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Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Hello Aimster,
I'm glad you liked the Pragmatic Investor book. I believe that anyone who follows it will, in the long run, do extremely well in the stock market (and with finances in general).
Thanks for your suggestions. I've added them to the possible enhancements list and will review them when I'm going to update the software. I am trying to keep the GUI very simple, so I have to restrict some functionality that might "scare" some people and need to appeal to the lowest common denomintator. However I do like your suggestions.
Regarding your questions...
1) The target price is based on Benjamin Graham's work (for exact details on the calculation, please see the user's guide (select HELP from the Help menu to view it)).
2) There is no time frame attached to the target price. This is because although the software thinks the company is currently undervalued, there is no way for it to predict when the general market (i.e. majority of investors) will realize this. I've seen some companies shoot up within a matter of months while others don't.
The software has only been out since August 20th, so I haven't collected enough real data to generate rules of thumb yet. Of course the ideas are based on work by Benjamin Graham, Warren Buffett and Richard Sloan, and since their work has been tested for decades, I expect the software will perform well over the long-term.
I'm planning major upgrades to Value Stock Selector, Automatic Investor and Pragmatic Investor next year.
I'm also planning to release a new software package based on the CANSLIM method and possibly another package.
2006 should be a good year for investors.
Let me know if you have any other questions.
Hi Aimster,
Yes, good idea. I'll add it to the next enhancement.
Thanks!
The "opposite pairs" idea is really just a specialized case of rebalancing. If you extend the idea to multiple stocks, then you have rebalancing with the trigger based on value rather than on time (which is more commonly used).
Hi Tom,
I got your PM. That's quite good performance -- it not only beat the S&P500 handily but in each individual year it did better.
In addition, I like the risk profile.
You might be on to something.
Hi JC,
Yup, I got the email you just sent. I just sent a reply. Let me know if you don't get it.
To All Automatic Investor 3.0 SP3 Users...
I am working on Service Pack 4 to fix the following problems:
1) Data formats used by the Fundamental Analyzer changed at the MSN site and this is causing NA to show up quite a bit.
2) The Licensing module is sometimes not allowing trial users to get their free trial (if that's you, once it's fixed I will ensure you get your free trial).
I hope to have SP4 done in the next week or so. If you have any questions please email me or use the Automatic Investor iHub BB here --> http://www.investorshub.com/boards/board.asp?board_id=1172
Hi Adam,
1) The config panel in the Optimizer is there to allow you to select the source of your quote data (under the "Quote Source" section). The other parameters are not used.
2) A Frequency of -1 means daily data, -5 means weekly and -22 means monthly (this should really be put into a more readable English form. I'll have to make a note of that and correct it in the next Service Pack).
Basically -5 is 5 trading days per week and -22 is 22 trading days per month.
Congrats Bosco! I didn't even notice it was that close to number 18,000.
Hi Adam,
Got it. Your license code is in your inbox.
Hi Adam,
I didn't receive that email. Can you try again (put "MARK" in the subject line).
Hello Jack,
Yes, I opened my account through the Montreal office.
As far as I know IB supports GTC, but I've never used it with them (in fact I've yet to make my first trade with them, but it looks like I will be doing so soon). Actually I don't even use GTC with my soon-to-be ex-broker (well, there was that one time, but normally I don't).
IB's commissions are the lowest I've seen in Canada and their tools are pretty good (realtime streaming quotes and more).
If you subscribe to their "free" data feed then you have to do trades that generate at least $30 worth of commissions a month or you're dinged $10/month.
If you don't subscribe to any of their feeds, then you don't pay the $10/month (so you could get your data elsewhere, e.g. Yahoo!, and then use IB for low-cost trading).
Hi Adam,
You can download the AI 3.0 setup file here --> http://www.automaticinvestor.com/ai30setup.exe
Once you install, send me the registration code and I'll send you a license code.
For anyone else having AI support questions, please use the Automatic Investor board here --> http://www.investorshub.com/boards/board.asp?board_id=1172 so that we don't clutter up the AIM board with AI-related support issues.
Hi Richard,
Yes, my SPAM filter has been filtering out some legitimate emails (I do try to scan my spam folder before clearing it, but as I receive literally 1000s of spam emails a day, I miss some. If you want to ensure I see your emails, try putting a Big "MARK" in the subject line before the actual subject. That usually catches my eye as I'm scanning through the offers to make me millions by helping some rich Nigerian get his money to North America, enhance certain body parts and buy drugs and software for 90% off retail prices).
Did you get the email I sent?
