A. Here are a few "Key" things you MUST do to be a successful Individual Investor!

1. Have some Risk Capital (money) available and ready to use to invest.

2. Pay attention to the market trends, meaning watch and listen to what's going in the stock market news as issues and events unfold. If you want to review the Day-By-Day breakdown of major activity in the stock market. Check out "www.nbr.com" Slide your mouse pointer over the wording "The Program", then select "Transcript Archives". Here you'll find the daily headlines for stocks in the news for the days of the week. Sometimes you will need to have patience and wait for the right opportunity to buy, other times you will need to be aggressive in order to capitalize on certain opportunities. It works both ways...depending on what you plan to buy and how many shares or stock options you plan to buy!

3. Be prepared to take (or change) a position when you see a good opportunity to either take advantage of changing events that might affect the stock price of what you are considering to buy or what you already own. "Trailing Stops", "Trade Triggers", "Contingent Orders" are special features that you will find very helpful to help protect your profits and limit your downside risk! You will find these features at brokerage firms "OptionsXpress.com" and "Ameritrade.com".

4. Be prepared to "Limit Your Loss"!!! This is one of the hardest things to face as an Individual Investor (taking a loss), but something you must do to prevent the market from taking most of your money. See the section in my book (How to Limit your Losses)!

5. Always look for potential buy opportunities. If you pay attention to what's going on in the stock market, make notes and write down potential investment ideas (write the stock symbol, company name, date and the stock price), then you will begin to see the opportunities you may have missed -- and also the ones that would not have been a good investment. Do this consistently every month and you will see the trading patterns for the stocks that you are watching. This activity will give you a better chance of knowing when to make a move as an investment for better profits.

6. You have to buy stocks that are "Price Movers", meaning stocks that have a track record of consistent price range movement. It doesn't do much good to own stocks or stock options in a company where there is no stock price movement. You probably won't make much of a profit! If you are specifically buying the stock shares on a "dividend" pay-out strategy and not concerned about the stock price movement -- that would probably be your only consideration for picking stocks with a track record of slow price movement -- which can be well worth the effort if you are a long-term investor!

Jimmie V Smith Jr.

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