hear Yet, 6/17/2009
The recovery in housing important to the recovery in the economy.

Stock Market Valuations are to High, 2/22/2008
What is the current PE ratio of the S&P 500 telling us now and what should investors do about it?

How Bad Can It Get? 3/08/2008. Those who want to learn to invest and beat the market need to have a prudent perspective on where the state of the economy and where the market might go over the foreseeable future.

Deleverage: What the Deleveraging Process Means for Investors, 7/28/2009. Too much financial leverage is the cause of the current recession. De-leveraging will continue for longer than most think.

The State of Consumer Spending, 5/2/2008. The consumer makes up more than 70% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the United States. So how goes the consumer, goes the economy.

Where is the Truth in Government Numbers? 5/9/2008. If you are learning to invest and wish to beat the market, it pays to dig a little deeper into the headline numbers released by the government.

Credit Crisis Causing Bank Credit to Dry Up, 7/25/2008. Credit is the fuel that drives the economy. If you want to beat the market or want to learn to invest, it is important to have a good understanding of how credit affects the economy.

How Bad Can it Get?
Can the 2008 credit problems get worse and bring the market down even further?

Unemployment Rate Basics.
The unemployment rate is an important indicator of the health of the economy. It pays to understand how it is calculated.

What is up with Oil?, 6/26/2009
Oil has doubled in price and remains in contango.

What the PE Ratio is Telling Us.
If the PE ratio follows history, it will continue to fall. This will bring stock prices down with it.

Yield Curve and the Stock Market.
What affect will a steeper yield curve have on the stock market?

Industry Sectors

Home Improvement Industry Trends
In 2010 the home improvement industry is set to reach its low and begin to rise. Investors should benefit.

Big Oil Entering the Shale Natural Gas Arena
Natural gas from shale is attracting big oil with their large capital base. What does this mean for the shale natural gas companies?

Smart Grid Investing
Smart grid investing offers investors significant long term opportunities in small as well as large companies.

Trading Discipline

Control Your Investing Emotions When the Market is in Rally Mode.
When the market is rising, it is easy to get carried way with your success. Learning to control our investing emotions is an important investing behavior to acquire.

Control Your Investing Emotions When the Market is Falling.
The market is plunging and your investing emotions are running wild. Now is the time to take control and use a good investing process to overcome the situation.

How to be a Contrarian Investor
Being a contrarian investor is more difficult than many people think. Going against the crowd when things are at their worst is a challenge.

Portfolio Risk Management
Manage the risk of your portfolio to beat the market.

Stock Market Risk Management
Stock market risk management is one of the  most important skills for any investor to master. Warren Buffett, considered by many to be the world’s greatest investor, states his first rule of investing is “do not lose money.”

Risk Tolerance Questionnaire
Unfortunately, the risk in the stock market of losing your money is always a possibility. Successful investors understand the risk they can tolerate. Do You?

Stock Position Sizing Calculations
There are a number of sources to obtain a position-sizing calculator on the internet. However, it is important to understand the rationale for the position size calculations.

Position Sizing Strategy
Many investors use the size of each stock position to manage their risk. Dr. Van K. Tharp has shown that position sizing is a proven technique investors can use to align their share purchases with their risk strategy.

Stock Position Sizing using Percent
Describes how to determine the size of your positions using the percent you are willing to risk.

Exchange Traded Funds

An ETF Based Sector Rotation Strategy Investors who want to beat the market and learn to invest might want to consider a an Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) sector rotation strategy.

Equal Weight Sector Rotation Strategy
The S&P equal weight sector rotation strategy has beaten the market for the last ten years.

ETF Risk
Do you know the ETF risk you face when you own Exchange Traded Funds?

Why Use Exchange Traded Fund or ETF Securities. Exchange Traded Fund securities or ETF's offer important reasons you should consider them as a part of your investing portfolio.

Five Steps to Build a Model ETF Portfolio. Follow five proven steps to constructing and maintaining a model ETF portfolio.


