The objective of the exercise is to have cash available for buying during every downturn — can’t happen unless you have the courage to take profits when prices are rising. Yes, you are expected to feel stupid in both exercises. When you feel like you “sold too soon”, the bubble buster is just around the corner. When you know you re-entered the market too early, the rally is just over the horizon.

IGVSI Rally Continues – Profit Taking Opportunities Take the Spotlight! The Market Cycle Investment Management model has outperformed the popular investment indices since it was first developed in 1970. It features an approach that embraces market volatility; selects securities using strict quality, diversification, and income standards; and operates under strict disciplines for asset allocation, buying [...]

(Reuters) – The crash of Sweden’s long-ruling Social Democrats to their worst defeat since 1914 highlights the decline of socialist parties in much of Europe, drained by social change, economic crisis and the rise of new issues. The re-election of a center-right Swedish government for the first time in modern history and the entry of [...]

BERLIN (Reuters) – A Berlin pub has set up an advice desk to help the long-term unemployed get back on their feet. Many regulars to the “Kindl Klause” in Berlin’s southern Neu-Koelln district live off Germany’s minimum jobless benefit, known as Hartz IV, so offering free advice on how to find work again seemed logical, [...]

Investors will likely breathe a sigh of relief when international regulators reach an agreement on bank capital requirements this weekend. Early reports suggest the required levels of capital will be much lower than feared, and the kinds of assets that can be used to meet the requirements more expansive than earlier proposals suggested. But there [...]

Darlene Superville and Tom Raum, Associated Press Writers, On Friday September 10, 2010, 2:04 pm EDT WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama insisted Friday that the U.S. economy is digging itself out of the deepest recession in decades but conceded that “progress has been painfully slow” and many voters in November’s elections may blame him. [...]

Errors occur most frequently when judgment is rocked out of the boat by emotion, hindsight, and misconceptions about how securities react to varying economic, political, and hysterical currents. You are the commander of your investment yacht. Use these ten risk-minimizers as investment capital life preservers:

Risk minimization requires the identification of what’s inside a portfolio. Risk control requires decision-making by the owner of the investment assets. Risk management requires a selection process from a universe of securities that meet a known set of qualitative standards.

Risk minimization requires the identification of what’s inside a portfolio. Risk control requires decision-making by the owner of the investment assets. Risk management requires a selection process from a universe of securities that meet a known set of qualitative standards.

Why do we jump through all of these “prevent-defense” hoops? Because we just don’t know how or have the patience to design and manage a classic, safer, plain vanilla, stocks and bonds portfolio. The market cycle is the favorite son of the investment gods. You either make it your friend or fail as an investor!