Bear Market, Bull Market or Dead-cat Bounce...It Matters Little to the Stalwart Penny Stock

Over the last eight weeks [June, 2006] I've been spending a lot of time reading articles describing the current market conditions...trying to figure if it really affects penny stock investors.

Are we in a bull market...are we wading into a bear market. Or is the recent rally just a dead-cat bounce?

The dead cat bounce refers to a short-term recovery in a declining trend. There's a (relatively) old saying in investing: even a dead cat will bounce if it's dropped from high enough.

No matter how you slice it...I'm not sure it even matters to penny stock investors like you and me.

For example...stocks surged in Japan this week as reports showed growth in manufacturing and exports. Markets rose across Asia as investors were encouraged by Wednesday's gains on Wall Street.

Strong earnings reports from two bellwether stocks gave penny stock investors hope that rising interest rates wouldn't kill profits. The recent sell-off, said one economist was "just turbulence."

The turbulence, it seems, is continuing on this side of the pond. U.S. stocks traded flat to lower Thursday as the market took a breather as higher oil prices and downbeat economic data curbed Wall Street's momentum. So, what are we to believe, is the market heading up...or heading down?

How does the market look in general terms? As far as stocks are concerned, the S&P index is up just 0.3 percent for the year, the Dow is up 3.4 percent and the NASDAQ is down 2.9 percent. Not sparkling data.

But for penny stock investors, the recent roller coaster ride that many seasoned blue chip investors are reeling over, is just par for the course. We know that a penny stock is often volatile and just as unpredictable.

While a penny stock may be more vibrant when the market is upbeat, in general, a penny stock marches to its own tune. Why? Few investors venture into the field of penny stocks because they are either unwilling or unable to do the work required to accurately predict what these shares may do.

By their nature, it is nearly impossible to know what price a penny stock share should be trading at, and conventional financial ratios and industry comparisons are rarely effective measures for realizing a penny stock's value. Large one-day percentage gains and losses are not an uncommon occurrence for penny stock investors.

So really, bull, bear or cat...it's just another day at the computer screen for penny stock investors. The work may be fun...but it's not easy. Of the 14,000 public companies in the U.S., about 3,300 are considered penny stocks that trade on the OTC Bulletin Board operated by the NASDAQ.

Their visibility is low, chances are you've never heard of their CEO and I doubt they have any institutional following. And while they're highly speculative, the more promising ones have a targeted business plans, and solid positions in niche markets. And for now, they're flying under the radar of Wall Street

So what do you do in an unpredictable market like the one we're in? Continue applying the same principles you've always used when searching for that untapped penny stock. And enjoy the volatility.

A seasoned investor with a keen interest in international business and current affairs, John Whitefoot has been working alongside Peter Leeds for the last several years. With over ten years experience in the investing community, Whitefoot is devoted to uncovering the news, trends and ideas that shape penny stock picks on a daily basis.

Five Simple Tools For Trading

Cut the learning curve and develop yourself properly for the share market

"The share market is a place where people with money meet people with experience.

The people with experience get the money. And the people with money get the experience.-Anon"

Below is the development path that I have advocated and seen work successfully for over a decade.

Step 1:

Education about the share market and strategies for investing This document, the Safe Investing Method has been designed to provide a thorough grounding in share market principles and the development of successful investing habits. All the information you need is included in this document. We recommend a thorough study of the material together with completion of your personal investment plan as a first step.

Step 2:

Practice investing in simulation using historical data Saratoga's Trade Simulator has been designed to help you learn how to invest without using your own money. Investing strategies and methods can be tried out during different market conditions such as downward trending markets (bear markets), or strong advances (bull markets) in order to improve investing capability. A structured review process has been included to help you identify problem areas which you can then work on for improved results. However you can also practice safe investing without software products through simple paper trading.

Step 3:

Practice investing in simulation using live data. This logical progression moves you very close to a live investing environment in that decisions are made in simulation but are executed in real time using live data. This gives you the opportunity to assess how well your investing habits have developed during simulation and how well you might perform in the real market.

Step 4:

Investing in the real market using your own investment funds (capital). Saratoga's Trade Simulator can be used to support your live investing and track your performance. The review process is as essential as ever and can be used to maintain and improve your current rate of return during live investing. You should also continue to use the simulation environment to continuously improve your investing skills and test different scenarios or new investment approaches. As you should be able to see this is a logical and practical approach to share market investing. If you genuinely take the time to implement this strategy I have personally seen time after time that you will reap the rewards.

About the Author

Phil Wengier, VIC, Australia

More details about Successful Investing can be found here. Phil Wengier has been successfully investing in financial markets for over 30 years and is the owner of several companies. In particular, Saratoga Pty Ltd has been on the Internet since 1996 helping many who wish to discover how to invest safely and successfully.

Good Stock Buys are the ones that make you more money than leaving it in the savings account!

You don't have to be a financial wizard to know that your money isn't going to earn a very high return sitting nice and safely in your local bank or credit union. Of course, there's a lot to be said for not having to worry about if your money will be waiting for you as banks are notoriously risk adverse. There is also the issue of the federal governments guarantee that you money will be waiting. This is also known as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or FDIC.

Now the FDIC is NOT really insurance and the money it has available can cover about 1-3% maximum of the total monies it has guaranteed. No one except the federal government could get away with such low reserves and continue in business. That said, understand that the FDIC, for all intents and purposes IS the government.

If however you need to have your money grow, and who doesn't, it's necessary to increase your net worth. Whether it's for retirement, a home, your children's college education or a vacation, you should consider learning about stock market trading.

According to most estimates, you can expect to earn an average of 10 to 12 percent annually from stock market trading -- even with a very conservative portfolio. When you compare those returns to the three or four percent interest that the typical savings account pays, you can easily see why stock market trading is the better option. So we're talking about a solid return on investment several times what can be obtained at the local savings and load.

Getting involved in stock market trading is very straightforward and uncomplicated. All of the major brokerage firms maintain web sites that make it easy to compare rates and fees. You can just sign up with one of these firms, talk to a broker to discuss your financial goals, and then let the firm do all the work. If you want to be more hands-on, there are even do-it-yourself stock market trading web sites where you can make trades with just a few clicks of the mouse. Whichever route you choose, you should be able to start building your portfolio within a few days.

The key however is to practice first and THEN invest. Several web sites are available that for a small fee, you can trade an imaginary account that is linked to the actual action on the various stock markets. This was, you are able to hone the trading skills necessary to be successful. It also protects capital and keeps the losses just on paper and not real money.

By starting with a practice account, you can gain confidence in your ability and find out what style of investing is most comfortable. People just like you have been increasing their net worth through stock market trading for decades. If your money is currently languishing in your bank account, it might be time to put it to work for you. Get into stock market trading now, and start building up a portfolio that will be able to support you and your family well into the future.

Abigail Franks writes on a ariety of subjects that are relevent to todays families. For more information on buying stocks go to

Currency Trading Tips! Get Rich!

What are you really selling or buying in the currency market?

The short answer is nothing. The retail FX market is purely a speculative market. No physical exchange of currencies ever takes place. All trades exist simply as computer entries and are netted out depending on market price. For dollar-denominated accounts, all profits or losses are calculated in dollars and recorded as such on the trader's account.

The primary reason the FX market exists is to facilitate the exchange of one currency into another for multinational corporations who need to trade currencies continually (for example, for payroll, payment for costs of goods and services from foreign vendors, and merger and acquisition activity). However, these day-to-day corporate needs comprise only about 20% of the market volume. Fully 80% of trades in the currency market are speculative in nature, put on by large financial institutions, multi-billion dollar hedge funds and even individuals who want to express their opinions on the economic and geopolitical events of the day.

Meaning of Trading in Pairs

Because currencies always trade in pairs, when a trader makes a trade he or she is always long one currency and short the other. For example, if a trader sells one standard lot (equivalent to 100,000 units) of EUR/USD, she would, in essence, have exchanged euros for dollars and would now be short euro and long dollars. To better understand this dynamic, let's use a concrete example. If you went into an electronics store and purchased a computer for $1,000, what would you be doing? You would be exchanging your dollars for a computer. You would basically be short $1,000 and long 1 computer. The store would be long $1,000 but now short 1 computer in its inventory. The exact same principle applies to the FX market, except that no physical exchange takes place. While all transactions are simply computer entries, the consequences are no less real.

Great Returns in Currency Trading

The opportunities for unmatched returns and investment protection in the brave new world of foreign currency investing are second to none. In Foreign Currency Trading, financial executives Russell Wasendorf, Sr., and Russell Wasendorf, Jr., describe foreign currency trading in plain terms, and help you understand the risks, benefits, and operational requirements that you will need to take advantage of this market's tremendous potential. Look to Foreign Currency Trading for clear explanations on the mechanics of foreign currency trading, in-depth discussion of all pertinent foreign exchange rules and regulations, and a comprehensive glossary with literally hundreds of terms essential to forex trading. With formerly imposing currency trading restrictions having been struck down in recent court rulings, the world of foreign currency trading is an exciting and rapidly-expanding field.

Make Money with Currency Trading? How? Find out at http://CurrencyT

How Is Currency Trading Different?

Unlike the trading of stocks, futures or options, currency trading does not take place on a regulated exchange. It is not controlled by any central governing body, there are no clearing houses to guarantee the trades and there is no arbitration panel to adjudicate disputes. All members trade with each other based upon credit agreements. Essentially, business in the largest, most liquid market in the world depends on nothing more than a metaphorical handshake.

