Personal Finance and Investing

Price - what you pay for an investment - is everything. It's more important
than what you buy. I'm not a very good trader, but am making some small
progress. I want to buy high quality when the prices are down. Watching
charts is essential. If I learned anything from the Great Recession, it is to
buy great companies at firesale prices - value - and hold. I want to diversify
into Europe a bit. Commodities - oil, metals - are fine, but buy when they're down,
and buy best in breed. Cash is a choice, and often a good one after a market
run up like we've had since 2009. I watch general market trends, sectors. I pay
attention to the simplest asset class trading system - Decision Moose - because
it tells me what is overvalued, and what might move, in the simplest investments - ETF's.

At all points in life, look for great companies at low prices. OH, the one's I've passed by.
When I bought my first Nike's in 1982 - 18.99 on sale at Macy's subsidiary - Nike was $8.
Citibank, Chrysler - 1991 - $10. Apple at $20, 1996? Amazon, 2000.

The lesson is, a dozen small investments in great companies can fund your entire life if you
hold for 20, 30, 40 years. You must invest if you want to grab the most important financial
aspect of our society - participation in the growth of the population, prosperity, technology,
intellectual property that drives it all forward.

In a nutshell, that is what I have to tell you. It sounds good, but I'm just implementing this
system, and it's tough going. So hope some learn from my long term learning curve.