What Stock Investor is NOT!

Because I've spent millions of dollars promoting my various companies and products over the years, I'm a pretty easy target on the Internet. I understand that it comes with the territory. Many investor like to do their due diligence online before getting involved with a new product or program and I applaud that. There are a lot of shady programs out there and it's always best to do some homework before spending your hard earned money. If that's what's brought you to my website and blog, great! You appear to be someone that has one of the most important skills you'll need to become a successful investor, skepticism.

There are many motivations for wanting to be a better investor. I've met many investors over the years and their motivations ranged from wanting to get a nicer car, a bigger house, get out of debt, send their kids to college and a million other excellent answers. Whatever the motivation, I know that investing has the potential to get you there...eventually.

Too many people have unrealistic expectations when it comes to learning about investing. I've been investing my own money for over 2 decades and I still don't know it all. I make stupid emotional mistakes just like I bet most of you have made at one time or another. It's a constant battle that every investor faces every time they put their money at risk in the markets.

I believe we've put together a great program to help anyone learn some very basic principles about investing. I'm confident that I can help you shorten the learning curve on the path to becoming a successful investor, but the most important ingredient for your success is you!

I've been teaching many of the same concepts and strategies for the past decade to thousands of investors all over the world. Many have enjoyed great success as they have applied the lessons I've taught and used the tools I've put together. I wish I could say that every single investor is successful, but that simply would not be true. Investing involves risk and that's something that none of us can control completely. It's something that we all try to manage as best we can, but sometimes it gets the best of us and we end up losing money. If you ever have someone tell you they never lose a trade, run in the opposite direction. Losing trades are one thing that every investors has in common. It's how they are managed that determines if they ultimately find success or failure.

I feel strongly that you should have a chance to check out my programs before you risk any money on my courses and tools. So that's what I do. It costs me money to allow anyone to get a free trial, but I feel strongly enough about what I've created that I'm willing to take that risk to afford you an opportunity to check out my program. All you risk is your time. I think that's fair and I hope you agree. If after your free trial you are not impressed, or feel you would rather go with another program, or simply stick with what you're doing, I say great! Thanks for giving my program a look and best of luck in whatever course you choose.

If you wish to continue on with my tools or invest in some additional training programs with my company, I believe you'll find them to be very professional, valuable, and fairly priced. I instruct all of my staff, my sales team, my coaches and support staff to always be professional, tell the truth and do everything in your power to make our customers happy and successful. In my company we have a very clear mission statement posted all over our office. It reads "Educate and empower people to make positive change."

My courses are not designed to be a black box that spits out the stock of the day that's guaranteed to make money. It's not a system in that sense of the word as it's commonly used in the day trading world. I consider my program to be more of a process or a checklist of activities designed to help you make better investment decisions. No two investors are likely to always find the same investment opportunities using this simple process.

I'm not going to be giving you my stock picks or ever tell you what to do with your money. Those are decisions that only you can make. If that's what you're expecting. Don't buy my programs. What you need is a good broker or financial advisor or maybe you should just buy a newsletter and follow the recommendations of someone you believe knows what they are talking about. I believe that only you know what's best for you and that you should learn how to invest your own money yourself. Get help when you need it, but ultimately it's too important to trust anyone when it comes to making the important decisions about how and where to invest your money. I'd like to help you avoid a few mistakes and gain confidence in your ability to make those decisions a little faster.

This isn't about doing it Ross' way. It's more about learning the best way to do it for you.

I often get asked what kind of returns you can expect when using my program. That's a very tough question to answer because I have no idea what your objectives are, what tools you'll use, what strategies you apply or how disciplined you'll be in following the simple process that I teach. My goal in creating this program and these tools is to give you a realistic opportunity to beat the market, any market - any time. Only you can determine how much risk you're willing to take to reach your objectives. I just want to teach you a variety of strategies so that you'll be armed with the knowledge to find the best opportunities no matter what the market is doing and be able to apply them correctly.

