Programs ! Get your Programs !

Or in this case... A free book !!!

In this article, "3 ways to make money in a downturn", Andrew Horowitz gives examples of how he has played this volitile market and made money. Now, some of his techniques I do not do - such as shorting stocks, however; his methods and experiences are very similar to mine.

Lets start with the "3 ways"...

1. Be disciplined. Set a price to buy and a price to sell whenever you make a move, and stick to them. Don't get attached to any stock. Don't waver.
2. Be nimble. Lazy portfolios do not make it in a market like this. Everyday investors are often told not to trade and particularly not to sell short. In a tough market, you have to move fast.
3. Be flexible. I refused to abide by a single strategy over the past few months and realized that opportunities lie in unusual places in a market like this. I shorted municipal bonds and bought prefered stocks.
   

As for me...

Disciplined: I have set both buy and sell prices for all my pics, and pretty much stuck to them. Though...

Nimble: I have to pay more attention to the weekly, even daily, activity and trends. I have missed a couple early opportunities to either buy or sell if I had alerts set properly. I am also re-thinking my 20-20 rule and perhaps making it closer to 15-15 instead.

Flexible: Which I primarily have in keeping to my handful of screens which have turned up many interesting possibilities that I normally would not look at.

As I have said, I think the market is way too volatile to invest right now for the long term. And if you actually look at my January list; long term may be proving to be greater than 30 days, since most of those stocks which gained are now back in the red.

And now for the freebie goodies...

There is a link in his article which allows you to download his book for free. For a limited time of course. But hey, free it free !!!