Everyone, no matter how good or bad they are as a trader or investor right now, would like to be better.

The million dollar question of course is how - how do you become a better trader?

One thing is for sure, it will take some work.

But you can start making improvements right away.

3 Steps to Becoming a More Successful Trader

Let's go over the three key things that you can start doing today to become a more successful trader or investor.

1. Identify

The first step is to identify what kind of trader you are (or want to be).

So let's define what the four main fundamental trading styles are: Momentum, Aggressive Growth, Value, and Growth & Income:

• Momentum:
  Momentum traders look to take advantage of upward trends (or downward trends) in a stock's prices or earnings. They believe that these stocks will continue to head in the same direction because of the momentum that is already behind them.

  And there's a lot of evidence to support the idea that stocks making new highs have a tendency of making even higher highs. This style of trade will likely carry with it a higher degree of volatility.

• Aggressive Growth:
  Aggressive Growth traders are primarily focused on stocks with aggressive earnings growth or revenue growth (or at least the potential for aggressive growth).

  You'll often find smaller-cap stocks in this category. Expect volatility in this style as well.

• Value:
  Value investors and traders favor good stocks at great prices over great stocks at good prices. However, this does not mean they have to be cheap stocks in price. The key is the belief that they're undervalued. That they are, for some reason, trading under what their true value or potential really is. The value investor hopes to get in before the market 'discovers' this and moves higher.

  The value investor will typically need to have a longer time horizon because if that stock has been undervalued, i.e., 'ignored' for a while, it may take a bit of time before that stock gets noticed and makes a move.

• Growth and Income:
  Growth and Income investors and traders are looking for good companies with solid revenue that pay a good dividend. Often times these are more mature, larger-cap companies that generate solid revenue. These companies then pass that revenue along to their shareholders in the form of a dividend.

  This kind on investor will also have a longer time horizon, especially since you'll want to hang onto your stocks long enough to receive the dividend.

The identification process also includes determining what you want your stocks to do for you. And what your goals are as a trader:

• Are you looking to make fast money by getting in and getting out quickly?
• Or are you looking to find long-term core holdings?
• Or are you somewhere in between?
• Is this for your retirement?
• Your kid's education?
• Will this supplement your income or completely replace it altogether?

Because then you'll be able to find the stocks that are in alignment with who you are and your risk tolerance.

If you find yourself getting into stocks that are not in alignment with your style or beliefs, you'll find yourself dropping those stocks the moment the market hits a rough patch.

2. Analyze

The second step is to analyze.

No, you don't have to turn yourself into an analyst.

But you do have to search for stocks and analyze which ones fit into your style above.

This is actually the easiest of the three steps. Because once you've identified what kind of trader you are, it's easy to find stocks with those types of characteristics.

Think about the last car you bought. Once you decided what kind of car you wanted, you probably saw them everywhere. They didn't just magically appear on the road. They were always there. You just became aware of them.

In short, once you know what you're looking for, it becomes easier to find. You know what you want. And you also know what you don't want.

This helps cut thru the clutter and frustration of finding the right stocks.

Even the staunchest of value investors might get sucked into buying a high-flying momentum stock with over-priced valuations once in a while. Maybe it's being hyped on TV or one of your friends is in it. But if you know what kinds of stocks are acceptable for you and your style of trade, you can avoid those pitfalls and follow your plan.

The easiest way to search for and analyze stocks is with a stock screener. I personally use the Research Wizard stock-picking and backtesting software. But you can accomplish this with many other products.

The point is: if you use the right tools, you can quickly and easily find just the right stocks you're looking for.

You might also want to look at some proven, profitable trading strategies specifically designed for a particular style. Whether you decide to trade them as a trading strategy or use them as a guide to find the right stocks, you'll be one step closer to becoming a better trader.

3. Manage

The third and last step is to manage your investments.

Manage my investments? I don't have the time!

Sure you do.

Your investments are probably the largest, most important chunk of money you'll ever be responsible for in your entire life.

Keeping track of your investments doesn't have to be difficult or time consuming. In fact, it shouldn't be. The more difficult something is, the less prone we are to do it.

You just need to know 'how' to manage your investments.

You can stay on top of your portfolio in literally 5-10 minutes a day. Even 5-10 minutes a week if that all you want it to be.

And everyone has at least 5-10 minutes for virtually anything. Especially your investments.

I know in the last year, a lot of people couldn't bear to open up their account statements. 2008 was a brutal year.

But not looking at it didn't make the losses go away. In fact, it likely made it worse.

