Hello Friends!  Thanks so much for stopping by and visiting my blog, Stock Picks Bob's Advice!  As always, please remember that I am an amateur investor, so please remember to consult with your professional investment advisers prior to making any investment decisions based on information on this website.

Instead of the usual discussion of specific stocks and answering specific questions about investing, I wanted to take a moment to share with you some of my philosophy, some of the things I believe are important about investing and blogging.  

First of all a word about me.  I am a physician, so I don't support myself by investing, I am not an advisor, I don't manage money for anyone, I don't have any newsletters or salesmen or letters to send you.  I don't even really ask you for contributions.  I write this blog because this is my passion, my hobby, and part of my life.  I write that I am an amateur because I am an amateur.  I hope and believe that I am becoming a good amateur, but that is up to you to judge.

Honesty is part of my life.  It is integral to my professional life and essential to this blog.  I share with you my thinking and my opinions on stocks and my own trading portfolio.  When I buy shares I let you know, when I sell shares I let you know, when I make money I let you know, and most importantly, when I lose money, I share with you as well.  Because so many of you are my friends.  I share these thoughts with all of you readers and hope that you realize that what I do or suggest might not be right for you.  When I ask you to consult with advisers I really mean just that.  What I do might not work for you.  I am not positively sure that it will work for me.  But thus far it has been working well.

I am an investor.  I buy shares for the long haul. But I am prepared to trade.  I do this in as quiet as fashion as possible.  This is not about screaming and hollering and phrenetic activity.  I spend a lot of time observing the market and listening to my own portfolio.  I am not trying to be smarter than the smartest investors.  For I am not.  But I am trying to observe which stocks are climbing and among those, which might have healthy characteristics which might support further price appreciation.

But I make my share of mistakes.

That is why I have a portfolio of stocks.  Not because I am trying to diversify.  Because I use the same strategy with each of my stocks.  But because any particular stock investment may be a mistake.  And I am prepared to part with any and all of them.  I am not a buy and hold investor.  But I hope to buy and hold many of my investments for a very long time.

I have chosen to listen to my portfolio as I adjust my exposure to equities.

When stocks sell on bad news, that is price declines, I do not fight the market.  I 'sit on my hands' as I like to say, and wait for another signal.  A signal to let me know that everything is o.k. and it is time to buy.  I use my own portfolio for that signal as well.  I wait for a stock to hit an appreciation target and sell a portion of that holding and then at that time, buy another stock.

I do not think I can outguess the smartest minds in the market.

But I am willing to give them credit.  I will tell you that William O'Neil inspired my own thinking.  I like to talk about Robert Lichello, and will mention Paul Sturm and others.  They are my mentors.  They may not even know I have them as mentors, but I know.  And I appreciate the wisdom of others.

When I pick a stock to buy I purchase it off the top % gainers lists.  They have already been discovered by someone else.  I do not try to discover things that others haven't noticed.  

And I manage my holdings carefully.  I sell my poorly performing stocks quickly and completely, and my appreciating stocks slowly and partially.  This bias results in a portfolio of strong, performing stocks.

I demand the most of my holdings.

Will all of this work?  I don't know.  I am not even sure why I do all of this or why I write.  I love to share with all of you my ideas, my trades, my perspective on stocks.  I hope you all enjoy my effort.  Where this takes me I still am not sure.  I hope that all of this is successful for me and if any of you have adopted some of my techniques in a successful fashion, please drop me a line or leave a comment and let me know how it is working out.

Your friendship is greatly appreciated.

Bob