At first glance, this ad-hoc arrangement must seem bewildering to investors who are used to structured exchanges such as the NYSE or CME. However, this arrangement works exceedingly well in practice: because participants in FX must both compete and cooperate with each other, self regulation provides very effective control over the market. Furthermore, reputable retail FX dealers in the United States become members of the National Futures Association (NFA), and by doing so they agree to binding arbitration in the event of any dispute. Therefore, it is critical that any retail customer who contemplates trading currencies do so only through an NFA member firm.

FOREX.com is a registered Futures Commission Merchant (NFA ID #0339826) and a division of GAIN Capital Group. A pioneer in online foreign exchange, GAIN Capital Group provides forex trading & asset management services to institutional investors and professional money managers in over 140 countries.

Where is the commission in FOREX?

Investors who trade stocks, futures or options typically use a broker, who acts as an agent in the transaction. The broker takes the order to an exchange and attempts to execute it as per the customer's instructions. For providing this service, the broker is paid a commission when the customer buys and sells the tradable instrument.

The FX market does not have commissions. Unlike exchange-based markets, FX is a principals-only market. FX firms are dealers, not brokers. This is a critical distinction that all investors must understand. Unlike brokers, dealers assume market risk by serving as a counterparty to the investor's trade. They do not charge commission; instead, they make their money through the bid-ask spread.

In FX, the investor cannot attempt to buy on the bid or sell at the offer like in exchange-based markets. On the other hand, once the price clears the cost of the spread, there are no additional fees or commissions. Every single penny gain is pure profit to the investor. Nevertheless, the fact that traders must always overcome the bid/ask spread makes scalping much more difficult in FX.

Make Money with Currency Trading? How? Find out at http://CurrencyT

What Is Forex? Get Rich!

Although forex is the largest financial market in the world, it is relatively unfamiliar terrain to retail traders. Until the popularization of internet trading a few years ago, FX was primarily the domain of large financial institutions, multinational corporations and secretive hedge funds. But times have changed, and individual investors are hungry for information on this fascinating market.

What makes the relative value of Currency fluctuate?

There are two reasons the relative value of a currency fluctuates. The first is because of a 'real' market: as outside investors or visitors wish to buy things within a country, they are forced to convert their domestic currency into the currency of the country they are buying within. Similarly, as money leaves the country, people must sell their currency for the foreign currency they will need to spend or invest abroad.

The second force for currency fluctuation is speculation. As investors feel a given currency will act strongly or weakly, they will buy or sell accordingly. This speculation can have drastic consequences on a national currency and consequently on a country's economy. During the East Asia Crisis in 1997, for example, as nations in Asia began facing economic downturns, speculators used currency trading to realize enormous profits and in many analysts' view helped to exacerbate the problem.

Benefits of Currency Trading

Currency trading has many very real benefits over equity trading like the stock exchange. The spreads for currency trading are extremely low, making the cost to a trader very low as well. The volatility of the currency market is extremely high, which means that a trader can generate enormous return on a given exchange. The ratio of volatility to spread is approximately 500:1 for the currency trading market, as compared to 100:1 for even the most ideal of stocks.

Until recently, the currency trading market was very closed to small investors. Banking conglomerates and large multinationals were the main movers of this market place. In the past few years, however, new technologies have opened the doors to investors of all stripes. It is difficult to miss the enormous benefit of this 'new' market for the individual investor: higher returns with lower risk given the same amount of market knowledge have a very small downside.

Make Money with Currency Trading? How? Find out at http://CurrencyT

Portfolio Management - Let The Professionals Take The Load

Do you have a lot of shares in different companies?

Do you have a large sum that you are looking to invest in the stock market?

Are you finding that doing the essential research too time consuming?

You might want to consider a portfolio management company.

Share Portfolio management is an option for those with a high value portfolio of shares, or a large amount of capital to invest in shares and commodity futures. Portfolio managers have various minimum values that they require to actively manage your investments.

The reason large minimum values are in place is because of the high commission charges that these companies make. It would not be worth a small investor, with $10,000 employing a company to manage his portfolio of shares in one or two companies.

Having a professional Portfolio Manager does remove a lot of anxiety from the individual. The manager's role is to ensure that your portfolio is a balanced one, without excess exposure to currency fluctuations or to any one sector of the market.

It is part of the managing company's role to conduct research, so that they can advise you on the best options. Research is an area that many individual investors find difficult, unless they spend hours every day watching share prices. The professional advisor employs people to conduct research into specific companies or market sectors, allowing you access to better research than you would have otherwise.

Your Portfolio Manager will also ascertain the degree of risk that you are happy with and ensure that your portfolio of shares is not at odds with your risk acceptance.

For anyone with a smaller amount than a Portfolio Management Company will manage there are other options. Look at Investment Trusts and Unit Trusts. These are companies which take investors cash, pool it and buy a balanced portfolio of shares in stock market companies, reducing the investor's overall risk.

Find out more at Wanda Cortez works in finance. Find more articles here.Find more investment info at portfolio managers or trading systems.

Exchange Traded Funds: Why You Should Never Buy a Mutual Fund Again

A Spiraling Market and Rising Penny Stock Opportunities

It's been a wild and wooly couple of weeks on the international stock markets. But is the recent slide grinding to a halt...or just taking a breather before tumbling some more? And more importantly, what does it mean to astute penny stock investors?

Wall Street recently stumbled to its worst week of the year, and global stock markets fell dramatically on concerns about rising interest rates and slowing growth. After rising almost 9% in the first four months of the year, the Dow Jones industrial average has fallen about 6.5% from a six-year high, reached May 10, 2006.

Stocks have been ailing because penny stock investors fear the Fed could be so focused on inflation that it ignores signs of an economic slowdown, raises interest rates too high and sends the economy into a recession.

Global stock markets were sent reeling last week after golden-tongued U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke shocked penny stock investors in saying the Fed will continue raising interest rates to keep inflation in check.

And that decision will have a direct impact on the penny stock market. Higher interest rates hurt penny stock prices because investors believe it will curb economic growth and corporate profits.

But why is inflation heating up? Higher energy costs. Traders and penny stock investors are also worried that with the hurricane season officially under way, Gulf Coast refineries and oil production sites could be damaged again this summer and fall.

And higher interest rates have the ability to affect the entire economy. Finance charges on credit cards will rise. So too will rates on mortgages and home equity loans, putting additional pressure on homebuyers and a softening housing market. Ultimately, it will cost more to borrow for expansion.

But does this signal doom-and-gloom for the penny stock market? Au contraire. While the temptation to sell everything can be overwhelming, some see this as a great opportunity. "I would not be selling. I would tend to be buying," said one New York analyst.

So how exactly is this an opportunity? It just so happens that many companies caught in the market's downward spiral are cheaper than they were a few weeks ago. And as any seasoned penny stock investor will tell you, buying a great penny stock when it's been beaten down isn't a bad way to make money over the long haul.

If you can stomach some of the volatility that is. While many blue chip investors have difficulty handling the market's unpredictability...it's par for the course.

So, "snap out of it," said another watcher. A month of dizzying selling has brought the markets into an attractive range. Is it possible the markets will fall more? Absolutely. After all, no penny stock is a sure thing. But one thing is certain: "Stocks are much cheaper now than they were two months ago."

A seasoned investor with a keen interest in international business and current affairs, John Whitefoot has been working alongside Peter Leeds for the last several years. With over ten years experience in the investing community, Whitefoot is devoted to uncovering the news, trends and ideas that shape penny stocks on a daily basis.

The Art of Picking a Penny Stock?

Should Wiley E. Coyote ever get into buying stocks, I have no doubt he would stack his portfolio with shares of ACME. I'm just not so sure any savvy penny stock investor should follow the economic advice of a coyote.

Investors of the two-legged kind, whether they're looking at a penny stock or a blue chip behemoth, tend to take a myriad of details into consideration before investing. And so they should.

But a recent study suggests that investors of every stripe take mental short-cuts when it comes to investing...at a time when they should be more rational.

Wall Street gurus and penny stock investors alike it seems, are more likely to purchase newly offered stocks that have an easily pronounceable name, say a pair of Princeton University researchers.

Adam Atler and Danny Oppenheimer found that a stock's performance immediately after an initial public offering (IPO) appears to be linked to how easily investors (penny stock or otherwise) can pronounce its name and stock ticker symbol.

Danny Oppenheimer, commented, "These findings contribute to the notion that psychology has a great deal to contribute to economic theory."

The two said the effect also extends to ticker symbols. For example, all things being equal, a stock with the symbol BAL should outgain a stock with the symbol BDL in the first days after an IPO.

"We looked at intervals of a day, a week, six months and a year after IPO," Atler said. "The effect was strongest shortly after IPO. For example, if you started with $1,000 and invested it in companies with the 10 most fluent names, you would earn $333 more than you would have had you invested in the 10 with the least fluent."

Oppenheimer acknowledged that their findings do not tell the whole story about the post-IPO success of a stock, not are they good indicators of long-run performance of a penny stock.

"You shouldn't make changes to your stock portfolio based on our findings. The primary contribution of this paper is to add a piece to the jigsaw of understanding how the markets operate," said Oppenheimer.

So, what does this mean for the green and seasoned penny stock investor? It means you should still take an exhaustive look at any company you're interested in. It also means that, in the early stages at least, it doesn't hurt to find a company with a catchy name and ticker symbol to boot.

A seasoned investor with a keen interest in international business and current affairs, John Whitefoot has been working alongside Peter Leeds for the last several years. With over ten years experience in the investing community, Whitefoot is devoted to uncovering the news, trends and ideas that shape penny stocks on a daily basis.

