Going into Business?
Well you have decided {sort of} to go into business for yourself. How should you do it? Here are the 3 different ways:1. Start from scratch. Bill Gates did it. Do you have an idea for a service or product? Hardest way. Biggest potential. Do you have the courage?2. Buy an existing business. The key word to remember is “patience”. Things like waiting for the seller to release his or her financial info, settling on the

The Role of Authority In Power Part Two of Two
Some people perceive someone to be powerful because of his/her physical characteristics. For example, being tall can emit authority to another, even before you’ve spoken to that person. If you look back through history, presidential elections in the United States have been won by the taller candidate twenty out of twenty-three elections since 1900. Recognize that many of the things we possess serve as status symbols. On November 20, shareholders of Phelps Dodge received an early Christmas present. Freeport McMoran placed a bid to buy the company at a 27% premium. Instantly all shareholders were 27% richer, simultaneously all shorts were 27% poorer. This was a big news story, so CNBC reporters went to work. Later on that day, Dennis Gartman was interviewed on CNBC. Gartman had been betting that cooper’s run was over extended. Instead of shorting the commodity itself, he choose to short a major cooper producer (Phelps Dodge). Ouch.

Before that day, I had never heard of Dennis Gartman. Turns out that he is a well respected and well known trader. He publishes the Gartman Letter that is a must read among professional traders. He should be commended for coming on CNBC on a day in which he had taken such a pounding. So many come on that network- tout their stocks and are never heard from again. Needless to say, he lost mega-bucks on this trade. He stated that this had turned a good year into a mediocre one. I was most impressed when he said that he immediately closed his position. He didn’t try to rationalize the situation. He cut his losses and moved.

I discussed a similar situation in my article, “Navigating Thru a Trading Fiasco.” I cut bait on Enerplus Resources, a Canadian Income Trust, after the Canadian Government announced a new tax on such entities. The article generated a nice discussion - see comments to article.

I just ran across Gartman’s Not-So-Simple Rules of Trading. Each year he updates the list. I believe this is his latest and greatest. Here are my favorites:

1. Never, Ever, Ever, Under Any Circumstance, Add to a Losing Position… not ever, not never! Adding to losing positions is trading’s carcinogen; it is trading’s driving while intoxicated. It will lead to ruin. Count on it!

8. Think Like a Fundamentalist; Trade Like a Simple Technician: The fundamentals may drive a market and we need to understand them, but if the chart is not bullish, why be bullish? Be bullish when the technicals and fundamentals, as you understand them, run in tandem.

10. Keep Your Technical Systems Simple: Complicated systems breed confusion; simplicity breeds elegance. The great traders we’ve known have the simplest methods of trading. There is a correlation here!

11. In Trading/Investing, An Understanding of Mass Psychology Is Often More Important Than an Understanding of Economics: Simply put, “When they are cryin’, you should be

>Before that day, I had never heard of Dennis Gartman. Turns out that he is a well respected and well known trader. He publishes the Gartman Letter that is a must read among professional traders. He should be commended for coming on CNBC on a day in which he had taken such a pounding. So many come on that network- tout their stocks and are never heard from again. Needless to say, he lost mega-bucks on this trade. He stated that this had turned a good year into a mediocre one. I was most impressed when he said that he immediately closed his position. He didn’t try to rationalize the situation. He cut his losses and moved.

I discussed a similar situation in my article, “Navigating Thru a Trading Fiasco.” I cut bait on Enerplus Resources, a Canadian Income Trust, after the Canadian Government announced a new tax on such entities. The article generated a nice discussion - see comments to article.

I just ran across Gartman’s Not-So-Simple Rules of Trading. Each year he updates the list. I believe this is his latest and greatest. Here are my favorites:

1. Never, Ever, Ever, Under Any Circumstance, Add to a Losing Position… not ever, not never! Adding to losing positions is trading’s carcinogen; it is trading’s driving while intoxicated. It will lead to ruin. Count on it!

8. Think Like a Fundamentalist; Trade Like a Simple Technician: The fundamentals may drive a market and we need to understand them, but if the chart is not bullish, why be bullish? Be bullish when the technicals and fundamentals, as you understand them, run in tandem.

10. Keep Your Technical Systems Simple: Complicated systems breed confusion; simplicity breeds elegance. The great traders we’ve known have the simplest methods of trading. There is a correlation here!

11. In Trading/Investing, An Understanding of Mass Psychology Is Often More Important Than an Understanding of Economics: Simply put, “When they are cryin’, you should be

osed his position. He didn’t try to rationalize the situation. He cut his losses and moved.

I discussed a similar situation in my article, “Navigating Thru a Trading Fiasco.” I cut bait on Enerplus Resources, a Canadian Income Trust, after the Canadian Government announced a new tax on such entities. The article generated a nice discussion - see comments to article.

I just ran across Gartman’s Not-So-Simple Rules of Trading. Each year he updates the list. I believe this is his latest and greatest. Here are my favorites:

1. Never, Ever, Ever, Under Any Circumstance, Add to a Losing Position… not ever, not never! Adding to losing positions is trading’s carcinogen; it is trading’s driving while intoxicated. It will lead to ruin. Count on it!

8. Think Like a Fundamentalist; Trade Like a Simple Technician: The fundamentals may drive a market and we need to understand them, but if the chart is not bullish, why be bullish? Be bullish when the technicals and fundamentals, as you understand them, run in tandem.

10. Keep Your Technical Systems Simple: Complicated systems breed confusion; simplicity breeds elegance. The great traders we’ve known have the simplest methods of trading. There is a correlation here!

11. In Trading/Investing, An Understanding of Mass Psychology Is Often More Important Than an Understanding of Economics: Simply put, “When they are cryin’, you should be

e Rules of Trading. Each year he updates the list. I believe this is his latest and greatest. Here are my favorites:

1. Never, Ever, Ever, Under Any Circumstance, Add to a Losing Position… not ever, not never! Adding to losing positions is trading’s carcinogen; it is trading’s driving while intoxicated. It will lead to ruin. Count on it!

8. Think Like a Fundamentalist; Trade Like a Simple Technician: The fundamentals may drive a market and we need to understand them, but if the chart is not bullish, why be bullish? Be bullish when the technicals and fundamentals, as you understand them, run in tandem.

10. Keep Your Technical Systems Simple: Complicated systems breed confusion; simplicity breeds elegance. The great traders we’ve known have the simplest methods of trading. There is a correlation here!

11. In Trading/Investing, An Understanding of Mass Psychology Is Often More Important Than an Understanding of Economics: Simply put, “When they are cryin’, you should be

not bullish, why be bullish? Be bullish when the technicals and fundamentals, as you understand them, run in tandem.

10. Keep Your Technical Systems Simple: Complicated systems breed confusion; simplicity breeds elegance. The great traders we’ve known have the simplest methods of trading. There is a correlation here!

11. In Trading/Investing, An Understanding of Mass Psychology Is Often More Important Than an Understanding of Economics: Simply put, “When they are cryin’, you should be buyin’! And when they are yellin’, you should be sellin’!”

14. Be Patient with Winning Trades; Be Enormously Impatient with Losing Trades: The older we get, the more small losses we take each year… and our profits grow accordingly.

15. Do More of That Which Is Working and Less of That Which Is Not: This works in life as well as trading. Do the things that have been proven of merit. Add to winning trades; cut back or eliminate losing ones. If there is a “secret” to trading (and of life), this is it.

Read the rules in its entirety. Here…… What are your favorite trading rules? It may not be a bad idea to write them down and review every day.