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Strategies & Market Trends : VOLTAIRE'S PORCH-MODERATED -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Voltaire who wrote (9199)	10/21/2000 7:53:22 PM
From: mtnlady	Read Replies (5) \| Respond to of 65232

On the subject of FAITH. Tom I agree 100% that FAITH in the companies you pick is imperative to successful long term investing. And that FAITH needs to be well founded. You have FAITH in a stock when you know the company inside and out AND you know the MARKET and their COMPETITION and the stocks trading pattern very, VERY well. The ONLY time I've ever made money, serious money, in a stock that I knew little about at the time was NTAP. That is rare. Why is FAITH so important? Simple.. when the market drags your stock down you need to have the patience to wait it out. Without FAITH you have no PATIENCE. I can also say that this is a really good time to plug the gorilla and king methodology of investing. Why? Simple. To assure yourself that you have latched on to a bonafide G or K company you would have needed to do the research. That research brought FAITH. And that FAITH was well founded because of the unique characteristics of the company and market it controls. In short.. I only invest (now) in 4-5 stocks max. Every single stinkin' time I go beyond my self imposed limits I end up getting nervous and selling at the wrong time. I highly recommend that folks DON'T hop scotch around buying whatever somebody else recommends until you are SURE (i.e. FAITH!) in the company and the market you have invested in. If you can't do the necessary research then it is time to invest with a mutual fund of some sort. Just my 2 cents worth... And another reminder to myself when I get a few extra bucks in my pocket to not get all excited about the 'next great thing' but to stick with what I know best. If I am really excited about that 'next great thing' then I can buy a small amount (i.e. so it's less than 1% of my portfolio!) and do a lot of research to give myself the faith in the company.

To: Voltaire who wrote (9199)	10/22/2000 1:47:55 AM
From: freeus	Respond to of 65232

Dear Voltaire, :o) I knew what Buffet meant....but it can be taken another way too.(Take profits). I know I could be making a fortune, if I could get over the panicky stuff. HAs it been three years we've been writing? It must be because we began at Dell and that was quite a while ago. I'm still having panic selling problems, not because I don't believe in the companies I buy (what's not to believe in with csco, sunw,emc, siebel, even qcom and rmbs) but because the craziness of the ups and downs for nothing on Wall st baffle me. I did buy Home Depot at 37...had sold it in the 50's....Home Depot, cut by 30% because of ONE earnings report that wasn't even that bad???? So one of these days I'll learn to buy the tech stocks when they collapse too...the problem is tech is so fleeting,it's a little easier to feel sure that Walmart or Home Depot will be there next year...technology changes so fast....look at Dell. Freeus

To: Voltaire who wrote (9199)	10/22/2000 4:05:44 PM
From: Gregory	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 65232

A pouring rain strategy. I beleive there is one more important point, that somehow does not attract a lot of attention. This is a known fact and there are real conclusions from this fact that should affect the investment decisions. Market is very different now than majority of people want to beleive. 10 years ago what was necessary was " Be a good boy. Buy good stocks. Try to buy them on the dips. You will be rewarded. Things like Coca Cola, GE, ATT is what merica is. Stock market is either Bull or Bear. Stick with it and you will be a winner" While before the number of variables affecting stock market even it was big but was lquite limited to the size of 1 country and events outside the country would not influence market so fast. Now, the communication between countries news distribution, money exchange, futures trade, intervening military and politically in other countries is very fast procedure, A lot of other very important things, each of them influencing market immidiately make market very jittery. It is like Yo Yo. So, the normal condition of the market is not anymore Bull or Bear jumping up and down. And the swings that would before would create a panic, now is almost normal. So, if you adjust to this model and invest around "Yo Yo" model you will make a lot of money. If you follow old model of "good old, stable market" you will loose. What it implies is that if before it was happenning during market crash when people would jump out of the windows, now this could happen much more frequently. Everything is faster now, getting a trade executed, getting a margin call, finding the better broker, making money, loosing money, calling Europe, getting to Japan,getting divorced, getting sick, etc,etc... Market is just one of these things. The practical conclusion as far as market is concerned. : 1.It is now much more important to have enough funds to stay in the market than it was 10 years ago. 2.You can not afford to be in situation where they sell you out. 3.You should always keep in mind that even you are in "good stocks" your equity can go 30-50% down in a matter of a 1 week. 4. You can try to rationalize it and say this is because events in Middle East, or Japan , or Russia, or election,etc,etc,etc or you can even say this happens because it is unusually dry weather in Hawai, or too rainy in San Diego. It really does not matter. What matter is how good you are supported by your money not to be flashed down the toilet.