If you didn't, just download the trial version again, install it on your new laptop and then send me the registration code.
I'll send you a new license code.
BTW, there appears to be a data source problem at MSN (where the Fundamental Analyzer gets its data). So I'll be issuing a fix shortly. Check the Upgrade Center (http://www.automaticinvestor.com/upgradecenter.html ) for details. I'll post the Service Pack update there when it's available.
If you have any other questions, please let me know.
Yes, IB is available in Canada and I just opened an account with them. No trades yet, but I've used some of their tools and it looks pretty good so far.
And you can't beat the commissions. I'm used to paying $29 for up to 1000 shares and more if you trade greater than 1000 shares. Last month I paid $90 for ONE trade! After that one I opened my IB account. Compared to the U.S., Canadians are getting fleeced.
Another bonus with IB is that they have an API that allows software programs to connect to them and enter trades and such. If you have confidence in your system, this has the potential to truly automate the investing process.
Hi Matt,
The email address is correct and I checked my spam folder but I tend to clear it a few times a day after a brief glance at the emails. So it's possible it could have been caught.
Resend it to me and put a big "MARK" in the subject line so that if it gets caught it will stand out in the SPAM folder.
Hello Jack,
Yes, I like that feature too as I do the same thing sometimes. Glad to hear it's working for someone else too.
Hi Matt,
No, I haven't received anything from you. Which email address did you send it to?
An excellent (and free) utility is called Password Safe and can be found here --> http://www.schneier.com/passsafe.html
It stores all of your passwords and encrypts them using very strong encryption techniques. In fact it even encrypts them in memory while the software is open so ultra-smart snooping software can't find them by scanning your RAM.
All you have to do is remember one password (which you should not store on your computer) and you will have access to all of your others.
It was initially written by a fellow named Bruce Schneier who is one of the leading computer security experts in the world.
Hi Steve,
Ahhh, I think I see where the confusion arose.
If you enter (1 - <sellSafe> / 100) into a computer, it will perform the division first and then subtract that result from 1 (as "/" has greater precedence than "-")
However just eyeballing it, it's easy for us humans to apply the subtraction first and then do the division (which gives the incorrect answer).
For clarity I should have written (1 - (<sellSafe> / 100)) and although the inner parens aren't necessary, they certainly clarify things.
In any case, I think the formula I described is the simplest way to get the result you want. There are other ways (including ways with multiple steps), but you'll find some values cancel out (such as Number of Shares) and what could be a big complicated equation reduces to the equation above.
You can perform a similar reduction for the Buy Limit.
Hi Takr,
"I don't think that's it because in the second half of the equation:
((1 - 10 / 100) = a negative number, or 1 - .10 = .9 /100 = .009 So..."
(1 - 10 / 100) isn't a negative number nor is it 0.009, rather it's 0.9. It's equivalent to (1 - (<sellSafe>/100)).
So if PC = 10,000 and Min Trade = 100, then
Sell Limit = 10,100 / 0.9 = 11,222.22
If you need to find the price per share, simply divide 11,222.22 by the number of shares and that should do it.
Hi Takr,
Try the following:
Sell Limit = (PC + Min Trade) / (1 - <SellSafe> / 100)
This assumes that Min Trade is in Dollars and <SellSafe> is a percentage (e.g. 10).
If you need to express Min Trade in terms of a percentage, then...
Sell Limit = PC / (1 - (<SellSafe> + Min Trade) / 100)
That should work, but please verify the calculation before using it as I haven't tested it (although I believe that's what I implemented in Automatic Investor. I can check the AI code later if you need me to).
Hi AIMster,
Yes, that is a possibility. The MattMod bases its calculations on Portfolio Value (equity + cash), so linking to PC is a similar concept.
Interesting feature in Acrobat Reader...
For those who view PDF documents via Acrobat Reader 7.0 (which you can obtain free from here --> http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html ) you can have your computer read the document (or a page) to you.
Simply follow these steps...
1) Ensure you have Acrobat Reader 7.0 installed.
2) Open a PDF document.
3) Scroll to the desired page.
4) Select "View" from the menu and then "Read Out Loud"
5) Select "Read This Page Only" or "Read to End of Document"
Your computer will read the selected part of the document to you (ensure you have your volume turned up and your speakers on). Although it has a funny accent, it is quite understandable.
Enjoy!
Forgot to mention. Donations to the Red Cross must be on or before Sept. 10, 2005.
OT: Katrina
Hello Everyone, I'd like to make the same offer I made when the tsunami hit ( http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=4958231 ) for Katrina.
