A Reader Writes, "Can you give me some suggestions?"

Hello Friends! Thanks so much for stopping by and visiting my blog, Stock Picks Bob's Advice. As I do just about every time I write, I want to remind you that I am an amateur investor so please consult with your professional investment advisors prior to making any investment decisions based on information on this website!

Checking my mail this evening, I received a very nice note from Rasik J. from New Jersey. Rasik writes:

Hi Bob,
You personal blog "Advice for stocks" is awesome. Its my first
visit to your site. I like it
sooooooo much. I will be happy learn some new stocks in future. I
never invested in stocks till
now. But I want to start investing now. Can you give me some
suggestions on starting the
investment process.

Also, since oil stocks and steel stocks are on rise. Can you write
something interesting about
(buy/sell) of energy and steel stocks.

I will keep watching your blog...

If you have any mailing list. add me to your mailing list.


Thankyou
Rasik J.
New Jersey.

Thank you Rasik! Your words offer me some encouragement, and I hope that somehow what I write is helpful to you in your thoughts about investing. Remember that I truly AM an amateur, so be sure to get professional advice as needed and do a lot of homework yourself on some of these issues.

You write about "starting the investment process". In general, as I have written elsewhere on Stock Picks, I believe that one should think about a portfolio of stocks in general terms first; that is how many issues you want to hold, how much invested per issue, etc. I would think that 12 stocks would be a nice goal for an initial portfolio (?), but you could raise or lower that depending on your own needs.

I think that it would be wise to start 50% invested, that is with 50% of the number of issues invested with 50% of the cash available. I like to automatically add some cash to the portfolio each month. I would only add a position (until you get to the maximum number planned), if you sell a portion of one of your holdings at a gain (if you want to do it like I do.) And also sell stocks down to 25% invested on losses. I would keep at least 25% invested at all times and would also not go over the original planned number of shares.

You can pick stocks in any way you feel works for you. I have lots of stocks on my blog that I have commented on, and if the same criteria applies, they may be good candidates for purchase.

As far as energy/steel stocks are concerned, I treat them the same way I treat everything else. However, I believe that steady growers might be better than cyclicals, and if I can find a more steady grower of revenue and earnings, then I wouldn't mind owning an oil stock (I own CDIS) or a steel stock (I have owned Schnitzer Steel in the past).

But my system is not about anticipating trends in the economy and investing in those hot sectors. I pick stocks based on their performance on a same-day momentum screen (greatest % gainers).

Is this the best way? Probably not. Does it work? I think so. Time will tell.

Thanks again for stopping by and visiting. Let me know how you do in your new investment activity and what stocks you picked and why....you don't have to answer all of that, but it might be interesting!

Drop me a line at bobsadviceforstocks@lycos.com if you have any additional questions!

Bob