Knowledge is not the real Power - doing ACTION based on Proper Knowledge is

I got to check-off one critical item from my bucket list today (got this book for $10 from Amazon) - sent to android kindle so I can read on tablet, PC or on Web!

And finally, after much planning and earning, I am able to buy it!

It's the book I've so longed to read:

Following Through: A Revolutionary New Model For Finishing Whatever You Start by Dr. Steve Levinson & Pete Greider

So.. one great book done, one out of my bucket list, and a few (or actually, a lot!) more to go. I'm sure this is gonna be a pleasure to read (and would be more pleasure to digest & apply to one of God's most precious gift to me -- the one called LIFE.. of course!).

BTW, I've posted about this book before:
http://investinggeek.blogspot.com/2012/04/better-man-than-confucius.html

Here’s one great quote from the book on my initial readings:

We don’t seem to get it! We keep reacting to our (follow-through) failures by looking for the solution in the wrong place. We assume that all we need to succeed “next time” is more advice, a different approach, or the perfect program. And so we reach for another seminar, book, tape, or motivational speaker— another intoxicating dose of new ideas about what we should do to achieve our goals. And in our excitement, we overlook the obvious:
We don’t have a problem knowing what we should do. The problem is that we just don’t do it!

Greider, Pete; Levinson, Steve (2012-11-16). Following Through: A Revolutionary New Model for Finishing Whatever You Start (p. 9). UNLIMITED PUBLISHING LLC. Kindle Edition.

Following through is doing some ACTION, and SUCCESS means doing it OVER and OVER and OVER, never stopping (like pushing and pushing the momentum in a heated basketball game) until you reach your goal (in basketball, the ultimate goal is to WIN the game, or win a championship).

Getting to your goal/s is just a matter of doing the proper ACTION or ACTIONS needed (let's assume you now have a plan) - never giving up, doing everything you got (and making sure you do just that, to rise and fall every time even if at some points you do fail).

(I think this is what the Spurs just did to my poor Miami Heat in their Finals Game 3 blow-out yesterday! LOL. The Spurs didn't do anything different, as they keep on saying.. they just keep on believing on their plan, trusting each other, doing the same plays that has been successful for them and the plays that they practice when no one is looking, over and over and over again. Popovich is simply a proven strategist & coach. My Kabayan Spoelstra is just getting there though..)

The Lesson: 

Next time you do New Year's Resolutions -- work on doing and focusing more on the action/s needed, and not just let the resolutions be written and left to die on a paper. ACTION speaks volumes.

The book tells about some PRACTICAL actions to force yourself to remember and ACT on those promises or goals you've made to yourself.

Let's see if this one would work on me. In principle it should. (It's based on scientific studies, btw, so the book tells everything).

Read more about it:

http://investinggeek.blogspot.com/2012/04/better-man-than-confucius.html

On Amazon: Following Through: A Revolutionary New Model For Finishing Whatever You Start by Dr. Steve Levinson & Pete Greider

Cost Averaging? or Market Timing? (a Question on Stocks Investing)

EEI stock on PSE - back when it was still about to trend higher up

A friend of mine recently asked me this question via FB:

may tanong ako sa stock investing. i'm following bo sanchez's stock updates. i buy when low. then napansin ko nawala ang gains ko because i kept on buying at buy below prices pero dahil tumataas na ang price per share, tumataas din ang average prices ko. for ex. MBT. dati ang average price ko was 69. i noticed na may gain nako na almost 50% when MBT price per share went up to over 100. but i held on to my stocks. i kept on buying and the ave price went up to 72 na and my gains were now barely 30%, also because share prices pulled back from 100 to 92. sana pala nagbenta nako nung nag 100 ang price. but i haven't sold any MBT stocks.

so i experimented today. i observed na tumaas ang FPH up to 80/share and i noticed na may gains nako na 23%. 80 is still below the buy-below price of 102. what i did was i sold all of my FPH shares and i plan to buy again when it pulls back a bit so i can start from 0, so to speak. i plan to do range trading pero guided by bo sanchez's recommendations pa din. am i doing the right strategy? i'm thinking kasi na as long as i see positive gains, that means i'm earning di ba?

that's what i did with ICT. nag experiment ako. a few months ago, i read in COL research that ICT shares are at market values at 71-75/share. so they recommended to buy when prices pull back to 67. and it did! well i bought at 67.50 and it went up to 71 kanina lang. so good move. pero i only bought up to 250 shares lang coz i was scared to lose my money so ang kinita ko was barely 600 bucks hehehe. better than negative.