Critical Information You Need to Protect Your Retirement

Big Lie #1: Buy and Hold

Spreading Your Investment And Savings Risks

The world stock markets are going through quite a turbulent period at present and on average around ten percent has been wiped off some of the leading markets over the last month. In this article I write about how on a personal note I try to save in a series of different financial products which helps me to spread the risk, including when we have these stock market falls.

I started saving money on a regular basis about five years ago. At this stage the stock market in the UK had just had some dramatic falls after the terrorist attacks in New York. I wanted to build up a kind of rainy day fund and decided to invest monthly premiums into a unit trust. I started saving £50 a month and over time I increased this figure.

I have to say that I have been very lucky as my investment has done very well, I have even over the last couple of years cashed in some of the units to pay for our family holidays. At the start of this year the stock market in the UK was showing its highest levels in five and a half years.

In the five years that I have been investing, I have bought and now own a large number of units in this unit trust fund. What it now means however, is that if the stock markets have a period just like the one it has had, it costs me financially on paper quite a lot of money.

I now believe that my exposure to the stock markets is high enough and have decided that I will leave the units that I have invested in the fund as they are, but that I will not be adding to them. Instead I am going to put my regular savings into one of the high interest regular savings online bank accounts. This of course is a way of spreading the risk.

I have no idea which way the world stock markets are going to go over the next few months. Many people are saying that the United States interest rates may rise and that this could have a damaging affect on world markets. There could well be another major terrorist attack which could of course result in dramatic stock market falls.

I am hoping that the stock markets will continue to rise in the same way that they have over the last five years and that the falls over the last few weeks are just a blip. I just think that I have enough money invested and would like to start building some form of other savings in a safer type of environment.

Stephen Hill helps to promote a number of websites including:

lower telephone bills

stuttering advice

Trading With Price and Volume

The Importance of Maintenance Cap-Ex

What Is Currency Trading?

Currency trading is the largest market on the planet. It is estimated that in excess of US$2 trillion is traded every day. Compare this to the New York Stock Exchange's daily transactions of approximately US$50 billion, and you can see that the magnitude of the currency trading market exceeds all other equity markets in the world combined. The practice of currency trading is also commonly referred to as foreign exchange, Forex, or FX, for short.

All currency has a value relative to other currencies on the planet. Currency trading uses the purchase and sale of large quantities of currency to leverage the shifts in relative value into profit.

What is the FX market?

The FX market is different from other markets in some other key ways that are sure to raise eyebrows. Think that the EUR/USD is going to spiral downward? Feel free to short the pair at will. There is no uptick rule in FX as there is in stocks. There are also no limits on the size of your position (as there are in futures); so, in theory, you could sell $100 billion worth of currency if you had the capital to do it. If your biggest Japanese client, who also happens to golf with Toshihiko Fukui, the Governor of the Bank of Japan, told you on the golf course that BOJ is planning to raise rates at its next meeting, you could go right ahead and buy as much yen as you like. No one will ever prosecute you for insider trading should your bet pay off. There is no such thing as insider trading in FX; in fact, European economic data, such as German employment figures, are often leaked days before they are officially released.

Which currencies are Traded?

Although some retail dealers trade exotic currencies such as the Thai baht or the Czech koruna, the majority trade the seven most liquid currency pairs in the world, which are the four majors:

EUR/USD (euro/dollar)

USD/JPY (dollar/Japanese yen)

GBP/USD (British pound/dollar)

USD/CHF (dollar/Swiss franc)

and the three commodity pairs:

AUD/USD (Australian dollar/dollar)

USD/CAD (dollar/Canadian dollar)

NZD/USD (New Zealand dollar/dollar)

These currency pairs, along with their various combinations (such as EUR/JPY, GBP/JPY and EUR/GBP) account for more than 95% of all speculative trading in FX. Given the small number of trading instruments - only 18 pairs and crosses are actively traded - the FX market is far more concentrated than the stock market.

Make Money with Currency Trading? How? Find out at http://CurrencyT

The Advantages of Trading Options Over Stocks

Thoughts on the Future of the Real Estate Market

You hear it everywhere. The baby boomers are starting to retire. The stock market and real estate market will suffer as money is pulled out. This hardly seems true for real estate.

Thoughts on the Future of the Real Estate Market

Baby boomers are those individuals born during the period from roughly 1945 to 1964. Following World War II, peace and economic prosperity occurred for roughly twenty years. Along with this came an explosion in the birth rates in the United States. This increase in birth rates created a bulge in the overall population, to wit, the baby boomer generation.

As economists and pundits look to the future, they worry about what will happen when baby boomers move out of the job market. Who will replace them? What happens to their money? Will the drain on the stock market from 401k distributions wipe out the stock market? What about real estate where baby boomers are starting to pass their peak earning years? Is everything going to crash? No.

The first reason the real estate market will not die is the boomers. They do not just disappear when they retire. Most are continuing to invest in real estate as they start receiving retirement distributions. In 2004, this fact was evidenced by the fact that of all home sales, 35 percent were for second homes. Clearly, the boomers will remain active for some time.

There is also a new generation starting to be introduced to the real estate market. While it is true that baby boomers are the largest population bulge we have seen, one has to keep in mind that the boomers had their own offspring. The second largest population bulge we have seen are these children. They are now entering there twenties and thirties, which means they are entering the real estate market as buyers – often borrowing from their parents for down payments.

Immigration is a controversial subject. Regardless of your view, the undisputed evidence shows a large number of legal immigrants coming into the country since 1970. Obviously, these individuals and families represent another pool of buyers.

Despite the wailing of so-called experts, the real estate market should continue to purr along as it always has. Real estate is still one of the best investments. Yes, there will be fluctuations, but the prophecies of doom and gloom are unsupported by the facts.

Raynor James is with FSBOA - FSBO homes for sale by owner. Visit our sell my home page to get a free 1 month listing.

Making Money with Stockmarket

The key to making money in the stock market is invest for the

long-term, buying only undervalued stocks which, to quote Benjamin

Graham, have a "Margin Of Safety". Ben Graham and Warren Buffett

both made enormous fortunes through long-term value investing. Indeed,

Buffett continues to do so and has averaged over 22% average compounded

annual gains over a 39 year period.

These results are phenomenal and not easy to emulate. However, with time

on your side and a little bit of work it is possible to do nearly as well as Buffett.

Even if you beat the S&P 500's average long term return of around 11%, you are

doing very well indeed.

Suppose you invest $3,000 in a Roth IRA or other tax-efficient retirement account

every year for 20 years and achieve an average annual compounded gain of 11%

over that period. At the end of the 20 year period you could have around $238,000

disregarding dealing costs and dividends. You have only invested $60,000 - so

$178,000 is generated entirely through compound interest. If you were to emulate

Buffett's 22%, that $60k would become $1,031,000. If you were to start earlier and

invest $3,000 a year for 40 years at 11%, you would end up with $2,132,483. Match

Buffett's 22% on these investments over 40 years and you may wind up with a whopping

$55,000,000, for an investment of $120,000! That is the power of compound

interest.

Many people ask me "Which stocks do I buy?" and "How do I start?" They keep

making excuses NOT to start investing for the long-term. My advice is a bit like

a Nike commercial: JUST DO IT! Get started. Open a Roth IRA, start by putting

money in regularly, even if it's only $25/month. It's important to get into the HABIT

of regular savings. In the meantime you can worry about which stocks to buy.

Picking stocks to buy is not actually that hard. It should not take a great deal of

work. There are lots of places you can look for investment ideas: in fact there are

hundreds of investing websites, including The Graham Investor where we tend to profile

stocks that come up in value-based screens and give an opinion as to why

a particular may be worth following - not necessarily buying.

There are many different strategies to take; a typical one is to first screen for stocks

that meet a particular value criterion which might be any one of: a low PEG, high intrinsic

value when compared to current price, price below two-thirds of the Graham Number.

Once we have a list of suitable stocks meeting the basic criterion, we can filter

out stocks with poor cash flow, excessive debt, poor earnings, or insignificant anticipated

growth. We also avoid stocks with low liquidity by making sure average daily volume is

as high as possible, and stocks with low prices (typically steering clear of stocks trading

at less than $3).

Once the additional criteria are met, look at the charts for each stock. Look for

a recent clear downtrend or new 52-week low. Put the stocks with a most obvious

downtrend onto a watch list. In particular watch those where the downtrend also shows

declining volume. Look at the news for these stocks to see if there is an obvious

reason for their recent poor performance. Do not buy - they could go down more. We don't want to try to catch the bottom; it's a sure way to lose money. What we are

watching for is a clear sign of a reversal and buy as the stock moves up. Often a reversal

can take place slowly and imperceptibly, other times it can be an abrupt reversal. Most

often it is somewhere in between. Perhaps the stock has been beaten down by investor

sentiment in the form of an overreaction to bad news. At some point the bad news may

be dispelled or proven to be unfounded, and the stock will begin to return to fair value.

Or, some good news may come in and the stock reverses as investor sentiment

comes in. Typically when this happens, we want to see the downtrend broken

convincingly and the price rising on increasing volume.

How do we know if the downtrend has broken? Simply draw a line joining the high

points in the downtrend, and wait for that line to be broken to the upside with significant

volume. What is significant volume? It depends. The higher the volume the better. Look

for at least 150% of the average daily volume.

