"The first step to making money is not losing it."
-- Ed Easterling

CHARTZ AND TABLE ZUP On The Main Site!!! I've revised a few of the chart set ups and I'm happier with them. You may not be, because of what they show. Check 'em out...

Three day weekend and ain't no excuse why I can't write some more here, since this is the weekend I decided I gotta do a top to bottom review of my retirement investing and trading. See ya here at the very end (Late Monday Evening) of the weekend. Stay Tooned

But in the mean time... Check it out!!!

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/o ... 48A50D6%7D

Here's an excerpt...

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Out of almost 2,100 diversified retail U.S. stock mutual funds that are open to new investors, just 17 have positive returns for both the past 12 months and year-to-date, according to investment researcher Morningstar Inc. Nancy Tooke runs three of them.



Explain why you are STILL invested in ANYTHING stocks. Oh... you see something that leads to a significant and long term turnaround for the economy and financial markets just around the corner. YEAH!!! Like maybe THIS...

http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/ ... al-ab.html

Excerpt;

What this country really needs is less tranparency in earnings reports, and more wiggle room for corporate reporting:....

We are governed by utter idiots . . .



If Barry wants to pick a fight w/ me, he'll have to start with something we disagree about.


More links excerpted from Barrys' Blog:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122005562753985195.htm

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... KBb0Y&

http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/ ... cks-d.html

http://econompicdata.blogspot.com/2008/ ... ction.html

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... 9fzl8&

http://www.slate.com/id/2198942/

http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/ ... asuri.html

http://money.cnn.com/2008/08/12/real_es ... 2008081208

http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2008/08/ ... landscape/

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0808/12997.html

Cell Genesys

If you bought and sold at the right time, say like you bought near the low of 2003 and sold near the high of 2004, that was a 245% swing. Not bad for a year's return. But if you bought and held, or weren't dialed in to the biotech industry with excellent industry and company specific sources, minute to minute information flow, and a day traders mentality and trading style, you could have had your head handed to you at any time. There are places where I WON'T go. You HAVE to have confidence and you have to a damn good reason to be confident to play where the volatility looks like that. Not me, not today, and not tomorrow either... Ya gotta know what your edge is... And working there for a year isn't it.


So look back to two years ago when those with big balances in their 401a's and big time exposures to stock were lovin' the up days and there was always a reason to be excited and interested in the markets. That was the easy part.

I'm STILL interested in the market and constantly reading and thinking about it. Not because it is easy and fun like it used to be, but because that's what constantly reminds me to focus now on keeping what I made then by avoiding risk. All cash all the time. There will come a time when the market will recognize that it finally understands the current mess and can look ahead and see the resolution clearly enough to discount it it once and for all. It may coincide with mention of stocks resulting in widespread projectile vomiting of the public at large. The very last optimist may have despaired of ever making a dollar in the market again and have flushed his portfolio and gone to cash, thus marking the bottom. Then we'll start another up cycle out of the darkest depths like we always do.

Ya gotta be watching to see it and take advantage of it..


And remember; It's Only Money. So for fun, here's something of interest about music.....

http://mixonline.com/classic-tracks/

Working....
Every so often, I figure it's time to lay something down so it stays there. It's usually something basic that illuminates the Why of what I do and why it's right. I usually grind it out here and post it to COFOG BLOG Essays on the main site later. I got the next riff in my head, When I get caught up on my post vacation stuff, it'll appear here.