Stock Market Trends

Monthly Stock Market Trends.
The monthly stock market trends useful to get an overall perspective on the market's direction.

Sector Rotation, a Proven Investing Strategy
Two quality studies show sector rotation investing strategies can deliver market beating results.

Sector Rotation Strategy - 2009.
Sector rotation strategy for 2009.

Odds of a Recession
According to one view of the economy by the Federal Reserve the odds of a recession are 50-50. (new)

Ten Trends.
These ten macro trends provided a strategic framework for long term investment themes that are key to beating the stock market.

Stock Market Cycles
Follow the trend and you are much more likely to Beat the Market. See how the trend is your friend.

Pull Back or New Bear Market.
In June 2006, the market was moving down. What are the signs it was just a pull back and not a new bear market?


Stock Market Sector Rotation

Sector Investing, Equal Weight ETF Strategy
The S&P 500 Index ETF (SPY) bases the portfolio allocation on the capitalization weighted S&P 500 Index. Another sector investing method is to equally weight each sector.

Sector Rotation Strategy - 2009. The sector rotation strategy for 2009 that takes advantage of the changing U.S. economy from reduced consumer spending, increased U.S. debt and deleveraging.

Sector Rotation Strategy - Exports Driving Economic Growth
Consumers cannot be counted on to drive economic growth. Instead, U.S. exports will the the engine of growth for years to come.

Utilities Sector Outlook in the Carbon Cap World. The outlook for the utilities sector in 2009 face significant new challenges from the green initiatives by the Obama administration and Congress.


Technical Analysis Tutorial

Stock Chart Patterns
Investors who know how to use the best stock chart patterns have an edge in the market.

Average True Range ATR Indicator
The Average True Range (ATR) Indicator measures volatility making it useful for setting stops and identifying entry points.

Ascending Triangle Stock Chart Pattern
One of the most popular trading patterns can work well if used properly, cause grief is used incorrectly.

BPCOMPQ or NASDAQ Bullish Percent Index
A popular chart that measures the breadth of the NASDAQ. It is useful to identify changes in the trend of the NASDAQ.

BPENER or the Bullish Percent Index for the Energy Sector
As a measure of the breadth of the Standard & Poor's energy sector, the BPENER is a useful tool to help identify the trend for the sector.

BPNYA or NYSE Bullish Percent Index
Investors use the BPNYA to help identify trends in the stock market as well as trend reversals.

BPSPX or S&P 500 Bullish Percent Index
The BPSPX is a technical analysis tool that helps to identify changes in the trend of the S&P 500.

Descending Triangle Stock Chart Pattern
A popular stock trading pattern that is useful when shorting stocks when used correctly.

Bull or Bear Markets.
If you are one of the first ones to know you are in a bull or bear market, then you will be one of the first to profit.

Bullish Percent Index.
A popular market indicator that helps to identify trend reversals of groups of stock, an index or an exchange.

Channeling Stocks - Horizontal Channel.
The horizontal channel is one of the best performing channeling stock patterns. Learn how to use it.

Head and Shoulders Stock Pattern
The head and shoulders stock pattern is one of the most popular patterns used by technical analysts. It also is one of the most successful stock chart patterns.

How to Identify a Stock Market Bottom
Learn to identify a stock market bottom using two proven methods.

Golden Cross Moving Average
As a widely followed chart pattern, investors should be aware of the message they receive when a golden cross moving average signal is given.

ID Tops & Bottoms.
See how to identify changes in the market trend, a key ingredient to successful investing.

MACD Indicator.
The MACD or Moving Average Convergence Divergence Indicator is one of the most popular measures used by stock traders and investors who use technical analysis.

McClellan Index
The McClellan Index uses advancing and declining issues to derive its measure of the momentum within a market such as the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) or the NASDAQ.

McClellan Summation Index
The McClellan Summation Index takes a longer term perspective on the market by "summarizing the readings from the McClellan Index.

