It's seems so obvious doesn't it? If you don't put a lot of time in to your stock picks, you're not going to make any money, right? Of course that's the truth but how often the amateur investor doesn't put enough work in to this.
One of the places I volunteer my time is Yahoo! Answers.
Thousands of questions are posted each day and I do my best to answer a handful.
Many, probably most, deal with stock picks.
Questions like, what's the best stock, how can I triple my money in 6 months with a stock, and, is (insert stock here) a good buy, are the most common kinds of questions being asked.
While these people are certainly well meaning, they don't ask the right questions.
We must first learn how to make the right stock picks.
Just because a stock is right for me, doesn't mean that it's right for you.
How do you make the right picks? Research.
Remember that in order to get it right just some of the time, the professional stock pickers spend every business day researching stocks and that's not taking in to account their sometimes very large research teams.
It takes time and patience.
Jim Cramer, best selling author and anchor on CNBC, takes you through an easy to follow research method in his book, Real Money.
Additionally, If you aren't comfortable with making your own stock picks, consider subscribing to a service like Action Alerts Plus where an expert Jim Cramer is doing your research for you and all you have to do is buy and sell when he tells you to execute the trade.
My secret is that I don't have enough time to do all of my research so I let Action Alert Plus do it for me.
This kind of service is a way to learn how to invest.
His investment advice also comes with an explanation of why he is making the trade so you learn.
Over time, you would be able to say goodbye to Mr.
Cramer armed with the knowledge you need.
Making good stock picks is the first step to a great portfolio.
It takes a lot of time and a disciplined approach but in the end, it will pay off.