Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a bucket of …money. Money? They are continuing to fill their bucket with stocks without any consideration to the value of these equities. They are not worried at all as they are buying “safe” mutual funds.

Everyone knows mutual funds are safe. Jack and Jill know they don’t know how to pick good stocks so they leave that to the fund manager. He is an expert.

When you look at the long term record of 99% of the mutual funds you will see that expertise has been sadly lacking. I hate to remind you of the 2000 to 2003 period, but I must. In fact I must tell you it is going to happen again. Now you want to know when….and so do I.

And that is the problem with almost every fund manager. As long as the market is going up they can’t do much damage to your account, but when it rolls over and heads down they have no idea how to invest when a bear market is in progress. Not a single one of them will acknowledge that cash is a position.

Cash is a position? They are in shock. Of course they are. If brokerage customers put their money in a money market account while the market is falling it means they do not make any commission at all and if they recommend this to their customers the brokerage manager will fire them because he won’t make any money either. “Keep your customers fully invested or I’ll show you the door” is the manager’s comment.

You must learn when to sell. Any fool can buy, but it is the wise man who knows when to sell. To see the condition of the overall market one of the best indicators is the SP500 Index. Your broker compares everything he does with the SP500 because it is a broad base of 500 stocks that are widely traded.

The finest indicator is the SP500 Index. Draw a 40-week chart of the closing prices. If you don’t know how ask your broker. He will tell you. Write it down and save it. It is very simple. Have him set up a 40-week Simple Moving Average to appear on that chart. Look at 5 years worth of prices. Immediately you will see that if you are in the market while the 40-week MA is going up you are making money and if you are out of all your positions while the index average is going down you will not lose money. It doesn’t get any easier that that.

Jack and Jill can fill their pail as the market is going up and need not spill their accumulation while they walk confidently down the hill holding their bucket full of cash not equities.

Al Thomas' book, "If It Doesn't Go Up, Don't Buy It!" has helped thousands of people make money and keep their profits with his simple 2-step method. Read the first chapter at http://www.mutualfundmagic.com and discover why he's the man that Wall Street does not want you to know.

Copyright 2005

• Parachute Investing


• Why Technical Indicators


• Mutual Fund Commissions


• The Importance of Using Stop Loss Orders When Spread Trading the Financial Markets


• A Stock Market Investment Plan that Never Lets You Down


• Is Active Trading The Answer?


• Small-Cap Stocks: The Beginning of the Journey


• Mid-Cap Stocks: Asset Class with an Identity Crisis


• The Exclusive Club of Large Caps


• Living Trust Investing: Income Considerations when the Grantor Dies