Once you have bought, set a stop loss order around 8-10% below where you bought. If

at all possible, set the stop loss order just below the lowest low point before the

reversal, so long as it's not too far away from your entry. Spreading your risk can help

minimize losses. Divide your equity into at least 10 lots; if you have $5,000 to invest only

buy $500 worth of each stock and keep your stop loss 10% of that, or $50. If the logical

stop loss point is too far from your possible entry point, don't invest. Stick to the rules

and cut your losses short. Let your profits run. In the long run you will make much more

on the winners than you lose on the losers -- you can have 5 losers and still be down

only $250 or 5% of your equity.

Buying undervalued stocks with good fundamentals in this way at or near low points when nobody else has been interested for a while but there are signs of a reversal is possibly one of the least risky investment techniques because of the built-in "Margin Of Safety".

(c) 2005 The Graham Investor - Value Investing You may use this article, as-is, provided

this copyright notice is kept intact.

Author Info: John B. Keown is an IT specialist, website builder and private investor who enjoys all things stock-related and in particular seeking out undervalued stocks. He can be contacted via

This article Can Be found at Eqqu: and the article location is: http://www.eqqu.com/articles/article-Making_Fortunes_With_Long-Term_Value_Investing-509.html

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Investing In The Stock Market: How To Get Started

In the world we live in today there is no shortage of access to investment information. This in itself however, can be an enormous problem. Asking questions about how to invest, where to invest, and what to look for, can bring you many answers from lots of different sources. The trouble is diving through all the clutter to find relevant information to suit your needs.

So when looking to invest in the stock market, where should you start?

First things first, invest in what you know. If you are trying to evaluate a company, make sure you know how it works. The great Warren Buffett has often been criticized for not investing in technology during the dot-com boom. His answer was simple. If you don't know the business model, what the company does on a day to day basis, or how it generates revenue now, and in the future, then stay away from it. It is because of this that he has earned billions of dollars year after year for himself and his investors.

Once you know the types of companies to look for, you'll need ideas. Message boards, newsletters, financial news shows, and stock screeners are all good places to find ideas. Stock screeners are especially useful, because in addition to finding ideas, you can narrow the search down as you go to fit your qualifications. I've personally had good luck using the screener at

So you've found some companies worth looking into, what next?

1. Insider trading -- This is anyone who is considered to have an inside knowledge of the company, and also has money invested in company stock. This could be someone who owns 10% or more of the company, a director, CEO, CFO, etc. Watching when the insiders buy and sell stock, and at the prices they do it, can be very useful in predicting a stocks future. You don't want to buy a large stake in Company X when all the people running it are getting out. Therefore it's always a good idea to watch what the "smart money" is doing.

2. P/E ratio -- The price to earnings ratio can also be a useful tool in evaluating a company. The P/E ratio will tell you if the company is relatively undervalued, or overvalued. A company that is undervalued should have a P/E ratio that is lower than other stocks in their sector. This is a great value to plug into a stock screener to find profitable companies.

Note: P/E can be manipulated (think Enron). Also P/E ratios vary wildly depending on the sector you are looking in. Technology stocks could have an average P/E ratio of 60, while oil companies could have an average P/E ratio of 10. Whenever I evaluate a stock, I don't look at the P/E against all other companies, but I look at it against their competitors in the same sector.

3. Technical analysis and charts -- This is another tool that can help you see where a company has been, where the company stands now, and where it's headed in the future. It shows the company in a graphical form where you can see the stocks activity and volume over a period of time. You can find many tutorials on the internet about this, and you can even get a free DVD that shows you the basics from

4. Management team -- Some people just look at earnings, charts, and other technical ways of evaluating a company. This isn't always a bad thing but to really know about a company, you should know the management. You should know what other companies they have been involved with in the past, and how they did when they were there. You should also know where they plan to take the company you're evaluating, and in what length of time they have allocated to get there. It's a bit like evaluating a sports team. You wouldn't pick a championship team without looking at the coaching staff.

These are a few of the ways to help find companies to invest in. Like with anything though, due your homework, write out your goals, and when in doubt, ask for advice from someone who has already accomplished what you are trying to do. Knowledge is the key to being successful at just about anything.

Braydon McCarville is the webmaster for the financial community at Go there to find helpful tools, ask questions, read articles, and increase your financial knowledge.

Spotting Market Accumulation and Distribution

Shares - Should I, Shouldn't I?

Buying Shares

You should consider buying shares only if:

* You have at least one year's income saved and available on demand

You need to have instantly accessible savings to pay for the unexpected. The unexpected can include funerals, washing machines or repairs to the car after an accident. The unexpected is just that, and you do not want to have to sell your shares at a time when their value may be temporarily low just because you have no other savings to cover that essential expense.

* You accept that share prices can fall and you might lose money

Intellectually you know that prices can fall, but you need to accept this as something that can happen to you. You must be comfortable with the idea of losing a good part of your capital, should the market fall, or the fortunes of your chosen company go down.

* You understand the stockmarket

Only a fool invests money in something that he or she does not fully understand. It is only by understanding the stockmarket that the investor can work out when to sell and when to buy.

* You have the time and ability to research which stocks to buy

Research into a company's financial condition requires time and the ability to understand the company's accounts. It is no good relying on the stock picks from the Sunday newspapers, as so many do. You need to understand terms such as yield, Price/Earnings ratio, historical debt, and many more. If your understanding of theese terms is less than complete then you should consider investing in unit trusts instead and use the managers' expertise. Without this expertise you would be almost as well off putting your $5,000, or whatever, on a horse with a name you liked.

* The time is right

Consider timing your share acquisition to coincide with a general fall in share prices. Go against the herd. If there are few buyers then the price will be low and you will be able to acquire more shares for your money.

Similarly, when the stockmarket is high and everybody and their dog is talking about share prices then consider selling, because these are signs that the market has peaked and is only rising because of its momentum, rather than because of any intrinsic increase in value of companies.

Wanda Cortez is a financial expert who has her own Internet business. Find more articles here. Find more investment info at Shares or Day Trading.

How YOU can find the next big stock market winner - like NTRI, TZOO or HANS

An Analysis of Wells Fargo & Company (WFC)

Cedar Fair to Buy Paramount Parks

Buy To Cover Orders With Stock Trading

If you have always wanted to know more about this topic, then get ready because we have all the information you can handle.

Within the buy to cover orders, there are four options in which to place against your stock purchases. When you buy to cover on a stock order, you are in agreement that you will buy the stock at the latest share price; however, because there is a lag between the time you approve to buy the stock and the actual transaction, a price difference may occur. You could end up paying more than anticipated for each stock, or a considerably lesser amount per stock, which is what you are eager for. You can also buy to cover limit orders, which guarantees that you pay no more than the set limit price. However, if stock prices hold above the limit buy price, this type of buy to cover order will never be executed.

This type of transaction is mainly used by investors who want to get into a certain market. You may also want to buy, to cover stop orders in which case the stop orders become simple stock orders as soon as the value is at or above the stop price. This type of order is used to get you out of an unfavourable stock so that you will not have lost any profits. And, finally, you may want to buy to cover a limit order that converts to limit order only when the share value is at or above the stop price. You have to know each of the buy to cover orders so that you can make educated decisions about your investments.

From one decision period to the next in the stock market game, the markets can move up and down non-stop, which means that prices of shares are at a frequent changing point. You may think about purchasing a certain stock that is at $5 per share, and in the next day, the value per share has risen to $15 per share.

This is where the betting of the stock market comes into play. By erudition the advantages of the buy to cover orders, you can multiply your odds of earning money on the stock exchange rather than of losing money. The most obvious benefit to the entire buy to cover options is that they are in place to make you money, when executed properly. For example, you would not perform a stop loss on a stock that has steadily increased over a 5 month period. If you did this, you would force yourself to squander money to buy the stock in order to cover your mistake. You choose to buy 175 shares of stocks from Albertson's, a grocery store chain, at $75 each, for an entire investment of $13,125. Over a four month period, you observe that the stocks have gained in profit, and you would like to do something to guarantee that you keep this earned profit. Not knowing better, you put a stop loss of $45 per stock without consulting with your stockbroker. From that position forward, if your stock decreases to $45 per stock, you have to sell it, and any earlier earned profit is null and void. The only chance you have in getting back that profit is if you are swift enough in the non-stop stock market game, to buy the Albertson's stocks before somebody else does. However, even if you are able to do this, you have still suffered a great loss monetarily.

Educate yourself in the stock market game.

As with any game, there is some form of jeopardy involved, however, when you play the stock market game, you can avert a great deal of distress by simply taking the time to acquire knowledge about all types of orders you are able to place on your stocks. If you require help educating yourself about the types of orders to place on your stocks, you should consult your stockbroker in order to take professional advice before taking matters into your own hands, inevitably forcing yourself to lose some of your invested money's profit. Thus, it is absurd to invest your hard earned money into any program before you know all the data necessary to make a well-informed, educated judgment.

If you could take the main ideas from this article and put them into a list, you would a great overview of what we have learned.

For stock articles like this go to

Six Keys to Find Momentum Stocks

Some Advice before Entering Forex Trading

There is an ideal mindset, character, and mental attitude that traders need to acquire. I say "acquire" because few people have the innate personality that makes this mindset "natural" With respect to your trading, this involves being free of anxiety, fear, despair or regret. It also involves being able to remain calm, confident, focused and disciplined in the face of adverse trading outcomes.