Think of it this way; if there was a particularly hot summer or drought, your lawn would likely suffer. But if you committed to watering it more than you usually do, it would likely do ok and make it thru that rough patch.

Likewise, during easy summers, you may not think you need to pay attention to your lawn or landscaping. But you do, even in good times. Weeds can quickly overtake your garden, leaving you wondering what happened.

Same thing with your investments.

Managing your investments means getting rid of losers before they ruin your portfolio. Taking profits before you give them back. Making sure the reasons you bought a stock in the first place still apply. If the stocks you're in now have characteristics that never would have gotten you into that stock in the first place, then it's time to get out and replace it with a new stock that does.

Managing your portfolio is really just about paying attention. That goes for your open positions and stocks you're considering.

Practice, Practice, Practice

No, this is not a Carnegie Hall joke: ('How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice').

But the saying holds true.

Whatever you practice consistently, you'll get better at.

Even if it's just a little every day. Or just a little bit every week.

And remember the 3 steps:

Identify, Analyze and Manage.

And soon you'll be able to say:

I AM a better trader.

To get started, you may want to look into our Zacks Method for Trading: Home Study Course. It's a DVD/workbook set that guides you to better trading step by step. In it, we go over in detail how to identify what kind of trader you are, how to analyze stocks for the proper style characteristics and how to better manage your portfolio. It also goes over some of our best performing strategies and shows you how to create your own.

If you're interested, be sure to check it out now. We're making it available to you at our cost, but only until Saturday night, November 21. Click here to learn more.

Thanks and good trading.

Kevin

Zacks VP Kevin Matras is our chart patterns and stock screening expert. He runs the Research Wizard and personally developed many of its built-in market-beating strategies. He also directs the Zacks Method for Trading: Home Study Course.

Zacks Investment Research

It's a great saying because it's true.

And that saying couldn't be truer than when it comes to investing.

Take a look at your last big loser. After analyzing what went wrong, you probably discovered some piece of information that – 'had you known that, you never would have gotten into it in the first place'.

I'm not talking about things that are unknowable, like inside information or surprise announcements that can catch even the most professional of professionals off guard.

I'm talking about things that you could have known about or SHOULD have known about before you got in.

Did You Know?...

• Did you know that roughly half of a stock's price movement can be attributed to the group that it's in?
• Did you also know that often times a mediocre stock in a top performing group will outperform a 'great' stock in a poor performing group?
• And did you know that the top 50% of Zacks Ranked Industries outperforms the bottom 50% by a factor of over 5 to 1. Five to one!!!
• And did you also know that the top 10% of industries outperformed the most?

Was your last loser in one of the top industries or in one of the bottom industries?

If it was in one of the bottom industries, you shouldn't have taken a chance on something with a reduced probability of success.

That's what is meant by 'knowledge is power'. Knowable things that you need to know.

That's not to say that stocks in crummy industries won't go up -- they do. And that's not to say that stocks in good industries won't go down -- because they do too.

But more stocks go up in the top industries and more stocks go down in the bottom industries.

And since there are over 10,000 stocks out there to pick and choose from, why settle for one with a reduced chance of making money?

Did You Know?...

• Did you know that stocks with 'just' double-digit growth rates typically outperform stocks with triple-digit growth rates?
• Did you also know that stocks with crazy high growth rates test almost as poorly as those with the lowest growth rates?

Did your last loser have a spectacular growth rate?

If so, and it still got crushed, would you have picked it if you knew that stocks with the highest growth rates have spotty track records?

It seems logical to think that companies with the highest growth rates would do the best. But it doesn't always turn out to be the case.

One explanation for this is that sky high growth rates are unsustainable. And the moment a more normal (albeit still good) growth rate emerges, the stock gets a dose of reality as well.

Instead, I have found that comparing a stock to the median growth rate for its industry is the best way to find solid outperformers with a lesser chance to disappoint.

Did You Know?...

• Did you know that the top performing stocks each year will usually see their P/E ratios more than double from where it started?
• Did you also know that, historically, most of the best performers began their runs with P/Es over the 'magic' number of a P/E ratio of 20?
• And did you know that an even greater majority of the top performers finished with P/E ratios of well over 20?

If you only confine yourself to stocks with P/Es under 20, you'll be consistently keeping yourself from getting in on some of the best performing stocks each year.

Moreover, knowing that the top performers will typically see their P/E ratios rise (more than 100%) during their move, you'd be getting out the moment those stocks get above 20.

So many people I speak to believe that a P/E ratio of less than 20 is the key to success. But statistics prove otherwise.

