Earlier today in my quest to find ways of beating the bear market, we looked at going contrarian. This post is related to that concept, with Paul Farrell at MarketWatch recommending a do-it-yourself approach to investing:
Remember Buddha’s advice: “Believe nothing, no matter where you read it or who has said it, not even if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.” You are the only “expert” you can trust: All brokers and money managers, newspapers, magazines, online and newsletter pundits, all television anchors, and every other special-interest guru is “selling” you …read more

Yesterday I mentioned that I will be devoting some time to an article written by Paul Farrell for MarketWatch. This article gives 10 things you can do to beat the bear market that has already begun. Today’s first advice is this: Go Contrarian.
Don’t trust Wall Street to make your investing decisions
Farrell points out that Wall Street is very biased:
The vast majority of business, economic and stock-market forecasters are not looking out for your interests. They’re biased, favoring their employers on Wall Street, Corporate America and Washington. The past few years they made huge bucks hyping the credit/subprime bubble. Witness their …read more

When it comes to investing, it is a good idea to determine what sort of analysis you will use in order to decide what to buy, hold and sell. Discipline is a key to successful investing. There are two main types of analysis: fundamental and technical. Each has their merits. Today we will look at fundamental analysis.
Fundamental analysis
This is a type of analysis in which you look at the fundamentals of a stock, index, fund, REIT, bond, currency or commodity. No matter what you are looking at, you study the underlying factors that affect whatever it is you are investing …read more