Stock Advice on Investing Safely and Wisely

Forbes Special Situation Survey Newsletter
The Prudent Speculator Newsletter
They advertise rarely. It's been around 50 years. The successful people already have it.

In 1988, knowing nothing about investing, I asked the representative who visited our workplace if it were possible to lose money in the retirement fund by picking the wrong companies to put my money on. I never got an answer.

Much water has flowed under the bridge since those wonderful days when most folks were completely mesmerized and trusting of such investment plans. The bloom is off the rose, as they say.

When it comes to stock investing, the byword is that there is no such thing as a completely safe investment. Today, even salt, a substance necessary for life, is in danger of being regulated out of existence. Even betting on the exhalation of carbon dioxide may not a wise choice, because it too is being made obsolete by the Environmental Protection Agency. So, when a man says to you that the swampland stock he's offering is a no brainer, be you beware of sneak ankle biting alligators that can spoil the deal.

If investing in stocks were safe, then little old ladies would be doing it with their hard candy money. The problem is that investing is risky. Your average stock broker or mutual fund manager lives in the shadow of the blown investment. It's a regular syndrome with those guys. That's why Tums is a fairly safe bet.
However...While risk is natures stop sign to many in the wider world of stocks, to others, it's only purpose is to make them go more slowly, look both ways, and keep on trucking. Some of these guys...the ones who still have investment capital know that there are ways to minimize risk. Here are a few tips...

• If you want to be come a stock investor, and you are a slow learner, are impatient, or have more money than brains, then by all means hire a professional and trustworthy stock broker to invest your dough for you. While purchasing stocks yourself is easy and initially painless on the internet, for the newbie or the reckless, danger lies around every corner. Even middlin' stock traders who are completely honest with themselves would admit that the benefits of a paid stock herder might just save them money. No matter how good you think you are, there is always someone better. Of course, if you decide to hire it done, you still have to have enough powder in your bullet to be able to hit the mark...that being hiring a good, smart, and honest stock broker.
• Entering into stock market investing big time would be considered extremely unwise for the novice. Better, if you you have more money than you can use, and want to bet it on the markets, the quickest way to lose it is to not do your homework. Getting good at being a big time stock market person means an investment of study time, not unlike taking a year of college, with continuing education. You have to learn all the stock market lingo, be able to spot trends, and have the wherewith to make sense out of the hot tips when you hear them.
• Being able to communicate clearly with your broker is not an option. He will not appreciate, or possibly even understand when you tell him, "I want to go short on that long thingy, and I want to take a depreciation too. Do you do taxes?" C'mon, let's get real, Mr. saavy investor!
• The real time stock market person will own his own copy of the Wall Street Journal. He will also be able to spot stock investing news in the other lesser media as well.
• The wise investor, who chooses to go for the big score, and who uses a for real stock broker will never ever blow him off to go it alone and invest in a hot tip. Even though this strategy has worked well in the movies, it seldom pans out in real life. Sure, they will come a time when you shrink from the lure of the major kill, and you wind up with a hard luck story to tell the grandchildren, and anyone else who cares or is made to listen...but for everyone of those once in a lifetime boo boos, there are 30 more times you should have stayed in bed. Your stock broker is paid to look out for you, so you need to get in the habit of using him. It's your money that you worked hard for, or inherited. Don't give it away. If you're going for the big time, then go for the big advice first.

Let patience be your guide. Slow and steady, both hands on the wheel, both eyes on the road. Let not greed and impatience steer you from the rock solid asphalt over into the weeds and ditches of everlasting doom. Exterminate the impulse buy and tenderly encourage the fruit of the steady plan. The wise course pays, while the unwise course just sits there sucking lemons.