Trade with a Disciplined Plan

The problem with many traders is that they take shopping more seriously than trading. The average shopper would not spend $500 without serious research and examination of the product he/she is about to purchase, yet the average trader would make a trade that could easily cost him/her $500 based on little more than a feeling or hunch. The plan must include stop and limit levels for the trade, as your analysis should encompass the expected downside as well as the expected upside. Be sure that you have a plan in place before you start to trade.

Good Execution Good Anticipation

Everybody knows that trading is a number game. I mean, our success is not depend on the outcome of the next trade, our success is depend on the overall profitability of many trades. So, while we are trading, whether the last trade we did was profitable or not is definitely not important. There is no point drawing conclusions on the outcome of just one –or even a few-trades. We can only access our anticipation skills when we have made a reasonable number of trades and see the longer-term result of our action. It is so important that when we are trading, our goal should be focus on executing our trades with ruthless efficiency and to judge only that. If you consider the ways that you lose money trading, you will find that it is down to poor execution, rather than poor anticipation.

Cut Your Losses Early and Let Your Profits Run

This simple concept is one of the most difficult to implement and is the cause of most traders demise. Most traders violate their predetermined plan and take their profits before reaching their profit target because they feel uncomfortable sitting on a profitable position. These same people will easily sit on losing positions, allowing the market to move against them for hundreds of points in hopes that the market will come back. In addition, traders who have had their stops hit a few times only to see the market go back in their favor once they are out, are quick to remove stops from their trading on the belief that this will always be the case. Stops are there to be hit, and to stop you from losing more then a predetermined amount. You simply allow your profits on the winners to run and make sure that your losses are minimal. What is it about cutting a loss that is so hard?

Do Not Over Trade

Do not bet on the farm. One of the most common mistakes that traders make is leveraging their account too high by trading much larger sizes than their account should prudently trade. Leverage is a double-edged sword. Just because one lot of currency only requires $1000 as a minimum margin deposit, it does not mean that a trader with $5000 in his account should be able to trade 5 lots. One lot is $100,000 and should be treated as a $100,000 investment and not the $1000 put up as margin. Most traders analyze the charts correctly and place sensible trades, yet they tend to over leverage themselves. As a consequence of this, they are often forced to exit a position at the wrong time. A good rule of thumb is to never use more than 10% of your account at any given time.

Do Not Marry Your Trades

The reason trading with a plan is the #1 tip is because most objective analysis is done before the trade is executed. Once a trader is in a position he/she tends to analyze the market differently in the hopes that the market will move in a favorable direction rather than objectively looking at the changing factors that may have turned against your original analysis. This is especially true of losses. Traders with a losing position tend to marry their position, which causes them to disregard the fact that all signs point towards continued losses.

So should you before you trade. In order to start the trading day in the optimum state of mind you should take 15 to 20 minutes to prepare. Treat each day like an elite athlete prepares for a competition. Here is how to do this:

1. Get yourself in a comfortable sitting position and close your eyes.

2. Breathe in and out slowly, pushing your stomach out each time you breathe in.

3. Consciously relax all your muscles.

4. Focus your entire attention on your breathing.

5. When your mind starts to wander (as it will) re-focus on your breathing so that you eliminate from your consciousness whatever your mind had started to think about -including bodily sensations.

6. Become aware of being exclusively -in the present moment. Exclude memories or thoughts about past events, and worries or anticipation or planning about the future.

7. Do this past the point of boredom, until your restless mind settles down and you enter a peaceful, relaxed state. This usually takes 15 to 20 minutes, but it can be longer for some people

Anybody interested in some more information about forex trading should check out high-quality course like Peter Bain at Forex Mentor. His course provide clear guidelines about when to enter a trade, what to expect in terms of market movement, when to exit a trade, how much loss can be accepted in case the deal moves against the trader, and some secret techniques that can be easily implemented. Following his simple guidelines can help you become a successful forex trader. Learn to make daily profits in the forex market. You would not believe how straightforward and helpful it is to a Forex beginner. For more information, please take a look at here.

Nofie Iman is a full-time investor. He has been researching investment strategies since 1998 and make his own living from stock investment and forex trading. For more information about expert's forex trading strategies, please take a look at here.

Understanding and Trading Put Options

The Dow Jones Industrial Average: Failing the Average Investor

In addition to a well thought out Investment Plan, successful Equity investing requires a feel for what is going on in the real world that we all refer to as "The Market". To most investors, the DJIA provides all of the information they think they need, and they worship it mindlessly, thinking that this time tattered average has mystical predictive and analytic powers far beyond the scope of any other market number. A cursory review of New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Issue Breadth figures (93% of the Dow stocks are traded there) clearly shows how the Dow has neither been prescient nor historically accurate with regard to broad market movements for the past eight years. Additionally, this financial icon that investors revere as the ultimate "Blue Chip" Stock Market Indicator has lost its luster, with less than half its members achieving S & P ratings of A or better, and 20% of the issues ranked below Investment Grade.

Is the 120-year-old DJIA impotent? No, it's certainly helpful for Peak-to-Peak analysis right now, for example, to see if your Large Cap only Equity Portfolio is as high as it was six years ago. But it's based upon a seriously flawed Buy and Hold investment strategy and universally used as a market barometer, when its original role was as an economic indicator. This is not just semantics. It's Wall Street's rendition of "The Emperor's New Clothes". Possibly, a weighted average of investor perceived business prospects for thirty major companies is a viable economic indicator, but leading or lagging? Clearly, there is no conceivable way that any existing average/index can measure the progress of the thousands of individual securities (and Mutual Funds masquerading as individual securities) that, in the real investment world, are "The Market". And is there just "a" Market, when REITs, Index ETFs, Equity CEFs, Income CEFs, and even some Preferreds are all mixed together in such a way that most brokerage firm statements can't quite distinguish one from the other? Investors are dealing with multiple markets of different types. Markets that don't follow the same rules or respond to the same changes in the same ways. The Dow is dead, long live reality.

Feeling statistically naked? Don't fret Nell, here are a few real market statistics and lists that are easy to understand, easy to put your cursor on, and useful in keeping you up to date on what's going on in the multiple Markets of today's Investment World:

1. Issue Breadth is the single most accurate barometer of what's going on in the markets on a daily basis! Statistics for each of the Stock Exchanges are tracked daily, documenting how many individual issues have advanced versus how many have declined. Rarely are these important numbers reported, especially if they are painting a picture different from that being jammed down investors' throats by institutional propaganda. Would you believe, that in 1999 (when the DJIA and other indices) last achieved All Time High (ATH) levels, monthly Issue Breadth on the NYSE was positive only in April, followed by a 12 month paper bloodbath extending through May of 2000. Since then, Breadth has been positive for six consecutive years. Surprise!

2. Pay close attention to the number of issues hitting New Fifty-Two Week Highs (52Hs) and Lows each day: a) for trend corroboration, and b) to obtain a wealth of important information for daily decision-making and periodic performance understanding. The recent NYSE Bull Market (not a typo) is clearly evidenced by six consecutive years (from 04/00) with more issues hitting new 52Hs than new 52Ls... New Highs nearly tripled New Lows. So much for the standard market tracking tools... not to mention Wall Street manipulation of all the news that's fit to print for investors. Looking at the daily lists of 52Hs and 52Ls will help you determine: a) which sectors are moving in which directions, b) if interest rate expectations are pointing up or down, c) which individual issues are approaching either your Buy or Sell targets and, d) which direction your portfolio Market Value should be moving.

In recent months, REITs, metals, and energy stocks dominated the hot list while regional banks, utilities, and other interest rate sensitive issues were notsos (sic). These lists always indicate what's going on now, without any weighting, charting, or hype, making your job almost simplistic. Take your reasonable profits in the issues that have risen to new peaks (Sell Higher), and purchase the quality issues among those that are at 52Ls (Buy Lower). High prices often reflect high speculation with Bazooka potential, while lower priced value stocks often turn out to be bargains. Ishares, foreign Closed End Funds, Mining and Energy bloat today's 52H List while preferred shares and Utilities occupy the 52Ls... a bit more meaningful than "the Dow is near an All Time High", and a bit scarier as well.

3. Throughout the trading day, periodic review of three lists called "Market Statistics" will keep you current on individual issue price movements, active issues, sector developments, and more. How you interpret and use this information will eventually affect your bottom line, weather you are a Value Stock Investor or a Small Cap day trader. The Most Active and The Most Declined Lists describe individual and group activity, identify where some more detailed research might be appropriate, and provide potential additions to your Daily Stock Watch List. The Most Active and Most Advanced Lists will identify the hottest individual issues and sectors, identify areas where news stories may be worth reading, and instantly make you aware of profit taking opportunities.

I know you are tempted to shout "Blasphemy" at the top of your lungs, but the DJIA was developed in a pre-internet world (actually, pre-automobile) where the statistics discussed above were unavailable, only the wealthy cared about the stock market, there were no Mutual Funds, and, frankly Scarlet, 95% of the population just didn't care. Now here's some blasphemy for you: It is likely that not one person reading this article has an investment portfolio that closely resembles the composition of the DJIA. It is just as likely that nearly everyone reading this article will use the Dow to evaluate portfolio performance. I've never understood this phenomenon, and I know that change takes time... but really, the Dow (and the other averages) have had their day, and far too much of your nest egg, for you to ignore this reality any longer.

Steve Selengut

Professional Portfolio Management since 1979

Author of: "The Brainwashing of the American Investor: The Book that Wall Street Does Not Want YOU to Read", and "A Millionaire's Secret Investment Strategy"

Understanding the Basics of Options

What is Multi Level Marketing?

