Stocks

Screen stocks with both fundamental and technical analysis.

Lifelong learning...

"Lifelong learning is the 'ongoing, voluntary, and self-motivated' pursuit of knowledge for either personal or professional reasons.  It is important for an individual's competitiveness and employability, but also enhances social inclusion, active citizenship, and personal development." - Wikipedia.  

I've been investing in the financial markets since 1970 and can tell you that studying the book cited in the next paragraph will (in approximately 10 - 12 hours of study time) enable you to avoid all the mistakes I've made over the decades.  

"You can definitely become financially independent once you learn to save and invest properly.  But you first have to get serious and make up your mind to work at it and never let yourself get discouraged, regardless of circumstances." - From the book How to Make Money in Stocks, A Winning System In Good Times Or Bad. - William J. O'Neil. 

"Success in a free country is simple.  Get a job, get an education, and learn to save and invest wisely.  Anyone can do it.  You can do it." - William J. O'Neil.  

Today, I enjoy spending time managing my own portfolio.  The primary digital tool I've been personally using is MarketSmith (Rebranded as MarketSurge in '24) by 'Investors Business Daily' which was founded by the book's author, William J. O'Neil.  It's a database service that automates charts with fundamental and technical information that you can use to make profitable buy and sell decisions better than you ever could before.  

My Advice/Rules

How to... 

"Have your cake and eat it too!"  

In the 'low interest rate' environment of 2020 you could earn more money from a bank by owning it rather than lending to it.  Your money in a savings account or a 'certificate of deposit' (CD) would be in essence, a loan to the bank for it to use.  It pays you interest on the loan (your savings) but with no chance of capital appreciation, only interest.  On the other hand, if you own the bank as a share holder, you'll earn income from dividends and possibly see your invested capital appreciate in value. If you buy your shares when the price and timing will to meet your objective, the dividends from bank shares can pay you nearly four times as much as they pay in interest on your savings accounts.  

• As an example, let's look at Wells Fargo (WFC).  As of November 12, 2020 Wells Fargo's minimum opening deposit requirement for a CD was $2,500 and the most they said they'd pay in interest was 0.05% if you keep it and the interest in the account for a minimum of 24 months.  However; the closing price on the NYSE per share of WFC stock on that very same day 11/12/20 was $23.81 which means you could have purchased 100 shares for only $2,381 (+ broker fees if any) with a projected dividend yield of 1.68% which is more than triple what you'd earn as 'interest paid' on a $2,500 certificate of deposit issued on that date.  

• After Wells Fargo cut their stock's dividend I bought additional shares of WFC and thereby lowered my average cost basis per share to $29.82 and then sold on February 11, 2022 (via a GTC order placed the day before) for $60.00 per share.  After my transaction was completed the price continued to rise slightly higher intraday and then fell to $58.31 by the end of the same trading day.  The fortunate result for me however was slightly more than a 30 point gain.  This 'Buy and Hold' strategy took nearly 3 years to double my money but since then - I've  learned better ways to protect a portfolio from downside risk while drawing an income from it.  

It's possible to make money on a stock whether it goes up or down in price and the place to do that is the CBOE with options.  As an example, if you sell a short term 'Call option' to collect a premium of $0.30 a share for selling a 'covered call' on 40 contracts (4,000 shares) you'll get paid a $1,200 premium.  You could also use a 'Put option' to profit from downturns or protect your portfolio from them.  You can find the current Options Chain for WFC at yahoo!finance.

Trading Journal Update  

Execution: Bought 500 shares of WFC at less than $71 per share and simultaneously Sold 5 WFC 'Covered Call' contracts on 3/28/2025 with an April 25, 2025 expiration date, a strike price of 72 with a premium of 2.25 to generate $1,125.00  of extra income for the month.   This kind of transaction took less than 3 minutes to complete on my iPhone.

If I can do it YOU can too!

Read the book; 'MR. SINCERE TEACHES You  HOW TO SELL COVERED CALLS - A Beginner's Guide to Renting Your Stocks for Monthly Income.'  "Selling covered calls is a wonderful way to make money, and with very little stress.  As long as you pick desirable stocks, this strategy is a low-risk way to boost income." - Michael Sincere.