Here is my answer:

Hi (friend), nice read !

I think for MBT, what you were doing was Peso Cost averaging right? That's actually normal, as you accumulate per month or per same period of time at the same amount, the average goes up as the price that you get to buy them also goes up. If you really want long term for MBT, then you can continue to buy and be consistent on the Cost Ave Method. Although 50% is already a very good one. But if MBT continues to go up in the long term, who knows? Your gains may go up 50% again.

For FPH, I think you are doing just right. Although if you plan to range trade, yes follow Bo's recommendation. Try to understand the reason why -- the reasoning is: BUY in DIPS. If it dips down low, you buy. If it goes up and reaches a peak you set as your target, you can sell. Take NOTE though -- this kind of market timing is hard, you will need in-depth knowledge or experience and application of technical analysis. YOu have to be careful -- make sure that the mid-term or long-term outlook is UPTREND (range trading is generally used for stocks on a consolidating trend). You will see it through the charts. You will really have to apply what you learn in tech analysis to get proper timing. To be extra safe, make sure you are riding on a fundamentally-sound stock. I haven't been following FPH, but from what I've heard ever since, from COL fundamental outlook, they've been consistently grading it naman as a fundamentally good company.

For your ICT -- that's good! Any positive gain is good. I've heard somebody term themselves"chupitero". But any gain in the stock market is a good gain - kahit gano pa kababa (or kaunti). Kahit pa binteng lang! So I agree with them. A chupitero is a chupitero -- he is still.... panalo! hehe

We may be getting gains now, but gaining in stocks is not really that easy. Once you get losses, you'll know how it feels like. But -- no pain, no gain. You may loss some, but if you know how to handle it well, and know how to use that pain to really learn something -- you will gain in experience. That is, to me, what will give you the golden eggs.

---------------------------------

Happy Investing to all! ;)

Gain now or risk to get bigger rewards in the future?

Follow me on how I gained on the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) EEI stock:

Comments on #Jackpot on EEI #

Jackpot on EEI

EEI stock - Philippine Stock Exchange Market (PSE)

Notes on EEI CORPORATION stock - July 4, 2012

EEI Corporation (PSE Stock Code: EEI) has very good fundamentals (huge line-up of projects in the future and made ~80% jump on profits this year). I bought it at Price P6.2/sh last 6/28/2012, now it's at 6.65 and I have a gain of 6.76% after a week. A look at Technicals also helped.

Will set up my price stop targets.. but contemplating on concentrating it more on a long-term (maybe on cost-averaging mode na lang). Hopefully it resumes its uptrend. It's still on HOLD status by COL (CitisecOnline) since 6/18, but technicals seems to show a different thing.

RSI (entering ~70%) seems to show it's nearing overbought levels, but this could be temporary. MACD is picking up, as well as Volume (it seems). Still need more in-depth work & study on this to get to figure out the outlook better. But uptrend looks very promising.

Seems like I'm winning (timing na timing!). I got it just before it went straight up. I wished I stacked up more cash for this - but that's how stock investing is: you will never know if you did the best thing when you start a bid (because there are risks), but you will get to decide or know, or learn, days or weeks after if it was indeed a good choice. You can trust your instincts; but experience, continuous study and vigilance will really help in a long way.

Entered this on my Stock Market Journal (for Philippine Stock Market).

The Better Man than Confucius

"A superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions."
- Confucius


Pero alam nyo ba kung sino pa mas gagaling kay Confucius pag dating sa LESS WORDS and MORE in ACTION ?


....si Mr. Bean.

Kaya siya ang role model ng mga bata, at magiging philosopher siya after ~100 years, gaya ng nangyari ke Confusedsus. LOL



-----oOo-----


Seriously, we should do more in action than in words. I learned this the hard way. I also had a talk with a friend of mine, a business partner, and so I am following through with his suggestion / advise.