Multi level marketing is known as network marketing. This is a kind of business where franchising and direct selling are combined. This business makes a person associated to a company in an independent transaction approach. It is an approach where the company creates a contactor relationship to the person who wants to expand his business.

The members make their earnings based on the sales they have reached in that particular product or service. It also includes the sales of the person that they have recruited to join the business. Most of the time the individual who has recruited more members and provided a good sales output on the product compensate higher because of the effort to transact in two different fields.

There are "pyramid schemes" or Ponzi schemes, which are considered illegal. Most people associate multi level marketing to these kind of schemes because they also recognize themselves to be a legitimate networking business. Because of the bad image brought up by these schemes, many prefer to use their names for their businesses as "home based business franchising" or "affiliate marketing".

Commissions are earned in the process of selling a particular product or service in a legitimate network marketing. There can be no earnings in what they call as a "sign up fee" or for just recruiting yourself alone. This kind of marketing is always criticized because of the questionable recruitment process where they get their revenue and profit. They get their sales from members and new members, which are considered the end users of the product and as the distributors.

These criticisms led to the major changes in the multi level marketing in the early 1980s when many companies have started to allow their members to concentrate only on marketing and not on distributing or stocking the product. Most multi level marketing firms nowadays perform as fulfillment firms by taking the tasks of shipping the product, paying the commissions and taking orders from their clients.

Many people who are victims of the illegal schemes in multi level marketing are required to buy expensive products, but most of these schemes do not last long because most of the sales are not easily resold.

Marcus Schroefel is a contributing editor for the Money Community. For more information about this topic or/and other topics, please visit

Sensex - Stock Market Simulation

NASDAQ, Dow Jones, BSE & NSE; Do they ring any bell? They surely must have. Not every one knows what the color of money is, but what people do know is they want to feel more money and see more money.

Another well known fact is that the ever increasing number of the average human being would never want to jeopardize his money, which for him, is the sole means of existence. In the end, it is the human craving for more that makes him succumb to his urge and makes him take a plunge.

The only thing that makes the average investor lose out, is his inexperience. The Raging Bull lures many new people into its arena, but little do they realize what's in store for them. The market trends are tough to gauge. No one can ever be sure how high or low will stocks leap! Everything on earth has a risk involved, so does this market. We can't live with it but we can work around it.

Imagine a scenario where you as an amateur investor decide to take a dip. Based on a few tips from a few places, you make your pick. The possibility is that you might hit the nail, or may be you might get nailed. Every player who is a benchmark, be it a game, trade, business (depends on whatever you cal it) has had some level of practice and has learnt things the hard way. People have lost a lot of hope, money and many other things trying to figure out the market. They had to do it the hard way because they didn't have a place to hone their skills. A place where they could learn tricks of the trade, where they could make an investment without the fear of losing anything and at the same time, learn a lot more than the others.

But the question still remains! Would there be such a place. Is it one of those wonderland parties that people always think about and never find? Well!! Not this time. This time round all you investors are in for a good time. It fills me with pride to present to you the game of your lifetime. The SenSex Simulation!! This game is an assortment of all that I have gathered over the years.

The Game is a complete replication of the stock markets with live feeds for the values of stocks. Registered members get to play around with money in their account, using which they can purchase and sell off stocks. The game would also give you your daily stats. These would include your portfolio, the value of your stocks, and whether you have gained or lost out, relative to the market. The SenSex Simulation provides you with a platform to stand out of the ring and get a look and feel of the rumble.

"By the time you know the rules, you're too old to play the game!" It's never too late to start learning. Life is a vicious circle. Someone, who does not stop learning, never stops growing.

It's Time to tame the BULL!!

Jigar Vikamsey is a freelance writer and writes on stock markets particularly the Sensex . Play the Sensex Game For Free.

5 Advantages Of Long Term Trading

Both short term and long term trading can be effective trading strategies, however, long term trading has several significant advantages. These include the effect of compounding, the opportunity to earn from dividends, reduction of the impact of price fluctuations, the ability to make corrections in a more timely manner, less time spent monitoring stocks.

1. Compounding

Time can be investor's best friend because it gives compounding time to work its magic. Compounding is the mathematical process where interest on your money in turn earns interest and is added to your principal.

2. Dividends

Holding a stock to take advantage of payouts from dividends is another way to increase the value of an investment. Some companies offer the ability to reinvest dividends with additional share purchases thereby increasing the overall value of your investment. Additionally, dividends are more a reflection of a company's overall business strategy and success than volatile price fluctuations based on market emotions.

3. Reduction Of The Impact Of Price Fluctuations

In the long term investment the persons is less affected by short term volatility. The market tends to address all factors that keep changing in the short term. So a person involved in long term investment or trading will not be affected as much by short term instability due to factors such as liquidity, fancy of a particular sector or stock which may make the price of a stock over or undervalued. In the long term, good stocks which may have been affected due to some other factors (in the short term) will give better than average returns.

Long-term investors, particularly those who invest in a diversified portfolio, can ride out down markets without dramatically affecting his or her ability to reach their goals.

4. Making Corrections

It is highly likely that you could achieve a constant return over a long period. The reality is that there will be times when your investments earn less and other times when you make a lot of money in short term. There may also be times when you lose money in short term but as you are in quality stocks and have long perspective of investment you will earn good returns over a period of time.

There are always times when some stocks do not perform and it is the wise choice to pull out of an investment. With a long term perspective based on quality stocks, it is easier to make decisions to change in a more timely manner without the urgency that accompanies short term and day trading strategies chasing volatile changes.

5. Less Time Spent Monitoring Stocks

Unlike day trading that can require constant monitoring of stocks throughout the day to capitalize on intraday volatility, long term trading can be carried out effectively using a weekly monitoring system. This approach is most often far less stressful than watching prices constantly on a daily basis.

Overall, investors that begin early and stay in the market have a much better chance of riding out the bad times and capitalizing on the periods when the market is rising.

The Daily Momentum Stock System focuses on big moves for big profits. Mark Crisp provides a complimentary copy of the "7 Habits of a Highly Successful Trader" at

How I Selected The Best Notebook Computer For Intensive Number Crunching And Stock Market Analysis

Having used a desktop computers and notebook computers that had been officially supplied by the company where I was employed, there was no need to worry about what type of notebook computer or whatever configuration that was required in my work.

So when I finally had to purchase my own notebook computer for personal private use, I found myself facing a myraid of questions. Just what should I look out for when buying my own notebook computer?

First, I found I had to quantify my own needs for a notebook computer. Having quantified my needs, which was to do a lot of number crunching and to perform technical analysis and charting of stock prices online, I found that even low priced models could perform work that was demanded by my needs.

I was pleasantly surprised that my needs did not demand a high priced model.

Secondly, the notebook computer I required would need to be sufficiently light. In the process of identifying the notebook computer, I decided I did not need a subnotebook, as most notebook computers weigh between 5 to 7 kg, with a subnotebook weighing at 5 kg or less.

The standard notebook computer was sufficient for my needs coming with some wordprocessing software that was already installed as part of the package that comes with the computer and with Internet access capabilities. All I need was to install my specialized technical analysis program to monitor the stock prices.

At the same time, advances in notebook computer technology ensured that I had wireless technology and can hook up online at any hotspot outlet. This would allow me to have mobile wireless access anywhere I go. I could also use a pen drivefor additional mobile storage.

Finally, I also decided that I really do not need to use the provided upgrade functionality for the notebook, perferring to use the notebook for a period of two years at most. This was because I discovered parts and accessories were expensive, and going the way of upgrades to be expensive. Changing to a new model completely after two years appear to be a better proposition in terms of more power, functionality and cost savings.

Having made these decisions, the next step was to go online for a price comparison. Shopping online allowed me the convenience of researching each one of the notebook computer that caught my attention, without feeling pressured to make a quick decision.

There were some sites that allowed the added convenience of comparing different models side by side, and doing so was very useful in helping me to make my final decision on the notebook computer.

If you are faced with the task of purchasing your own notebook computer, the considerations which I have mentioned above will help you in your initial selection in making a wise decision.

Peter Lim is a Certified Financial Planner and webmaster. For more helpful information and reference materials that he had gathered while researching for his own notebook computer, visit Peter's website on "Buying Your Notebook Computer" at

Stock Trading – What Every Investor Should Know

Never try to fight against a trend.

It may be tempting to buy a falling stock in order to average your costs. In fact, many investors seem to recommend such a step. In practice, in a majority of situations this only results in throwing good money after bad.

Always have a stop loss, for every stock. If your stock moves down, at what price must you definitely sell? If you do not use historical data and technical analysis to arrive at investment decisions, you must have at least a fixed-amount method. Meaning, before you buy you will have to decide how much loss you can comfortably take on that stock, and stick to it.

Never hold on to a stock position that has moved beyond your comfort level.

As the saying goes, take care of your losses and the profits will take care of themselves.

Keep track of your stocks. Even if your stop loss has been triggered and you have exited the stock, the stock could reverse trend and start a fresh uptrend.

As a momentum investor, you should resort to periodical profit booking. When a stock is losing steam, book profits. Later, if the stock shows signs of picking up momentum again, you can always enter, even at higher levels. Your decisions are based on the potential upside from that price.

Always remember that there is an “opportunity cost” to any position. If you have invested in a stock, you have effectively “blocked” that money from being invested in another stock with, perhaps more, potential.

Once again, to repeat: Take care of your losses, and the profits will take care of themselves.

