Eternal Sunshine

There is a current movie entitled "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind". It is about a man who has had a painful love affair and will do anything to rid his mind of those pain thoughts of a former love. He sees an advertisement that offers just such a service. It seems his former lover has the exact thoughts and she goes through the same treatment. Guess what? They meet again, do not recognize each other, and fall in love again.

Does any of this sound familiar?

May I gently remind you of what happened to your stock portfolio in 2000 to 2003? Please. Don't shoot the messenger. You fell in love with the stocks or mutual funds in your 401K and became wildly emotional about all the money your were making and how you thought about buying one of those islands in the Bahamas for early retirement. Then came the road crunching detour and you are left with a broken down portfolio by the side of the road.

Along came a shiny red tow truck and a mechanic who said he could fix everything. Slowly you began to forget the previous gut-wrenching journey and your car is now running (not as well as it used to) and seems to be getting better as this mechanic from Maul Street is working on it. Hey, I think I'm in love again.

If you cannot remember what happened in the past you will repeat those same errors in the future. Every great statesman has been a student of history. Every great investor has studied the history of the stock market to try to determine what the future will bring. Cycles continue to repeat and repeat because people forget the past. Those who are smart enough do not fall into the repetitive trap and instead take advantage of it.

One of the most predictable is the long cycle of the stock market. It usually runs about 16 to 18 years. There is the up cycle which is invariably followed by a down cycle of equal length. Within each long cycle are several short cycles of 6 month to 2 years with a resumption of the downward move until the cycle is completed.

Do you realize we just completed an 18 year up cycle in 2000? Now the market is completing a one year advance within that cycle and may be getting ready to head down again. How is your spotless mind doing? Have you forgotten your lesson from 2000? Are you willing to make that same mistake again?

If you choose to forget you are doomed to repeat your losses. This time use your whole mind to learn from a past mistake so you will not see your money disappear - again.

Al Thomas' book, "If It Doesn't Go Up, Don't BuyIt!" has helped thousands of people make moneyand keep their profits with his simple 2-stepmethod. Read the first chapter athttp://www.mutualfundmagic.com and discover why he's the man that Wall Streetdoes not want you to know.

al@mutualfundstrategy.com; 1-888-345-7870

MORE RESOURCES:

Morningstar, Inc. to Acquire Business Operations of InvestData ... - MarketWatch

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/0-0fd=Rurl=http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Morningstar-Inc-Acquire-Business-Operations/story.aspx%3Fguid%3D%257BEB1E700C-0BE5-4755-B596-2F93CF004D01%257Dcid=1272930889ei=nbsnSbGUEY3I9ATZ5YkQusg=AFQjCNGCPmD3Js1NrZKdUVPUZrckjV6lygMorningstar, Inc. to Acquire Business Operations of InvestData b.../b/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fMarketWatchnbsp;-/font nobr19 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1Morningstar provides data on more than 290000 investment offerings, including bstocks, mutual funds/b, and similar vehicles. The company has operations in 18 b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/0-1fd=Rurl=http://www.investmentnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article%3FAID%3D/20081121/REG/811219975cid=1272930889ei=nbsnSbGUEY3I9ATZ5YkQusg=AFQjCNErfNO5G7wt16UtWHtRIZWg7FjdxwMorningstar hooks up with South African firm/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrInvestmentNews/nobr/font/fontbrfont class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1272930889hl=ennobrall 16 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table

Morningstar to Create Pension, Endowment, and Foundation Database - MarketWatch

Morningstar to Create Pension, Endowment, and Foundation Database - International Business Times

4 Steps to Protect Your Portfolio From the Financial Crisis - Motley Fool

Morningstar Enhances Investment Web Site Morningstar.com; Expands ... - MarketWatch

Flaherty to aid seniors - Globe and Mail

Global socialists toast victory over America - Small Gov Times

Morningstar Investment Services Introduces Three New Managed ... - MarketWatch

POLL SHOWS WISCONSIN RESIDENTS ARE HEAVILY INVESTED IN THE STOCK ... - The Daily Kenoshan

Stock Market Game Week in Review - TheStreet.com

Stocks-Mutual-Funds - Google News

RELATED ARTICLES

Evaluation II
As I said in Part I everyone in the insane asylum looks normal, but at least the doctors are sane. Unfortunately, in the insane asylum known as the stock market all the doctors (brokers) are also insane.