For now, I apologize for my readers. I currently am in isolation & planning mode. I haven't written anything in quite a while. Not even facebooking much, except for urgent matters. I did not go out the past few weeks (besides the Holy Week weekend, when I kinda got forced to go out for a little vacation at Sariaya, Quezon - although it was time well spent) because I am doing something that to me is very very important. Like I said, I'm in planning mode.

It will take me a few more weeks or days, until I finish my careful planning. I plan to do or set out at least a 5-year plan. This was a bit new to me. Sir Jomar Hilario (the VA & internet marketing guru) taught me this. It was the first time I encountered such an idea. He was not even proposing a 5-year plan, but a 500 years plan (if I remember it right)!

Plans like that doesn't mean building a life. It's about building a legacy. Maybe that was what Dr. Stephen Covey was saying about his "8th Habit" book?


Anyway, I'll follow up on the posts I've promised soon. For now, I am set out to seek myself.
Just kidding. I've already sought myself, I already have a mission statement. I already know (in my mind & in my heart) what I really wanted to do, my plans, my vision for my future. I just have to put everything in writing (although I've already made a few on the current Roles that I have in my personal / professional life).

What I have to do now is to lay-out my plans for my MISSION. It's high time to follow-through on the mission statement that I've made, I understand that I've put in some pretty big statements in there.. so I'm now set to plan (and plan well), to visualize, to put everything in writing, and then next in line is to EXECUTE this plan.



You know what the best advise is that I can give for people like me who has made a decision or set out an intention (or more like a "New Year's Resolution - except that today is not a New Year) and want to make sure that this decision, intention or resolution is REALLY REALLY going to be made true and followed-up on?

Look out for Dr. Levinson and his book "Following Through: A Revolutionary New Model For Finishing Whatever You Start."


For more info on the book, look here:
Following Through: A Revolutionary New Model For Finishing Whatever You Start by Dr. Steve Levinson & Pete Greider

Excerpts:

I am not here to sell that book. But I've listened to an audio recording / interview about this book.. and it simply blew me away. It offers a real solution, some really doable steps and strategies. And so I highly highly highly recommend it!

This book tells us, for example, why New Year's Resolutions generally don't come true. It's not anyone or everyone's fault. Like Dr. Levinson said, it's a SPECIE's problem. It's not even an ATTITUDE problem. It's a problem in our evolution as Man. We have some serious natural faults or issues as members of the Homo Sapiens (and we don't have to beat ourselves up for these faults - it's part of God's gifts & plan for us), but we do also have serious benefits - like, as Stephen Covey puts it: being being able to choose our response to stimuli unlike other species in the Animal Kingdom, being self-aware, or having the ability to work on our Circle of Influence (as per Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People). The serious benefits that Dr. Levinson and Pete Greider is talking about is what they call our "Intelligent Guidance System", and the natural faults or "faulty wiring" that we have within us are our "Primitive Guidance System".

As I have posted before on my mission statement, I want to show only the best when it comes to resource persons, gurus, books, tools, readings or education on Success and Financial education. So pay attention.. this guy (Dr. Levinson) and his book "Following Through" is one of them. I will do a follow-up post on him later on.


Anyway, thanks for now. I hope to post again anew very soon!

God bless and Good luck to everyone on their business, work or their personal endeavors!
Live a Happy & Abundant Life! ;)


Photo Credits: http://acelebrationofwomen.org/?p=47794

The 2 Stock Market Approaches that Most People Don't Know About [and how we can use one of them to evaluate a Solar Investment] - Part 2

Hi everyone!

I sincerely apologize for having gone for so long, when I promised I will expand further on my earlier post:
The 2 Stock Market Approaches that Most People don't know about [and how we can use one of them to evaluate a Solar Investment] - Part 1.

It takes time for me to write, it can be mentally and emotionally draining because I write not just to do SEO or SEM (hello, internet geeks!) or promote myself. I put my heart & soul into it, and I try to make sure I will be responsible & objective as I can.

Anyway, let me give a quick lookback.

