Investment Strategies for Beginners - Continued

Cash Out When You Can

Nobody can time the market. You can't tell when the price reached its peak. In a bear market, it is safe to cash out when you have a gain that is more than 5%. I have missed some big rallies by getting out too early, but I don't regret it. Having small gains is better than big losses.

Don't Rely on Futures to Predict the Stock Performance

It has become a habit for me to check the Futures before the market opens. In my experience, Futures does a pretty good job predicting the opening of the market, especially when the numbers are big. The premarket trading sometimes gives us a clue of the opening price of certain stocks. However, a strong or weak opening doesn't mean the stocks will perform that way. Most likely, the market will go up and down all day long.

So much for the "strategies". Next time I will talk about specific stocks I have picked and discussed what have worked and what have not.

Happy Valentine's Day to all the couples in the world!