Don't get me wrong, lower P/E ratios in general are a good thing. But since different industries have different P/E ratios, it makes sense to do relative comparisons.

For example: two popular industries right now are Gold and Energy. But did you know that the median P/E ratio for Gold Mining stocks is 53? Whereas the median P/E ratio for Oil & Gas Drillers is closer to 10? A P/E of 20 would keep most of the best Gold Miners from even showing up on your screen. And if you found an Oil & Gas Driller at 20, that P/E would be significantly more expensive than the norm for that group.

If you find yourself wondering why you never catch a big winner, or worse, why some promising stocks blow up on you – take note of their P/Es – you might be limiting your own success.

Did You Know?...

• Did you know that adding a simple valuation metric can turn a good Price Momentum screen into a great one? That's what we did with our Big Money Zacks screen, which is up over 200% this year.
• Did you know that by adding two additional filters to the Zacks #1 Rank stocks, you can narrow that list down from 200+ stocks to a more manageable 5 stocks? That's what we did with our Filtered Zacks Rank 2 screen, which is up over 84% this year.
• Do you know what an R-Squared Growth rate is? What if you did? We have a screen that utilizes this seldom-looked-at item that is not only up more than 36% this year, but was also up 15.9% in 2008's bear market while the S&P 500 was down -37%. That screen is aptly called the R-Squared EPS Growth screen.

Do you know how well your stock-picking strategies have performed?

Whether good or bad – do you know why?

Do you know if your favorite item to look for is helping you or hurting you?

Get the answers to these questions and more. And imagine what else you’ll find.

I discovered all of these things above with the Research Wizard (including the one that has averaged gains of +82.5% per year). If you have a question, plug it in and get your answer. Find winning strategies. Or create your own. And test virtually any idea you can think of. Now you can. Click here to learn more.

Thanks and good trading,

Kevin

Zacks VP Kevin Matras is our chart patterns and stock screening expert. He also personally developed many of the built-in market-beating strategies that come with the Research Wizard.

(Ok, Dart Throwing isn't an 'official' style per se', but I'm sure there are a lot of people who would fit into that category if there was.)

But the above styles are just a few of the many different styles that people fit into. This also includes the 'All-Style Style', which is really just a combination of some or even all of the different styles put together.

Some of these are more conservative while others are more aggressive.

But which one works best?

Let's take a look at some.

Momentum Style

Momentum traders look to take advantage of upward trends (or downward trends) in a stock's price or earnings. They believe that these stocks will continue to head in the same direction because of the momentum that is already behind them.

And there's a lot of evidence to support the idea that stocks making new highs have a tendency of making even higher highs. Although this style of trade will likely carry with it a higher degree of volatility, it can be extremely rewarding.

For this momentum study we'll use one of our strategies called Big Money Zacks.

This method, of course, finds stocks on the move. And aside from focusing on the best Zacks Rank stocks, along with a few other fundamental filters, the main drivers to this particular screen (once we've narrowed down the list) are as follows:

1. First it selects the top 20 Price Performers over the last 24 weeks.
2. Next, from those 20 above, it selects the top 10 Price Performers over the last 12 weeks.
3. Then, from those remaining 10, it selects the top 3 Price Performers over the last 4 weeks.

How Did It Do?

• In 2007, this Momentum Style strategy gained 36.8% vs. the S&P 500's 4.1%.
• In 2008 (with the bear market in full swing), this strategy was up 19.7% while the S&P plummeted -36.4%.
• And so far in 2009 (thru the last full week of September), it's up over 215% to the S&P's 14.2%. (That's right, 215%. As the market was rebounding more than 50% off of the lows, this strategy capitalized on that by getting in on some of the top performers.)

Wow!

So is this the best style?

Maybe for some. But maybe not for others.

The Momentum Style is typically a short-term trading strategy. And this method was designed to be rebalanced once a week, which means you'll be buying and selling new stocks every week. That's great if you're an active trader. Not so much if you aren't.

You'll also find yourself getting in on stocks that have already made big moves or that are making new 52-week highs. And it works. But for some, high flyers and fast movers aren't the kinds of stocks they want to get into.

Maybe getting into stocks that are low in their price recognition cycles or finding undiscovered gems is more to your liking.

So let's take a look at the Value Style.

Value Style

Value investors and traders favor good stocks at great prices over great stocks at good prices. This does not mean they have to be cheap stocks in price though. The key is the belief that they're undervalued; that they are, for some reason, trading under what their true value or potential really is. The value investor hopes to get in before the market 'discovers' this and moves higher.

