Professional stock options traders use the term lean to refer to one's perception about the directional strength of the stock. When you own a stock option and intend to hold it for a period of time, you are aware that you will probably be holding it while it goes up and while it goes down. This means that at any given moment in time, you might have a different opinion of the potential movement of that stock. Knowing this, there is a way to address your present level of confidence or "lean."...

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Everyone who invests in the stock market wants to be a winner. Each person's definition of a winner will be somewhat different, but there is hardly one who isn't looking for that stock that will double in price within one year. Can it be done? Yes, but when you look at the odds you may want to find a better or maybe slower and safer way. The chance of finding that mother load is 1 in 200, about Ѕ percent. Of the 11,000 listed securities you have a choice of 55. Even the pros don't like those odds....

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The recent criminal fiasco in the mutual fund industry is being used by Wall Street to persuade investors that market timing is a bad thing. The late trading by Janus, Bank America and several other well known mutual funds is falsely being called market timing. Wall Street, better known as Maul Street to most investors, does not want to you to find out about market timing. The reason is very simple. If you learn to sell you might take your funds and do something intelligent with them. First let's understand what market timing is....

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Two great Wall Street gurus, Elaine Garzarelli who manages multimillions of investors' dollars and George Soros, king of the hedge funds, each have a different take on the future. Elaine thinks the Dow Jones Industrials will be at 12,000 to 12,500 by the end of the year. Big George says we are in a bear market and must be very careful where to invest money right now. Another pundit I saw on CNBC whose name I can't remember made a very good case for a trading range for the next several months. Let's examine the psychology of the majority of investors at this moment in time....

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Every day on CNBC-TV they show a 200-day moving average line superimposed on the stock price history. It seems they give great credence to this manufactured line as it represents 10 months of price action. What is it? Does it really mean anything? The line represents the addition of the closing prices of that particular stock, mutual fund or index for the past 200 trading sessions that have been added up and divided by 200. That is then placed on the chart at that point. For example if the price of the equity started at zero and went up exactly one point for 200 days the average would be 100....

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Everybody is riding the Wall Street Roller coaster. Even if you are not invested, the headlines scream out one word: PANIC! It's hard not to join in the panicking. The Panic Crowd seems to be having all the fun these days. But they don't have all the happiness. You see, it's true what your mother told you: money doesn't buy happiness, at least not for most people. But the lack of money does buy pure misery. Did you ever wonder why so many office towers have fusion-sealed, micron-proof windows to keep office workers safe from any semblance of fresh air?...

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Alfred Winslow Jones started hedge funds in 1949. He was a pioneer of non-traditional investment strategies. "Non-traditional" categorizes hedge funds quite accurately. Hedge funds have the potential to make an investor quite a bit of money, but many do not understand the nature of hedge funds. Hedge funds have undergone skepticism because they do not have to disclose their activities to third parties. Hedge funds are very secretive and do not have to disclose their activities to third parties....

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I continually hear from economists, talking heads, other market letter writers, analysts and assorted "experts" that I need to know all kinds of "stuff" about the stocks and mutual funds I am going to buy and I should keep up with them on a regular basis. What is this important "stuff"? Let's see. Oh, I know. Price to Earning ratio, P/E. That's always a big one on almost everyone's list. Simply put it is how many years it will take a company's earning to pay back the price today....

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Are you attracted to the idea of being in control of your financial future, but confused about how to start investing in the stock or share market, while avoiding costly mistakes? Or maybe you're disappointed with your performance so far? Does it sometimes feel like every time you take the plunge and buy into the market, the price goes down? That's understandable... You've probably attended seminars, read other newsletters or broker reports telling you to buy this or buy that ..... you've probably heard or read a lot of confusing and sometimes conflicting information?...

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Starbucks earnings are up again and so is their stock slightly. It appears they are exporting America's weakness to caffeine and sugar around the world. This seems to serve the company's profits well and nations like China have quite an emerging population to sell to. Think of the exporting of tobacco and the riches the orient has given. Perhaps this is the answer to our advancing trade deficit. Should you have Starbucks in your portfolio? Selling drugs has always been a worldwide moneymaker from the Afghanistan Poppies to the Columbian Cocaine....

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Because there are so many stocks that are NOT paying dividends and also going down people are looking for a safe investment that will pay a decent return and also won't lose money. Slowly folks are beginning to think about bonds of which there are all kinds. Cities and counties have been issuing bonds. There are the school bonds for building new school buildings and the local district issues these. How about building a new sewage plant? Yes, a special bond could be used. If you live in a big city there could be bonds for that new stadium or maybe an aquarium or a huge theme park....

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