It's not realistic to think that you'll actually do every strategy I teach in my courses. I don't use them all myself, but I understand them all and can teach them to you. What you will do as part of the learning process is determine the best strategies for you. Those that fit your objectives, your tolerance for risk and the size of your investing account. In my course I teach both bullish and bearish strategies because the market doesn't always go in one direction and you must learn to invest in any market condition if you're ultimately going to survive today's volatile markets. I'll expose you to a wide variety of strategies and approaches and you'll pick the one to start with. Maybe that's the only one you'll ever need. I know that I use a couple of strategies over and over again, month after month, because they fit my lifestyle and help me accomplish my personal objectives. It works for me and I'm happy with the results. You need to find what works for you. I've designed my courses and training to expose you to a wide range of stratgies and approaches so you can get a good fit. That's very important. You're likely not in the same situation financially or experience wise that I am, so it's unrealistic to think that doing exactly what I do would be best for you. At Stock Investor it's not one size fits all, its more like a size for every investor. Through our unique training programs I'm confident you'll find a good fit that works for you. That's a success if you ask me.

In my experience most investors want to buy stocks that are going up, no matter if the market is going up or down. Right now the market is clearly in a bearish trend, but most investors are spending the bulk of their time trying to find the one or two stocks that are going up against that trend. If you look hard enough you'll usually be able to find a few needles in the haystack, but wouldn't it be easier to find the needles when the entire haystack is full of them. That's why you'll find in my courses a great deal of training on recognizing and following the trends in the market. If you know which direction the current is flowing, it's much easier to get into an investment that follows it. That's a mistake many investors make over and over again. I will teach you a simple process for spotting the trend in the market and then it's up to you to choose the best strategies for making money in that type of market. I'll teach you both bearish and bullish strategies so you're prepared for anything. I'm also a big fan of using cash as a strategy. For some the best strategy when the market is falling is to just sit in cash and collect some interest until it's safe to get back in the market. I believe that's OK too. Interest isn't such a bad return when stocks are falling, especially if you don't know how to use bearish strategies.

I wrote a book on investing in a bear market called the Bear Market Game Plan. When the market turns bearish, like it is now, you can't keep using bullish strategies and expect to make money. It's hard for most investors to get comfortable investing when stocks are going down, but there is great opportunity if you do. The market tends to drop much faster than it rises, so often bearish investments have great returns in short periods of time. It's all about timing. Knowing the trend and following it.

One other think I want to make perfectly clear is that Stock Investor is NOT a seminar company. Because of my severe hearing loss, it's difficult for me to do seminars anymore. I love to speak and teach in seminars. But for most people it's a poor way to learn. There is too much information in too short a period of time and we physically and mentally just can't absorb it all. Seminar are also very expensive to put on and that's one reason they cost so much to attend. I've built some of the largest seminar companies in the business, so it should say something that the company I have now is NOT doing seminars.

All of my training programs are designed to incorporate the best learning techniques available. My courses are taught on video, over the web, through printed materials and exercises, and for those that would like a little extra help, you have the option of working witha personal coach or mentor. you choose the approach that fits your personality and budget. You learn a little bit at a time and then have time to apply what you've learned before you go on to the next topic. You control the pace so you can keep up and absorb it all. That's how adults learn best. Bit by bit over time. Learning to invest will be no different.

I do teach a few seminars but only as a bonus to those who have gone through my basic courses or coaching programs and would like to meet with me and my team in a small intimate setting for some real hands-on, real-time instruction. When I teach seminars I spend all the time teaching. I'm repulsed by companies that say they do seminars and when you go all it is is a hyped up sales pitch for something more expensive. I think the seminar industry has really lost their way in that regard. I still accept invitations to speak in other investment seminars from time to time because I really enjoy it, but that's not the business stock investor is in. I just returned from three weeks in Europe speaking in a series of seminars on how to invest with Options in the US markets. That's one of my favorite topics and it was a lot of fun to share it with a great group of new investors.