By panikkarson. He is a manager in a banking company and has been following investor behaviour for some years. For more information on allowing your money to make you more money, please visit one of his websites,

4 Benefits of Long Term Trading vs Short Term Trading

Both short term trading and long term trading can be effective trading strategies, however, long term trading has several significant advantages. These include the effect of compounding, the opportunity to earn from dividends, reduction of the impact of price fluctuations, the ability to make corrections in a more timely manner, less time spent monitoring stocks.

1. Compounding

Time can be investor's best friend because it gives compounding time to work its magic. Compounding is the mathematical process where interest on your money in turn earns interest and is added to your principal.

2. Dividends

Holding a stock to take advantage of payouts from dividends is another way to increase the value of an investment. Some companies offer the ability to reinvest dividends with additional share purchases thereby increasing the overall value of your investment. Additionally, dividends are more a reflection of a company's overall business strategy and success than volatile price fluctuations based on market emotions.

3. Reduction Of The Impact Of Price Fluctuations

In the long term investment the persons is less affected by short term volatility. The market tends to address all factors that keep changing in the short term. So a person involved in long term investment or trading will not be affected as much by short term instability due to factors such as liquidity, fancy of a particular sector or stock which may make the price of a stock over or undervalued. In the long term, good stocks which may have been affected due to some other factors (in the short term) will give better than average returns.

Long-term investors, particularly those who invest in a diversified portfolio, can ride out down markets without dramatically affecting his or her ability to reach their goals.

4. Making Corrections

It is highly likely that you could achieve a constant return over a long period. The reality is that there will be times when your investments earn less and other times when you make a lot of money in short term. There may also be times when you lose money in short term but as you are in quality stocks and have long perspective of investment you will earn good returns over a period of time.

There are always times when some stocks do not perform and it is the wise choice to pull out of an investment. With a long term perspective based on quality stocks, it is easier to make decisions to change in a more timely manner without the urgency that accompanies short term and day trading strategies chasing volatile changes.

Investors that begin early and stay in the market have a much better chance of riding out the bad times and capitalizing on the periods when the market is rising by taking a longer term view using long term trading strategies.

The Daily Momentum Stock System focuses on big moves for big profits. Mark Crisp provides a complimentary copy of the "7 Habits of a Highly Successful Trader" at

Stock Trading – What Every Investor Should Know

Stock Trading – What Every Invester Should Know

By panikkarson

Every investor has his own take on "wise" investing. These suggestions come from experience, and are meant for the momentum investor rather than those who "buy and forget".

Never try to fight against a trend.

It may be tempting to buy a falling stock in order to average your costs. In fact, many investors seem to recommend such a step. In practice, in a majority of situations this only results in throwing good money after bad.

Always have a stop loss, for every stock. If your stock moves down, at what price must you definitely sell? If you do not use historical data and technical analysis to arrive at investment decisions, you must have at least a fixed-amount method. Meaning, before you buy you will have to decide how much loss you can comfortably take on that stock, and stick to it.

Never hold on to a stock position that has moved beyond your comfort level.

As the saying goes, take care of your losses and the profits will take care of themselves.

Keep track of your stocks. Even if your stop loss has been triggered and you have exited the stock, the stock could reverse trend and start a fresh uptrend.

As a momentum investor, you should resort to periodical profit booking. When a stock is losing steam, book profits. Later, if the stock shows signs of picking up momentum again, you can always enter, even at higher levels. Your decisions are based on the potential upside from that price.

Always remember that there is an "opportunity cost" to any position. If you have invested in a stock, you have effectively "blocked" that money from being invested in another stock with, perhaps more, potential.

Once again, to repeat: Take care of your losses, and the profits will take care of themselves.

By panikkarson. He is a manager in a banking company and has been following investor behaviour for some years. For more information on allowing your money to make you more money, please visit one of his websites, A manager in a banking company for over 20 years.Has been interested in investor behaviour.

He can be reached at panikkarson@ visit

Is Money Really The Root of All Evil?

Aril 28, 2006

As you are well aware, we live in financially challenging times. If you do not agree with this statement, don't bother to keep reading this article.

Times are changing, the financial market is up, it's down - a roller coaster. Gas Prices just hit $3 per gallon in the US. Your salary stayed the same.

Have you heard the expression: Money is the root of all evil?

No, it is not money that is evil. Money is neutral, it is a barter item so that we can buy the things we think we cannot live without. Money is also a symbol: a symbol of appreciation, a gesture.

So why do we say that "money's the root of all evil"? because it is the negative emotions around money that are evil: greed, avarice, an obsession of power etc. Wouldn't it be better if we said "The love of money is the root of all evil"?

So what really is money?

To many people in this world, money is energy, just as life is.

Money is also a feeling: feeling of wealth, feeling of security, feeling of success. Money can also be a feeling of importance and a feeling of power.

In other words, money is important. We need money to eat and cloth ourselves. We need money to communte to work; pay our employees; invest in the stock market to make more money (or loose it if we buy unwise)

Money = abudance. Abundance is natural. There is a difference between being aware of our natural abundance and owning a good portion of it. Many well-know speakers explain it as the art of controlling your energy and manifesting your thoughts and ideas. Most of us are not well aquainted with this idea of having to manifest in order to achieve.

Manifesting is really a innermost wish. And most people on earth wish formost for ......

Abundance, Wealth, Financial Freedom

So how do we achieve this? We need to be close to money. Often our relationship to money follows a push-pull or love-hate pattern, similar to our human relationship (s).

Naturally, the closer you are to a person, the more likely you are to be able to receive what they have to give. It is very similar to your financial situation: the closer you are to money, the more likely you are to receive plenty of it. You must be intellectually, emotionally and physically ready in order to receive abundantly.

Many people resent money because they feel life hasn't been fair to them, that they worked hard and haven't received as much as they should have - or they are paid less than other people with inferior qualities to them. Is that you?

Change your thought pattern. Rather than blaming others or displaying your unease, lack, anger about money, begin to own your feelings. Understand where you want to go, what you are trying to achieve. Ask yourself: "Do I have enough information about the marketplace, the deal, the j.o.b, the particular area of creativity, the person I want to be involved in(with)?"

In order to answer this question, you may have to go beyond your own resistance, shyness or inhibition and start looking at your goal.

In other words

-know what you doing

-be aware of of what's or who is up or down

-know what's happening and what isn't

Money is important because it is a symbol of your mastery and comprehension of life's great journey.

# # #

Lorilyn's life has been up and down, just like the stock market. She finally realized that money isn't all, it is a good portion. She always says: You can't feed the poor without money to buy the food. After many struggles she has become money wise and shares her thoughts and experience. Come back soon to other articles at

The Danger of Inflexible Enterprises

Mismanagement At The New York Times

The New York Times Company (NYT) isn't just reporting the news – it's making the news. At yesterday's annual meeting, shareholders withheld 28% of their votes for the four directors elected by holders of the company's common stock. Nine other directors are elected by holders of the Class B shares, effectively granting control of the company to a group holding less than a 1% economic interest in the business.

Most of the large newspaper companies have not done a great job of earning the best returns for their shareholders. Some of these companies overdid acquisitions. The New York Times Company illustrates the danger of adding to the empire – you dilute the crown jewel.

In 1993, the company bought The Boston Globe. Unfortunately, this is exactly the kind of paper that will be hurt by online news sources. Second-tier major city dailies are not in a strong position, because they try to be all things to all people.

A newspaper can thrive by dominating a specific niche. That niche can be geographical or topical. Community newspapers can thrive, because they still have no real competition. The news they report is unique. It is very important to a very small group of people.

A company that owns clusters of these papers in wealthy suburbs will do fine. By reporting on local schools, sports, and events these publications set themselves apart from all other news sources. They have a mini-monopoly both on the news they provide and on the ads they run.

There are places in states like New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvannia where advertisers benefit from targeting specific communities, because the demographics of the next town over are not nearly as attractive. A lot of this has to do with public schools. I don't see that system changing anytime soon. So, I imagine these properties will fare much better than big city newspapers.

The New York Times Company has one great asset – its brand. The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal each have a very valuable national brand. People all over the country have been exposed to them through other media outlets. The value isn't really in the size of the circulation. If you think of the entire country as their potential market, their circulations are tiny (the news business is very fragmented).

A few years ago, it would have been crazy to think of the entire country as a potential market for these publications. But, I don't think that's the case today. These papers could earn a lot of money online. Of course, they have to figure out how to earn money online.

Long-term, I don't like the idea of expensive online subscriptions. It looks like a great idea now, but it could limit future ad revenue. Becoming a dominant online news destination would prove extraordinarily profitable. Unfortunately, no one is going to capture more than a tiny sliver of the online news market by charging a lot of money for their content.

It isn't just an issue of people not wanting to pay. It's also an issue of exclusivity. The less exclusive an online news source is the more often it will be cited. People who don't visit your site are far less likely to reference it. Just as importantly, no writer wants to exclude any part of his own readership. So, many writers simply won't cite a subscription service.

Some online writers do reference subscription services. Knowing how strongly people react to being excluded, I think writers who cite paid services are absolutely nuts. Even if it isn't consciously acknowledged, readers will enjoy your site less if it points out something they can't have.

Both The New York Times Company and Dow Jones (DJ) went the route of buying an established online destination. I'm always skeptical of these kind of me too acquisitions. These businesses did need to go online, but they needed to do it in their own way. The acquisitions will probably work out better than I thought they would. But, I still think the real value is in the brand.

Is the New York Times Company cheap? It's close. If you agree with me about the potential for a real national news brand, the stock looks cheap. Otherwise, it looks about fairly priced.

