Your retirement nest egg might have lost 40% of its value since this summer and 10% the last 2 weeks. What should you do? Here's the advice I've been giving to friends who ask, as well as what I've been doing with my own portfolio.

First, let me begin by stating that I make no claim whatever to be able to predict whether stock prices will go up or down over the near term or when the market bottom might be reached. In part that humility is inspired by a large academic literature demonstrating that it's very hard to predict stock prices with formal statistical models.

The one element of predictability for which I do see some support in the academic literature is the claim that the price/dividend or price/earnings ratios do not wander too far from their long-run historical averages. The implication of that finding is that

Simtrol, Inc. (SMRL.OB) was pleased to announce today that Dave Barry has joined the management team as Vice President of Worldwide Sales. Simtrol is a leader in developing enterprise-class software solutions to manage an array of electronic devices for more cost-effective utilization and more pro-active maintenance.

“Dave brings to Simtrol a wealth of sales and business development expertise in the network management software space,” stated Oliver Cooper, CEO of Simtrol. “His proven ability to forge strategic alliances with partners and customers alike will enable us to rapidly accelerate our growth into new markets.”

Barry earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing and Law from Drexel University before diving into a career in sales which spans over 20 years. Before accepting his new role at Simtrol, Barry held the role of Vice President of Business Development and International Sales with AlterPoint. In less than 4

Hello Friends!  Thanks so much for stopping by and visiting my blog, Stock Picks Bob’s Advice!  As always, please remember that I am an amateur investor, so please remember to consult with your professional investment advisors prior to making any investment decisions based on information on this website.

One of the hardest things about being a blogger, and now a Seeking Alpha contributor, is the necessity of doing everything so publicly! I just got around to posting about my ‘brilliant’ decision to switch my Graham (GHM) holdings into Johnson Controls (JCI) and now my entire plan is hitting headwinds.  Perhaps a bit of turbulence from Gustav?

It is my strategy to sell a holding should it hit an 8% loss.  I don’t really care whether that holding has been held for a year or 15 minutes.  After an …

Hello Friends!  Thanks so much for stopping by and visiting my blog, Stock Picks Bob’s Advice!  As always, please remember that I am an amateur investor, so please remember to consult with your professional investment advisers prior to making any investment decisions based on information on this website.

Earlier this afternoon I decided that I could no longer ‘take the heat’ from Graham (GHM), which fundamentally is a terrific company, but which is trading in a very volatile fashion along with the price of oil.

As this story explains:
“NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Oil futures on Tuesday tumbled to levels not seen since early April on a strengthening dollar and concerns that an economic slowdown has crippled demand for energy.

U.S. crude futures for October delivery dropped $5.75 a barrel to settle $109.71. It was the lowest oil has settled …

On October 11, 2006, I posted CVS Corp (CVS) on Stock Picks Bob’s Advice when the stock was trading at $31.16/share. The following month, on November 2, 2006, CVS announced the pending acquisition of Caremark Rx Inc. in a $22.5 billion deal with the resulting company named CVS/Caremark (CVS). This acquisition was completed by March 23, 2007.

CVS Caremark (CVS) closed at $40.93 on April 25, 2008, giving this stock pick a gain of $9.77 or 31.4% since posting. I do not own any shares or options of this stock.

On January 31, 2008, CVS Caremark reported 4th quarter 2007 results. Revenue for the quarter increased 81% to $21.9 billion for the quarter ended December 29, 2007. This large increase was attributed to the Caremark purchase which closed in March, …