The Lure of Trading Options Instead of Stocks...  

Make money whether the stock price goes up or down.

Leverage:  If you have the experience and your brokerage account is of sufficient size (at least $25,000 and preferably more) and allows you to trade options - you don't need to own shares of stock to buy or sell options.  "For example, let's say Jitters Coffee is trading for $100 per share, and you buy a three-month $100 call for $5.  Each contract controls 100 shares, so that's really $500 total.  If the stock is $100 or below at expiration, the contract expires worthless.  But if the stock is higher, say $110, you can sell your call for the difference.  You paid $5, sold for $10, or 100% profit, even though the stock only rose 10%." - Jon & Pete Najarian, Authors of  the book 'It's NOT an OPTION - Learning How To Trade Options Is No Longer An Option, IT'S A NECESSITY!  A must-read for ALL Investors & Traders'

NOTE: The more speculative strategies for trading options require the ability to focus and are NOT for anyone looking for a simple passive investment they can ignore.

I believe that you like me can learn to trade options instead of stocks, but - you better know what you're doing.  "Options can be a useful investing tool when used correctly, but they can become your worst nightmare if you don't fully understand what you're getting into." - The Motley Fool (Blog Post): Thinking of Trading Options? Here Are 3 Things You Should Know

SELLING 'COVERED CALLS' IS A CONSERVATIVE STRATEGY THAT ENABLES YOU TO COLLECT A FEE - ON STOCKS YOU ALREADY OWN

"...selling covered calls is a slower way to make money, it is an easier and more consistent path to increasing cash flow." - Michael Sincere

Generate income and enjoy financial independence  with common stocks...  

Withdrawing from the brokerage account an amount equal to 1.5% per quarter (6% annualy) allows the account to continue growing while providing the spendable income I want.  Here's how it works; the combination of income (premium) received from the sale of covered calls plus perhaps, a small portion of dividends, covers my cash withdrawals without depleting my working capital and the account continues to grow.  I believe that you can do it too, via William O'Neil's proven 'CANSLIM' strategy and 'Trading Options.'

Building a portfolio of individual stocks is something anyone can do but... 

You must educate yourself if you want to "Get Rich Carefully" as Jim Cramer says in his book by the same title.  You can learn how to grow and manage a portfolio yourself with the help of the 'American Association of Individual Investors.' 

• • • • • The AAii is a nonprofit dedicated to educating the investing public. 

        • As a 'Lifetime Member' I use AAii's 'Dividend Investing' recommendations and other premium services. 

DIY:  Anyone can build and manage their own portfolio of individual stocks.  Join the AAii to learn how.  Minimum starting balance to open an account at many popular broker/dealer firms range from $0 to $2,500 so, if I could do it - you can too.  

 You can also learn how to protect yourself from a devastating loss by making balancing or compensating transactions with 'Stock Options.'  

• Many of my peers took decades to build their stock market portfolios.  They built their wealth gradually and now some of them trade 'Options' at the CBOE (Chicago Board Options Exchange) to preserve their portfolio's value while generating additional income from it.  

• Investors can generate additional income from stocks they hold (even if those stocks don't pay dividends) by selling 'covered call' options.

• Sophisticated Traders can make money using options without actually owning any stock. 

Beware of anyone trying to convince you that something will keep growing straight up over the long term via compounding.  Reality doesn't work that way.

The most valuable lesson I've learned is to 'know when and how to cut losses short and when to just let profits run.'

Never invested before?  Start Here:  The American Association of Individual Investors is an independent, nonprofit corporation formed for the purpose of assisting individuals in becoming effective managers of their own assets through programs of education, information and research. - AAii

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Screen stocks with both fundamental and technical analysis.

No money to invest?

Then you need a way to earn an income without having to show up and perform a task.  Apart from a job, I only know two ways to make money.  Put other people to work or money to work - yes even other people's money to work!  I'll show you the way.  It's a three step process for individuals who have an entrepreneurial spirit, the self-employed, and small business owners who want to quit trading their own time for money.  It starts with a plan. 

Our 3 Step Process:

Schedule an appointment

Allow us to create a customized plan

Let's execute that plan together

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