Newspapers have been beaten down a lot recently, but they were so well-loved to begin with that they aren't at the kind of levels that guarantee market beating returns regardless of how well they're run. That's happened in other businesses. You could extract more cash from a dying business than the stock was selling for. That isn't the case here. The stock is currently priced as if it were a continuing (albeit mature) business.

If the New York Times is truly a dying business, it isn't worth the current price. But, if there is real value in the brand, it's a bargain right now.

I'm not confident in the decision making at this company, because I've seen how capital was misallocated in the past. Many of these questionable investments were small relative to the value of the core franchise. But, that doesn't excuse the lack of focus and the lack of a true owner oriented culture.

The favorable economics inherent to the business are no excuse either. There are very profitable companies out there that aren't nearly as profitable as they could be. For instance, Campbell Soup (CPB) consistently earns good returns on capital; but, I haven't seen any evidence that those returns were the result of skillful capital allocation. I think much the same is true at the New York Times Company. A great franchise helps cover-up less than optimal uses of capital – and the Times' management has benefited from inheriting a great franchise.

If I were confident about the way this company will be run and the way capital will be allocated, I'd be buying shares right now. There's real value and real opportunity in this franchise. But, I'm not sure there's the will to do what needs to be done.

Geoff Gannon writes a daily value investing blog and produces a twice weekly (half hour) value investing podcast at Gannon on Investing

Investing With Confidence

Most people's beliefs about investing are very tenuous. There are, of course, people who are very passionate about investing. They don't view investing as some esoteric subject, but rather as a field intimately connected to the human behavior they observe in their everyday lives.

For everyone else, however, beliefs about investing come in the form of passive knowledge. The tendency is simply to accumulate an inventory of conventional dictums. Investing beliefs are formed much the way a student prepares for a test. If the subject of investing were as simple as a third grade spelling bee, this wouldn't be a problem.

But, investing is a far more complex subject. That isn't to say it is necessarily a difficult subject. For some, it is relatively easy. But, it is never simple. An investor can not analyze relationships with the certitude and precision a physicist can. The investor is concerned with human phenomena, which are necessarily complex phenomena.

The complexity of the subject is what makes it appear so difficult. While you can develop a set of guiding principles, it is impossible to devise rules that will lead you to the best course of action in each and every case.

If you try to build an intellectual edifice based on principles such as high returns on equity, strong consumer franchises, low price-to-earnings ratios, low enterprise value-to-EBIT ratios, high free cash flow margins, and rock solid balance sheets – you will fail.

The entire structure will collapse, leaving the architect disillusioned. Why? Because the items listed above are desirable attributes – nothing more and nothing less. They are not true principles. Even as rules of thumb, they are badly flawed. Ultimately, investment decisions are not made about general classes; they are made about special cases.

Every investment decision requires good judgment and sound reasoning. You need to start with the correct principles. But, principles alone are not enough. You aren't being asked what the law is, you're being told to apply the law to the case before you.

This is where a lot of people start to feel overwhelmed. Having learned that investing is not simply a matter of running down a checklist, they don't know where to begin.

The answer is to start with what you know best. Begin with your most strongly held beliefs. Subject them to honest scrutiny. Then, and only then, apply them to the case at hand.

Do you believe the concept of intrinsic value is a valid one? Do you believe it is a useful model? If so, then begin there. What does the concept of intrinsic value really mean? What conclusions follow from this belief?

In the case of intrinsic value, the most difficult conclusion you'll have to grapple with is the idea that you can pay too much for a great business. For some, this is a relatively simple conflict to resolve. For whatever reason, they prefer cheap merchandise to quality merchandise.

For others, the conflict between intrinsic value and investing in great businesses is painfully difficult to resolve. But, if you are ever going to have confidence in your judgments, you have to be willing to submit your investment beliefs to honest scrutiny. You have to be your own prosecutor. You have to present the evidence against your thesis.

If you aren't willing to do that, you'll end up questioning the investment beliefs you do hold every time you underperform the market. Many proven investment techniques have lagged the market over short periods of time. Occasionally, the performance gap has been very wide. Regardless of whether you adopt a primarily qualitative or primarily quantitative approach to investing, this short-term underperformance is unavoidable.

It's avoidable in the sense that a good investor can get lucky and not suffer a down year for a decade or so. Likewise, it's possible to outperform an index year after year – if you're lucky. But, it isn't possible to adopt a strategy that guarantees such outperformance.

The best you can do is adopt a strategy that offers the right odds. A series of investment operations undertaken in accordance with such a strategy will not guarantee favorable outcomes in every case, but it should provide satisfactory results over the long-term.

There's more than one way to skin a cat. I don't want to encourage dogmatism. But, I do want to make sure you do not confuse that which is conventional with that which is reasonable. There is a lot of conventional, moderate sounding advice given to investors that does not hold up to careful scrutiny.

The most obvious example is diversification. Making a series of bets on separate high-probability events is an excellent idea. Diversifying across several different asset classes and hundreds of securities is something entirely different. Even if there are hundreds or thousands of excellent investment opportunities, it does not follow that an investor ought to make every reasonable bet. After all, some will appear to be more reasonable than others. There is no sense in taking on several difficult tasks in the hopes of achieving a result that can be produced by taking on a few very easy tasks.

You don't have to agree with me on all these issues – most people don't. But, it is vital that you question the unstated assumptions upon which an investment operation is based. You might come to the same conclusion as those who engage in wide diversification. But, you need to come to that conclusion on your own.

Many investors have not even bothered to consider the underlying premise of diversification. They aren't really sure why diversification is a desirable strategy. They don't know how it minimizes risk or at what point the benefit from adding an additional position becomes immaterial. Diversification may be a prudent strategy. But, you can only decide that for yourself after you've considered the benefits in terms of risk reduction and the detriments in terms of selectivity reduction.

If I were forced to spend my life betting on horse races, I'm quite certain I would bet on very few races. Whenever I did bet on a race, I'd bet on several different horses.

Why? Because I know more about people than I do about horses. The likelihood that a few horses in a few races get too much favorable attention seems much greater than the likelihood that I could ever make reasonably specific judgments as to which horse is most likely to win a given race. Of course, I would do best if I didn't bet on any horse races at all.

So, the question is whether stocks are anything like horses. I don't think they are. When it comes to businesses, I'm a lot more comfortable with the idea of picking the few winners from the many losers – especially when the odds get out of whack. The one tactic that would remain the same is inaction. Acting less and thinking more is sound advice wherever money or commitment is concerned.

A successful investor has to have confidence in his judgments. I don't know how you can gain that confidence without subjecting your beliefs to honest scrutiny. An unexamined philosophy will never exorcise your deepest doubts – and for as long as these doubts remain, you will be unable to find the confidence you seek.

Geoff Gannon writes a daily value investing blog and produces a twice weekly (half hour) value investing podcast at Gannon on Investing

Tips For Success In The World’s First Sports Stock Market

The AllSportsMarket is a financial exchange using a professional trading platform to buy and sell issues of sports teams. It is just like the stock market, but with sports teams! You compete with other players for real money. Money is earned from the ups and downs of the prices of teams and from dividends paid when teams win. The AllSportsMarket is 24 hours, 365 days a year - you can trade at anytime and as often as you would like.

You can fund an account for as little as $25 or try the "no catch guest entry" to check out the user interface. Unlike the stock market, where you need a hefty upfront amount to get started, and gambling where you can lose all your money at once, you can start off with a minuscule amount of money and not lose it all in one shot.

Buy Low and Sell High

Just like the stock market, you make money off of the ups and downs of the underlying security. In the case of the AllSportsMarket, the security is the issue of the team. Buying shares with the intention of selling them later at a higher price to make a profit is called long. In ASM, you make the difference minus the total commissions you pay.

This is the simplest way to make your gains, but it does take some timing and patience. The big question is what do you consider high low? A good thing to look at is the prices of the rest of the teams in the league. You should expect that the better teams will have higher prices, but there will be the occasional discrepancies for one reason or another. With that said, you have a range of prices and you should look to buy good teams that are in the low price range. Do as much research as possible to find out what teams are being undervalued.

Dividends

Another way to make money (and one of the keys to success in ASM) is dividend payouts. Every game your team wins, the dividend pot grows. You are paid dividends based on league specific pay outs and payout schedules.

The dividend strategy is an approach to make gains from dividend payouts. This is where you buy shares of a team specifically to capture the dividend payout. There are different dividend payout schedules depending on the league you own shares in. The teams that have higher dividend reserves pay higher dividends. Dividend reserves change from game-to-game depending on the leagues specific rules of dividend transfers for the winner and loser of the game. In the trading platform they list the highest dividend reserves (see the figure on the right).

Dividends are great in the sense that they reward for choosing winning teams. For example, over the course of a long season, the Detroit Pistons will likely win more than they lose, and will therefore pay out a good amount of dividends.

You need to be careful when buying shares solely for dividends - the share price may go down leaving you with a net loss even after you capture the dividend.

Selling Short

You can also make money selling short. This involves borrowing a share and selling it expecting the share to decline in price so you can buy it back at a lower price. Selling short can be more risky due the fact that you can lose more than what you put in since the price has an unlimited upside potential. When you long, the stock can only go as low as $0.00 and you only lose as much as you put in. When you short you could lose what you put in and more.

For more tips and strategies, visit and download our free eBook.

Adam McFarland owns the SportsL Network - a network of sports sites including collectibles, movies, books, video games, and more. SportsL recently won honorable mention in the Microsoft Start Something Amazing Awards