Moving Average Indicator
The moving average indicator is one of the most widely used indicators. Moving averages held investors to identify trends, buy and sell points as well as support and resistance.

Parabolic SAR Indicator.
The Parabolic SAR Indicator is used by traders and investors to set trailing stops and to identify trend reversals.

Reverse Head and Shoulders Pattern
The reverse head and shoulders pattern offers a low risk chart formation that offers investors and traders a proven technique to buy a stock with good technical potential.

Rising Wedge or Ascending Wedge Chart Pattern
The rising wedge is another widely used stock pattern employed by technical analysts. The ascending wedge helps to identify interim highs in a stock or index.

ROC Indicator
Learn to use the ROC Indicator to identify changes in the trend of a market, stock, ETF, commodity or currency.

RSI Indicator.
The RSI Indicator is a popular indicator used by traders and investors to help identify changes in momentum of a stock or the market. Learn how to profitably use the RSI.

Slow Stochastic Oscillator.
The Slow Stochastic Oscillator is popular indicator used by traders and investors to help identify changes in momentum of a stock or the market.

Stock Exit Strategy.
Your stock exit strategy is more important than knowing when to buy the stock.

Stock Position Sizing Guide using Percent Risk
Investors who use percent risk to size their positions enjoy greater returns as shown by Dr. Van Tharp.

Stop Loss Order
One of the secrets to beating the market is to limit your losses. This technique is an essential part of any investor's or traders arsenal.

Symmetrical Triangles Pattern
Symmetrical triangles are one of the most popular stock chart formations due to there very low failure rate.

Technical Analysis Example.
A technical analysis example helps those new to investing and the use of this method to understand how it works.

Trailing Stop Loss Order.
Similar to the stop loss order, the trailing stop loss order acts to protect a stock position. It is an easy way to protect a nice profit and let your stock to continue to climb.

Trailing Stop Percent
The purpose of the trailing stop percent is to accommodate a security’s volatility. Properly placed, a trailing stop percentage can help investors capture a significant portion of a trend move.


Technical Indicators

Average True Range ATR Indicator
The Average True Range (ATR) Indicator measures volatility making it useful for setting stops and identifying entry points.

MACD Indicator.
The MACD or Moving Average Convergence Divergence Indicator is one of the most popular measures used by stock traders and investors who use technical analysis.

Moving Average Indicator
The moving average indicator is one of the most widely used indicators. Moving averages held investors to identify trends, buy and sell points as well as support and resistance.

Parabolic SAR.
The Parabolic SAR is used by traders and investors to set trailing stops and to identify trend reversals.

RSI Indicator.
The RSI Indicator is a popular indicator used by traders and investors to help identify changes in momentum of a stock or the market. Learn how to profitably use the RSI.

Slow Stochastic Oscillator.
The Slow Stochastic Oscillator is popular indicator used by traders and investors to help identify changes in momentum of a stock or the market.


Options

Basics of Stock Options
Stock options for beginners. Learn the basics of stock options.

Writing Covered Calls
Writing (selling) covered calls can improve the performance of your portfolio and reduce risk. Write calls introduces the basics of covered calls.

Covered Call Option Strategies, Total Return Approach
The Total Return Approach provides the framework to analyze the potential returns of owning stock and writing covered call options.

Covered Call Option Expiration
As options approach expiration an investor is faced with several decisions relating to their covered call option strategy.

Rolling Covered Call Options
Rolling covered call options introduces how to close out the current option and then write (sell) another one by rolling forward, up and down as strategies.

Protective Put Strategies
Buying protective puts options is like buying insurance against a decline in the price of your stock. Wouldn't that be nice in this volatile market.

Stop Loss Orders vs. Protective Put Options
A comparison of whether stop loss orders or protective put options provide the best down side protection.

LEAPS Option
Long-term Equity AnticiPation Securities (LEAPS) are option contracts that allow investors to take positions with much longer expiration dates, up to three years.