Mike, Not to be disrespectful, but margin is a tool, that should be used only when you know how to. I always tell people to get 5 years under your belt before you use it and if you are not a full time player never have more then 10% of your account margin. I have been on margin for 2/3 my investment life, not once have had a margin call, that's 20 or so years. I was taught to keep my level at 60% or higher, as my account has grown it has stayed at 80 to 70%, that's 20% to 30% in borrowed money. Last but not least use stops, mental or real if your are margin.
The man that taught me was 78 at the time, he was the prototype for the Long term buy and hold type investors <g>, His cost bases would make you choke if you saw them in the likes of JNJ, SLE, WAG, MO, I'm talking double digits pass the dot as in cents<g> he stayed fully margin even at that age.
greg |