At my earlier post, I said that the basics of Technical Analysis include:
- How to know if the current price that we see on the news is a good price to get in
- How to know if the price is trending up or down
- How to know if we are in a bull market or a bear market


I will try to answer all these questions, using the stock charts that we have for our PCOMP or Philippine Composite Index.

Also, I'd like point out - as early as now - there may be people who may start asking why I'm divulging information that could be detrimental to their strategies. Or, some people may get overly paranoid saying, "Oh no! This guy is spilling out the secrets!"

Well, sorry.. but these are not secrets. There are a lot of resources out there. A few of which are here:
http://www.swing-trade-stocks.com/stock-market-books.html
Technical Analysis of Stock Trends by Robert D. Edwards and John Magee
Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets: A Comprehensive Guide to Trading Methods and Applications

[If you know of some great links or websites or books, please share them!]


Okay, so let's get on with it.



How to know through Stocks Charts that a stock is trending up/down (or bullish/bearish), or consolidating


Know your Trade Horizon

First, they say in life, as well as with business or investments, you have to KNOW THYSELF.

So, the very first question to ask then, is not "hey, could you tell me a stock I could pick now and tell me if it's trending up or down, so I could gain quickly". Hey, get-rich-quick-schemer, get outta here. I'm not here to do magic.

The right question, I guess for me, is this:
What is your RISK appetite?

Are you a trader, or doing it short-time?
Gusto mo ba maka-syota si LC, or si MEG Ryan?

Or, are you an investor, or doing it mid-term to long-term?
Ang gerlprenin/boyprenin o asawain si BELla, sTELla, or si MERyl Streep?


It doesn't actually matter if you are classifying yourself as such (trader or investor), the important thing here is that you know what your trade horizon is. Meaning, how do you look at your investments? Do you have a short-term or longer-term outlook?

If you find this hard to answer, saying "depende po e, minsan short term ako, na kapag natatalo na sa short-term nagiging long-term na po ako."
(Well, if this is your outlook, I don't think this is a good strategy po sir / ma'm.)


What is your Risk Appetite?

Okay... Let's try another question: Hanggang saan ang kaya ninyo i-risk?
Or: ok lang po ba sa inyo na iiwan ninyo ang stock investment ninyo for a year na hindi ito nagagalaw? Or, for a few months lang ang kaya mo? Or, maybe a few weeks, or a few days lang ba? 

Or baka po 'di na kayo mapakali, after a few days, 'di ka na mapigil na tignan ang stocks portfolio mo kada oras (kahit sarado ang stock market).. "ano, kumita na ba ako?? Nagbago na ba, umakyat na ba presyo?"

Kung ayan po ang symptoms ninyo.. baka po ibig sabihin ay more on short-term kayo. Or, pwede rin na nag-start pa lang talaga kayo at natututo pa lang, at di nyo pa gaano napag-iisipan.


So, by this, we could say your investment horizon can be determined by your risk appetite. If you are comfortable leaving your money invested on a stock, having studied and carefully researched on the company you chose, say in a few months or a few years - then you may have a longer term outlook. Also, those who prefer cost averaging methods look at a longer term return for their investment.

To make it short, you have to know yourself, and understand if you are here thinking on a short-term, mid-term or long term outlook.


So, in Technical Analysis, if you have a short-term outlook, you would probably look at the stock charts in DAILY or in WEEKLY views, or in 3 months, or maybe til 6 months views. For a longer-term outlook, you probably will look at the charts from time to time, and look more at 3-months, to 6-months, 1-year to 5-year charts.

Here is a sample for 3 months, running from January until March 2012:

You could see here that the Philippine Stock Market has been trending up and getting hot since January. The purple line on the graph, we could say, is the movement of the Stock Price (although my sample is the Philippine Composite or PCOMP index, so this is not a particular stock or company, but a set of companies composed together to form a composite or an index - it's like an average of all the stocks, from small caps to large cap stocks including blue chip stocks, so it could better represent the status of the Philippine Stock Market).

For now, let's not look at the graphs saying Volume, MACD, or RSI.


Here is a sample for 6 months, running from October 'til March 2012:

We could see here, through the purple line, that the Philippine Stock Market slowed down a bit from mid-October 'til about the end of the year.


