Ocroft,
Yes, I believe I do understand your method, and I believe Clifford (LostCowboy) also understood it from your first post. Tom, too, seemed to "get" it. That doesn't mean that any of us would try to copy it, we each have our own "investing personality" and I have appreciated seeing how you express your's.
I see Tom as an investor, in for the long run, and your "hit & run" style doesn't fit his investment goals. Clifford would also be in for the long term, but sees his style as consistantly "stepping in" over a long period, hence his interest in "SynchroVest" and all things DCA.
I,on the other hand, am neither a trader nor an investor -- I am a saver. I have been a saver since my first job in the late 1950's. The father of a baseball teammate was the banker for my parents and he showed me how and why to "ladder" saving's certificates and then CDs (very similar to Clive's posts), so I have been doing that for over 30 years. I have never "tapped" into those funds, but simply rotated them as they came to maturity, so they have accumulated quite handsomely over the years.
I have never been "wealthy" or had a high paying job, but, like the fellow in Licello's book who saved money while on welfare, lived well within my means. I never bought a share of stock until 2000, when the downturn began. In 2002, I began to DCA quarterly into CMO and NLY (both are REIT stocks and both pay an annual dividend currently of about 13%). Both of these companies have withstood the ravages of 2000-2003 and 2007-2009 and I have confidence in them for the future.
So, the relatively small amount of money I am now placing in the stock market (aside from those two, which are long term) is basically "Casino Money", as a friend of mine calls it. With that money, I am also "hit & run", hence my interest in your method.
One word of caution about your stock selection criterion: Read "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis for an "eye-opening" indictment of the competence of the raters at both S&P and Moody's. You may want to heed Tom's advice about learning the ValueLine system, as a backup.
Wish you well,
Bob