Mutual Fund Ball and Chain
The broker told me not to sell because the mutual fund I owned had a 2% redemption fee and they would penalize me if I did.I got to thinking about it and did some simple math to see what that would cost me if I sold.

How To Pick A Mutual Fund
Mutual funds by definition are a mixed bag of stocks, bonds and a little cash. Their price per share is the NAV, Net Asset Value of the total amount of money in the mutual fund divided by the number of shares.

The Club
Yesterday I received my monthly issue of MONEY magazine. This issue has the special feature called "The Ultimate Investment Club" that highlights their picks for the top mutual fund managers.

Dispelling Illusions of the Stock Market
How can you dispel an illusion unless you look directly at it? The magician distracts the eye with one hand while he does his manipulation with the other. You are looking in the wrong place and not seeing what is actually happening.

Trading Tips No 8: Picking the Best Stock Market Price
Carefully thinking through your goal as a trader is of prime importance, when picking the best stock market price. It is very difficult if not impossible to meet a goal that is ill defined.

Cash
How many people went to a cash position this week? There is no question that this market has scared the bajebers out of many investors, me included. Fortunately, I started going to cash some time ago, but I did give back a substantial amount of my profit.

Take The Time
You must take the time once a month to review your investment portfolio. It won't take long - less than one hour, maybe 15 minutes.

The Top 10 Reasons to Invest in Mutual Funds
Everyone who follows the financial news has heard of mutual funds and knows the stock market has generally risen (with various ups-and-downs) for over 200 years. In fact, by most measures, the stock market has made more money for more people, and done it more reliably, than any other investment over the past 100 years! If you want to accumulate substantial wealth, you must include stocks in your investments!But, most people who "invest" don't study the market.

How We Eluded The Bear Of 2000
The date October 13, 2000 will forever be embedded in my mind. It was the day after our mutual fund trend tracking indicator had broken its long-term trend line and I sold 100% of my clients' invested positions (and my own) and moved the proceeds to the safety of money market accounts.

Psychology - How to Reduce Negative Thoughts Relating to Trading?
The thinking process of the brain relating to the psychology of trading involves:-- Beliefs -- Feelings -- Values -- Dispositions and -- FaithThe positive or negative energy brings power to a person's actions, which ultimately determines whether a person is a winner or a loser. You can change for the better or for the worst.

Economists #2
Economists know more about how the fragments of society work than anyone. In school they are taught to break down the economy into its tiniest parts and to quantify each minutiae so it can become part of a formula.

It Cant Be Done
Wouldn't it be nice if you were only in the stock market when it was going up and have everything transferred to cash while it is going down? It is called 'market timing' and your broker or financial planner will tell you "it can't be done". What that person just told you is he doesn't know how to do it.

How to Evaluate Load vs. No Load Mutual Funds
If you have been dealing with mutual funds for any length of time, you undoubtedly have faced the question of which is better: Load Funds or No Load Funds. If you are new to investing, "load" simply refers to the commission paid to the broker selling the fund.

The Value of Stocks of a Company
The debate rages all over Eastern and Central Europe, in countries in transition as well as in Western Europe. It raged in Britain during the 80s: Is privatization really the robbery in disguise of state assets by a select few, cronies of the political regime? Margaret Thatcher was accuse of it - and so was the Agency of Transformation in the Republic of Macedonia.

High Price/Earnings Ratios and the Stock Market: a Personal Odyssey
After some forty years of banking and investments, I retired in 2001. But since I do not golf, I soon found retirement to be very boring.

Forecasting the Stock Market
Every day I see in the financialsection of newspapers how to forecast what themarket will do in 6 months, 12 months, severalyears. "Ten stocks that will double in the next 6months.

Protect Your 401K
Checked your 401K lately? Going back to about a year ago many of these retirement accounts have shrunk by 30%, some even more. What Happened?You have been putting money in for years and your employer may have been contributing to your plan also.

Trading vs Investing
I often hear from people, "I don't trade. I invest.

Investment Lawyers and Trash Stocks
The trash business in its efforts to cook their books trying to keep pace may find itself in some trouble. The efficiency per Garbage Truck unit numbers was growing exponentially at a time when consolidation has slowed as there is a decreasing number of worthy deals to make for a good value, Ah ha Warren Buffet's favorite remarks are here too.