If you donate at least $197 U.S. to the Red Cross (Canada --> http://www.redcross.ca or USA --> https://give.redcross.org/?hurricanemasthead ) Hurricane 2005 Relief fund, I'll send you a free Automatic Investor 3.0 License.
Just email me (mhing@automaticinvestor.com) with a copy of your electronic receipt and I'll send out your license code.
I'm sure every little bit will help.
Hi Matt,
I had no idea you lived in LA. I'm glad to hear you and your family are okay and I hope everything starts to settle down for all LA residents soon.
Hi Steve,
Yes, I remember those. About a month ago I also found the VHS tape of the AIM meeting. I'll have to pop it in the VCR and take a look at it again.
As I recall, there were some excellent presentations and a musical interlude by Barry Savage.
Back Issues of the Aptus eGazette...
For those of you interested, you can find selected back issues of the Aptus eGazette here --> http://www.aptusgazette.com/index.html
Back Issues of the Aptus eGazette...
For those of you interested, you can find selected back issues of the Aptus eGazette here --> http://www.aptusgazette.com/index.html
Back Issues of the Aptus eGazette...
For those of you interested, you can find selected back issues of the Aptus eGazette here --> http://www.aptusgazette.com/index.html
Yes, that was enjoyable. I hope to see another one sometime in the future.
Hi AIMster,
Thanks for the information. MSN recently changed its format when reporting some of its results (for some reason they report out two years' results rather than 3 for some stocks).
This is causing the errors. I have a fix (which has been incorporated into the new Value Stock Selector software) and I will be adding it to the AI software very soon (as a side benefit, the performance will be greatly improved too -- it should take less than 1/2 the time it currently does).
I'll also look into getting rid of the pop up windows in favour of a log file (or something similar). I've had quite a few requests for that
Hey AIMster,
That's a great suggestion! I'm not sure why I didn't think of that. Thanks.
Hi AIMster,
The software was primarily designed for non-AIMers, but it uses the same engine as the Fundamental Analyzer in Automatic Investor.
So those who don't have AI can use it and simply ignore the Target sell prices in favour of AIM's recommendations on when to sell.
Regarding the integration of Super SOM into this package, I don't plan to integrate them per se, but I will be adding a copy/paste function to all my software products so that results from one product can be quickly pasted into another.
That way you could run the Value Stock Selector, get the results, copy them and then paste them into Super SOM for volatility analysis.
Of course if you have AI, you can set up Research Portfolios which can be reused in the Fundamental Analyzer, Historical Analyzer (which could be used in place of Super SOM) and the Asset Allocator.
AI is almost a complete investment system in itself (from cradle to grave, so to speak). It let's you select Fundamentally Sound stocks, allocate them and then manage them with AIM (plus AIM enhancements).
The reason I say *almost* is because it is missing one thing...
That's a way to quantify if you're sufficiently diversified (which is different from Asset Allocation).
I'm currently working out the details for this and plan to add it in the next AI release.
So... Value Stock Selector can be used with AIM, but probably isn't necessary if you've got AI. If you have other AIM software or spreadsheets, however, it could help.
Hi Adam,
Yes, that's one of the things on my list of things to add. Probably the next upgrade.
New Software...
I've been working on completing a Fundamental Scanner this past month and now it's ready. Go here --> http://www.valuestockselector.com for details.
For those without AI, you can use it to find Fundamentally sound stocks and then pass that list to the Free Super Screen-O-Matic tool ( http://www.automaticinvestor.com/freesoftware.html ) to see if it's suitable for use with AIM.
If you have any questions, please let me know.
Hi Matt,
Can you resend your emails to me on last time(mhing@automaticinvestor.com).
Thanks!
Hi AIMster,
Most of the important stuff can be restored (but it will take a bit of time as I back everything up to online drives as individual zip files as I modify them).
However there are some things that I didn't keep current backups of (such as emails), so those are lost (including some recent suggestions on how to improve various software products).
Which leads me to a recommendation for everyone on this board. Make frequent backups. Today would be a good time to start.
OT: Testers for the new software...
Can you please send me an email (mhing@automaticinvestor.com) to ensure I have your email address.
I lost a few months worth of emails with my hard drive crash and have had to reconstruct the beta testers list from memory. However there are a few that I know I don't have as I couldn't remember all of the email addresses.
Thanks in advance.
Hi Tom,
I had a hard drive crash and lost all data on it. It's going to take me some time to restore all my backups and get up and running.
So, if anyone has sent me an email and I haven't replied by Monday, please resend as it's probably been lost.