Next Important Question: How do you know if a stock is going up or down?  


To answer this question, we have to define what is a TREND, then know what trendlines mean in Technical Trading.

Well, I don't know the formal definition of a trend, but it is similar to what they say in the news about a trending topic. Meaning pinaguusapan, or umuuso. But with this, we could also mean something is hindi na pinaguusapan, or nalalaos na.

So in stocks investing, when we talk about a trend, it simply means the stock is following a pattern. It is either going up or down. In technical analysis, we could easily see this in the charts. We could say a stock is going on an uptrend or a downtrend.

Let's use the Philippine stocks composite as our sample, this time using a 5-year sample chart:

Again, let's not look at the graphs saying Volume, MACD, or RSI for now.


Samples of Uptrends or Bullish trends:

On the graph above, I've indicated 3 instances of uptrends in the Philippine Stock Market for a 5-year period, indicated by the red lines. Try comparing the original graph with the one I've just shown above so you'll see what I mean.

These red lines are what we call the trendlines. Technical Analysts draw this on a graph (like the one above) so it would be easier to study their next moves and get projections. The graph that I use here is not an ordinary graph or stock chart. Try to look for Stock Chart apps or programs out there for your preferred PC operating system or mobile gadget. For me, I prefer using my Windows PC. The app that I use is from my online stock broker, CitisecOnline.com - a java chart is provided on their website when you become a member.


Downtrends or Bearish trends:

You'll know we are on a downtrend if we see all sorts of bad news and panic in the business section of our daily newspapers, sometimes echoing whatever is happening on other stock markets - especially the US stock market.



Technically Speaking 

In technical analysis, we could further define and more aptly state what an uptrend or a downtrend is.

Using a chart, we could see that an uptrend is characterized by a series of higher highs (HH) and higher lows (HL).

On the other hand, a downtrend is characterized by a series of lower highs (LH) and lower lows (LL).


In pictures or graphs:

Try going back on the charts that I've shown and try to see why I said it was an uptrend, or a downtrend.


My post is getting long. I have to cut it for now. Next time we'll see what it means by what the newspapers or stock market experts sometimes say as "consolidating", during times when our Philippine Stock Market is on a consolidation period.

Commercial: Usapang Pulitika Muna (on Chief Justice Corona)

Eto po ay bigla bigla nai-comment ko sa 1 yahoo news regarding sa trial ni Chief Justice Corona...


"Tama. Tama lang na makibahagi at makilahok sa usapang pangmamamayan, panlipunan at pang-sambayanan. Pero dapat wag na lang masyado pa-apekto.. Hayaan nyo silang maghusgahan, habang tayo naman e magpapayaman muna ng sarili sa isip, at sa pinansya. Kayang magbago ng Pilipinas, kayang bumangon. Magsisimula ito sa atin rin lang, sa ating self-emancipation at self-education.

Gumaganda na ang pilipinas, nakikita na paunti-unti na meron na ring mga proseso. Kaya mag-self-educate na lang at mag-aral ukol sa pinansya. Hayaan muna natin sila dumaan sa sariling mga proseso na nakikita naman na natin ngayon.

The Philippine's Chief Justice Corona on Impeachment Trial

Pag na-acquit si Corona.. Meron at merong aalma. Kasama na ko dun.

Pero ano ba ibig sabihin nuon? Titigil na tayo? Na sira na totally ang Pilipinas, na wala nang integridad ang batas natin? Si Corona lang ba ang Judge natin, hindi ba magkakaroon naman ng panibagong Chief Justice after a few years? Dapat nga lang matuto rin tayo sa mga mali. Ano man ang mangyari dito sa trial na to, dapat matutunan natin at masusi pag-aralan at sikaping wag maulit muli.

Nagsisimula pa lang tayo bilang isang bansa, bata pa tayo ika nga. Marami pa tayo dapat matutunan bilang demokrasya. Dapat maintindihan natin na lahat ay me pinagdadaaanang natural stages of growth. Kahit ang isang bansa. It can be slow and painful, but nonetheless - it's real growth.

- InvestingGe3k"