Ultimately I'd love to be your teacher and I hope you're a star student. Like I said earlier, I've been teaching the same stuff for a decade and some students end up making more with what I taught them than I make, while others fail miserably. The difference is not the training or the tools, but the person at the controls. You control your own destiny when it comes to investing and your money. If you need to be rich next week or next month, my programs are not for you. Investing is not get rich quick. Sure you can make money fast, but it won't happen every time and you shouldn't expect it. I'd rather look at investing as get rich eventually. That's more realistic. Like any other pursuit it's likely going to take some time. I like the odds of getting wealthy investing over starting a business, or waiting for a big inheritance.

Whether you learn from me or someone else, I hope you'll take the time to learn how to invest before you put your money at risk in the stock market. If you don't know what you're doing, it's NEVER a good time to invest, but if you learn how to do it right, there are always great opportunities in the stock market.

I'm very biased, but I think investing is the single best way for most people to achieve some level of financial security in their lifetime. It's not going to happen over night. That's certainly not what I promote or teach. You're also going to make mistakes and have losing trades from time to time. That's an important part of the learning process.

But if you manage things well and stay with it for the long-term it can work for you. I've seen in many times as students have shared with my their exciting success stories. I'm just a big fan of investing. It's my business, my hobby and my passion.

I'm not afraid to say that I think I'm one of the best investor teachers around. So don't believe everything you read on the internet. Don't take anyones word for it when it comes to spending money on investor education. I invite you to check out my programs and products and judge for yourself.

No matter where you decide to get your education I applaud you for wanting to learn before you start investing. Investing in an education first is one of the best investments you'll ever make. Happy trading. Ross

Is now a good time to invest?

I get asked that question all the time. What I usually tell people is that if you don't know what you're doing, it's NEVER a good time to invest. If you know what you're doing, it's ALWAYS a great time to invest.

When the market is falling as it has since the start of 2008, most investors lose money. It's a fact. I would guess that less than 5% of investors make money when the market falls. Are you one of them?

I think one of the biggest myths in the investing world is that if you're "well -diversified" you can ride out any dips in the market. Ask anyone who was well-diversified when the last bear market hit in 2000 and they will all tell you the same thing. I lost a ton of money and I'm still trying to get it back. Diversification is a false sense of security.

When the market gets rough there are two things you simply must do if you want to survive and prosper, protect yourself and change your strategy. The first is mandatory and the second is optional.

Before you make another trade you need to protect the ones you have. Often when I'm speaking to groups of investors, I ask how many had a catastrophic loss in their account in the past year. Usually almost every hand goes up. I then ask them if they could have eliminated that one bad investment from their account how many could have done better overall by 1-3% for the year. Again, almost every hand goes up.

What does all that mean. It means that for most investors the quickest way to make another 1-3% per year for the rest of their investment lives is to eliminate from now on the worst investment they make each year. Honestly, that's a VERY easy thing to do.

There is not a high-wire act or trapeeze artist that would ever consider going out on the wire without first putting up a safety net. It's not that they expect to fall into it, they don't. But if by some freak event they fall, they are happy the net is there to catch them. That's the same way you need to be with your investments.

Put up the net every time you make a trade. It's called a stop-loss order. It won't cost you a dime to place it with your broker. They only earn a commission to FILL orders. You'll only pay a commission if you hit your stop-loss price and the order is filled. You can place those orders today as "good until cancelled" and they will stay on the books at your broker to protect you against the unexpected dip in the market.

I suggest that you use a 7-10% stop on stocks and 30-50% on long option positions. If you ever lose more than that on a stock or option trade, SHAME ON YOU! It's very easy to protect yourself with a stop order if you just place it. Get in the habit of doing it every time you place a trade. The time to place a stop is not after the stock is already moving against you. That's very difficult to do with the powerful emotions we will be feeling. Do it first when you're not expecting your stocks to fall and you'll be happy you did. Adjust your stops as the stock rises to lock in your profits.

