As a kid, I was scared to death of roller coasters. I never went on them. But in the summer of 1977, peer pressure changed that. The last day of summer camp featured a trip to Six Flags Over Georgia. After riding just about every ride in the park, my… Read More

Forget what you’ve heard, the market is not rational. Major news events should have a major impact on stocks that are affected. But investors get so caught up in the rest of the market noise that they can miss these momentum-shifting events. Case in… Read More

As an investor, I get unsolicited “get-rich-quick” investment advertisements. Lately, I’ve been swamped with them, which makes me worry. The economy is still struggling to find solid ground. The holidays are coming. And these two facts alone make investors more… Read More

I’ve been looking at stocks since I was in high school, back in the late 1970s. I eventually chose to turn my fascination with investments into a career. I figured stocks represented the single-best path to wealth creation, thanks to one simple statistic: If you hold an investment for an… Read More

I’m not sure I remember exactly how I felt in February, but like most investors I was interested in what the New Year would bring. I suppose there’s a certain amount of optimism that goes with that. The S&P 500 had just finished two pretty good years,… Read More

When the market falls out of bed, no stock is safe. Investors disregard any potential growth prospects and ignore all financial statements, indiscriminately dumping every kind of stock. This has surely been the case during the… Read More

Some of the most successful investors have developed very effective investing tricks that help them appear to magically master the market. In fact, these tricks beat the system so easily that it almost seems illegal. But they aren’t breaking the… Read More

When the developed world sneezes, emerging economies catch a cold. This fear explains why investors are quick to shed their emerging-market holdings when the U.S. and European indexes hit rough waters. But it may be time for a new set of rules for investors to follow. Many… Read More

Famous hedge-fund manager David Einhorn recently did something I find a bit curious. According to the recent third-quarter filing for his firm, Greenlight Capital Inc., he completely liquidated his position in a big-name company that, despite recent troubles, is still a superpower in its industry. Einhorn established… Read More

Picking good stocks is only the first part of the formula for successful investing. The second part involves watching your portfolio for signs of trouble and culling stocks that become too risky. Two weeks ago, I listed three metrics I use to identify risky stocks. I’m always… Read More