General Stock Ideas

[gfp927z]

Ombow, Yes, trading isn't easy. I tried it years ago with less than stellar results, although I didn't know anything about TA/charts back then, so I'd probably do better now.

Instead of trading, my dad has done great by just buying solid dividend stocks and holding them for years and years. He has 1/3 in stocks, 2/3 in bonds. He uses a full service broker and almost never sells. Of course he's had the tailwind of a 35 year bull market in bonds.

When the stock market crashed in 2000 and 2008 he didn't sell anything, but added more to his stocks. Watching his results (compared to mine) gave me a new appreciation for buy/hold. I figure that's the place for 90% of one's portfolio, and then maybe trade with 5 or 10%.

The only change I would make would be to add more gold as disaster insurance. Jim Rickards recommends 5-10% in gold.