What We Don't Buy
Research for Online Investors

by John Dalt

11/01/10

The Wall Street Journal carried a headline Saturday “Watch as We Don’t Buy, Not Just as We Do.”  The article is about family finances.  It explores how our children see us spending relative small amounts of money on everyday items, because we are thrifty and cautious in our larger decisions.

The headline caught your editor’s attention, because it catches a lot of territory for investors.  The decisions we make on what NOT to buy are just as, if not more, important than the stocks we chose to buy.  How many companies have you looked at and decided against investing, and noticed six months later how far they had fallen?

Surely, you have seen stocks you decided against that went on to increase in value. This is a result of the decision process every investor has to go through. Of course, the opposite happens with stocks we buy. Our best hopes sometimes go down, but if we do our job most of our investments turn out well.

What we are really talking about is discipline in investing.  Discipline is the most important commodity that does not trade on any index.  We have all heard the old saying that “To not decide is to decide.”  Interpreted in the affirmative, “To not buy is to decide” is sometimes the best decision we can make.

As investors we need to grow past the need to buy something, and learn to sit on our hands when the best decision is “Not to buy.”  If you don’t have a disciplined approach to investing and trading, you may want to consider one of our premium services.

I can’t guarantee you winners every time.  But, we go about our investing and trading in an organized fashion with a plan.  We stick to it and we win or we lose.   Then we wipe the slate clean and go on to the next decision.

We checked our books this weekend and audited our results for the last month in our premium services.  We are hitting on all cylinders, and we appreciate you, our subscribers.  The long-term portfolio is up 10.1% since the first of the year, beating the S&P 500 by 65%

Our covered call service had a tough first six months of the year, as we chased the market down in the spring.  Boy, did we make up for it.  We are up 21.3% since July 1st!  SwingTrader subscribers are short the market to capitalize on the pullback we believe is inevitable.  We closed ten trades in October, eight of them for a profit!

If you could use a little help trading or investing, I think these results should encourage you to look at our offerings.  There is always room for you in one of our groups, and all of our services come with a guarantee.

Don't forget to vote tomorrow...

A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government. - Thomas Jefferson, Writings, 1743-1826

The information presented in this newsletter is based on generally available news releases, corporate filings, current events, interviews and the editor’s opinions.  It may contain errors and you should not make investment decisions based solely on what you believe you have read here.  Do your own research, it is your money.  If you lose it, it is your responsibility, not ours or your grandmothers!  The editor may or may not have a position in any securities discussed.  The editor may have held a position in a security earlier, or in the future.

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