The Stock Market

Back in the early 90's, Robert invested in a series of mutual funds known as The Strong Funds. His plan was to invest for the long run and enjoy a comfortable retirement. Toward the mid 90's, he noticed a year's worth of investments would gain a net profit worthy of a single night out to dinner at a low end restaurant. By the mid 90's he had liquidated his mutual fund holdings and starting investing in the stock market by using both E*Trade and Ameritrade platforms. His first stock purchase was for a computer and consumer electronics brick-and-mortar brand known as CompUSA. Within his first month, he managed to make a profit over ten times his mutual fund profits for the previous year. That was enough to convince him the stock market would be his investment choice for the rest of his days.

Over the years, Robert has focused on the stock market for long term investments, but he began to notice various trends as he focused on twentyfive to thirty stocks each year. He bagan to notice various patterns so he adjusted his techniques as he anticipated the next move a specific stock would make. As he found success, he realized he could increase his profit margins if he began shorting stocks as well. This gave him an opportunity to hedge his positions as well as ride a stock down for additional gains after closing out a long position for profits.

His tecknique has worked and he has refined his approach to each position, both long and short. As he became consistently successful, he "moved the decimal" and began trading larger and larger blocks of shares with each transaction. Larger blocks of shares potentially meant larger losses if he was wrong on a stock's anticipated move, but he has been right more times than he has been wrong.

We have grown to new levels due to our successes, but most importantly, due to consistency. When you become consistently successful, you stick with what works and you don't try to make major changes that may change your successful results.

When it comes to the stock market, the one thing you can effectively change while being consistently successful is moving the decimal. Keep doing the same thing that works, but in larger numbers. There are times when larger volumes of shares traded in a specific stock can make things more difficult due to how other investors respond to those larger transactions, but there are certain techniques you can implement as you approach each position to maximize your effectiveness and minimize negative responces.

Over the years, we have identified what works for us and for the most part, we stick to what we know. The stock market is our friend and by hedging our positions, we can make money on both positive and negative days.