Secondly, you need to change your strategy when the market is falling. Most investors have NEVER used a bearish strategy in their lives. They think that diversity is the only option and they're about to find out that diversity will not protect you from losing money when the market tanks.

There is only one sure way to avoid losses when the market drops - Move to Cash. Unfortunately most investors don't believe cash is a strategy. I think it is and it's one that's used far too little. Ask anyone that lost their entire portfolio in the bear market of 2000-2003 and they will all tell you they would have much rather gotten the return on a passbook saving account at the local bank. That was an option. Why didn't they take it?

Before you can apply a bearish strategy you first have to be able to recognize when the trend changes. Here's a few tips to help you stay on the right side of the market.

I like to use moving averages to help me determine which direction the market current is flowing. I use a 21 day exponential moving average to spot short-term market trends and a 100 day EMA for longer term trends. I have a simple rule that I follow - I will never buy a stock until it crosses above it's moving average. It's that simple and it works. A stock will never make a big move when it's below it's moving average. The big moves come when it's above. So don't buy stocks that are below their moving averages and you're going to avoid some real losers.

Most stocks are going to follow the trend of the overall market, so I make sure I check the major market trends first. Just add the QQQQ, SPY and DIA to your portfolio and check a chart each day along with your other holdings. These ETF's will help you spot the changing trends in the major market. When these stocks are below their moving averages, chances are most stocks that make up these indexes are also going to be below theirs.

When stocks are below their moving averages you need to be content to earn interest in your money market account and preserve your capital, or consider applying a bearish strategy. If your analysis leads you to conclude that the dip will be short and the long-term up trend will continue, you may consider hedging your postion with options. The covered call strategy is one ofthe most basic and underused strategies available to all investors. If you'd like to learn more about covered calls, I would invite you to visit my website at stockinvestor.com and check out my variety of training programs. You can also check out optionsXpress.com and learn some basics in their education area.

A covered call is only a temporary short-term solution to a falling stock. Once the stock falls farther than the income you collect from the covered call, you're losing money that you started with. The only safe solution to avoid further losses is to sell the stock and move to cash.

When the market is bearish you can also use option strategies that allow you to profit even if you don't own a stock. I like to use a bearish call spread to make money on stocks that are tanking. In this strategy you basically sell a call option that gives another investor who you will never know or meet the right to buy shares of a falling stock from you at a price that is higher than the current price of the stock. Think of this as finding the worse stock you can find and then getting a sucker to pay you for the right to buy it at a higher price. That's what you're doing. Then you hedge your bet by using some of the money they are going to pay you for that right (the premium on the call option) to buy some insurance in the form of another call option with a higher strike price than the one that you sold.

If the stock doesn't move or continues down, you keep the premium you collected as your profit. If the stock rises higher than the strike price of your call plus the premium you collect you begin to lose money. The maximum loss is the difference between the strike prices of the call you sold and and the call you bought less the premium you collected. That's the most you can lose.

You make money in two out of the three possble outcomes (down and sideways) and can even make money if you're a little bit wrong and the stock goes up, as long as it doesn't go up a lot. I like the odds of that and it's one of my favorite strategies in a bear market.

I perfer this to buying puts or shorting stock because with those strategies I will only make money if the stock drops and I will lose money if it stays the same or goes up. The attraction of those strategies is that the profits have no limit, but I'm content to take the better odds on a limited profit and limit my risk substantially as well.

Bottom line, in a market like we're had thus far in 2008, you need to first get a stop in place on every stock you own. If the stock is already below it's moving average, you're a little late, but still do it, because it could get worse. Don't be afraid to sell those losers and move to cash. You'll likely have a better chance to earn back your loss on a new investment when the market improves than waiting it out in a bad investment hoping it gets better. HOPE is NOT a strategy.

If you protect yourself and apply bearish strategies when the market trends turn south, you'll be able to survive and prosper in any market.

Happy Trading.

Ross