Stockerati

The most important trait that I seek in people, is their transparency. I’m of the firm belief if what you see is not what you get from someone, then you are in big trouble taking their advice.

I passionately subscribe to this belief in my life– both at work and outside of it. This makes me brutally honest, but that’s how I roll. And on the brighter side, it does make me very consistent and predictable, always :)

You may be wondering where I’m going with this. What does this have to do with

stocks, you may ask. Well, I’ll be very transparent sharing my analysis, views and opinions of the stock market. I’ll supplement my views on if something’s hot or not with whether or not I’m buying or selling that stock.  I’ll be honest whether my personal investments map my recommendations or not. This brings us to the topic of the day– the Stockerati’s principles of stock investments.

STOCKERATI PRINCIPLES

For me things always come in threes. So here are the 3 cardinal principles for stock investing which I use and base all my decisions on.

1. My investments should give me at least a 7-10% return in 3 months or less
2. If a stock goes above the aformentioned 10% profit level, I’ll ride the wave, but use the trailing stop loss % to hedge against sudden downturns. My typical stop loss % is 5% but I usually factor in the fluctuations typical to that particular stock
3. I only add to my portfolio from returns on my existing investments. This means, the only new $’s I  invested in my portfolio were my starting capital– everything purchased since was purely through preceding trades

And now applying the rule of 3 again, let me tell you what I’m NOT:

1. I’m not a day-trader, albeit I manage my portfolio and analyze the market daily and I don’t short or deal with options, derivatives or futures
2. I’m not a long-term player, yet my strategies derive heavily from the goodness of value investing
3. I do not invest in stocks that trade below $1 or above $100, but sometimes, very rarely, I do make exceptions

In later posts, besides sharing my stock-picks; I also plan to discuss the different types of investors, useful tools, the ideologies behind stock screening and selection as well as the psyche of a successful investor. I’m an eternal student and am always learning and I sincerely hope you find my writings useful in your research.