The value investor will typically need to have a longer time horizon because if that stock has been undervalued for a while (i.e., 'ignored'), it may take a bit of time before that stock gets noticed and makes a move.

For the Value Style study, let's use our strategy called R-Squared EPS Growth.

This one too uses the Zacks Rank, along with a unique way of finding trendline growth rates. (That's where the name R-Squared Growth came from.) But don't let the name fool you, this is a straight up value screen that keys in on different classical valuation metrics.

How Did This One Do?

• In 2007, this Value Style strategy increased by 11.2%.
• In 2008 (raging bear market), this strategy was up 14.2%.
• And in 2009 (thru the last full week of September), it's up 36.2%.

This strategy was designed to have a longer holding period of 4 weeks, which means this strategy would be rebalanced essentially once a month rather than once a week.

Moreover, the very nature of the screen (and the Value Style) tries to reduce volatility and minimize risk, while at the same time outperforming the market.

And while this more conservative style may not produce the kinds of triple-digit returns that a Momentum Style or an Aggressive Growth Style can, the smoother ride, while still outperforming the market, may be just what you're looking for.

Or maybe a Growth & Income Style approach with core holdings that pay nice income producing dividends is what you're really after.

This kind of strategy will tend to focus on the more mature companies with solid revenue and consistent payouts.

You'll also have a longer time horizon with this style (at least 12 weeks), especially since you'll want to hang onto your stocks long enough to receive the dividend.

Then again, the allure of getting in on a newer company and watching it blaze a trail of success as an Aggressive Growth Style will try and find, may be your goal instead.

Aggressive Growth traders are primarily focused on stocks with aggressive earnings growth or revenue growth (or at least the potential for aggressive growth).

You'll often find smaller-cap stocks in this category. And you should expect some volatility in this style as well.

This kind of style will require a more hands on approach to monitor how these companies are doing. But, like the Momentum Style, the additional activity can be well worth it when the method is hitting its stride.

And the Winner Is…

All of them.

No one style is better than the other. They're just different from each other.

And that's fine.

The 'best' style is the style that fits the kind of trader you are or want to be.

And this is important because then you'll be able to find the stocks that are in alignment with who you are and your risk tolerance.

If you're an active trader looking for aggressive picks, don't try and fit yourself into a Value Style or Growth & Income Style. You'll quickly grow impatient and feel like you’re missing out, regardless of how good you do.

Likewise, if you're more conservative and don't want to trade quite so often, do not try and make a Momentum Style or an Aggressive Growth Style work for you. It won't.

Why? Because if you are getting into stocks that are not in alignment with your style or beliefs, you'll find yourself dropping those stocks the moment the market hits a rough patch. Or you might talk yourself out of winning trades altogether, because you're uncomfortable being in stocks that don't fit your style.

The Strategies Work Best When You Use Them

The best trading strategy in the world won't make you any money if you don’t use it.

Part of the formula for success is to just do it.

And the more confident you are in your strategy, the more apt you will be to use it.

To build confidence in your trading, remember to first:

1. Identify what kind of trader you are or want to become. This will help you find the style(s) right for you. And don't worry about fitting perfectly into one style or another. Many people will be a combination of several styles rolled into one.
2. Once you understand the different styles and where you fit in, you can then concentrate on what kinds of items will help you pick the stocks that have those characteristics so you'll always get into the right ones.
3. Don't give up. As mentioned above, the most successful trading strategies work best when you use them. One you've indentified your style and the method to pick those stocks, make sure to follow a proven profitable trading strategy to increase your odds of success. This will give you the confidence to stick with it and to maximize your returns.

You can do it. And to help you get started, you may want to look into our Zacks Method for Trading: Home Study Course. It's a DVD/workbook set that guides you to better trading step by step. In it, we go over in detail how to identify what kind of trader you are, how to find those stocks with the right style characteristics, and how to trade them so you can consistently beat the market. It also goes over some of our best performing strategies from all of the different trading styles and shows you how to create your own.

If you're interested, be sure to check it out now. We're making it available to you at our cost, but only until Saturday night, October 3rd. Click here to learn more.

Thanks and good trading.

Kevin

Kevin Matras
Vice President, Zacks Investment Research

Zacks VP Kevin Matras is our chart patterns and stock screening expert. He runs the Research Wizard and personally developed many of its built-in market-beating strategies. He also directs the Zacks Method for Trading: Home Study Course. 

Now, I wish that I could present PDFs of both reports here (i.e. the VP and Iberian Equity report), but I can't due to the fact that such reports are usually behind the firewall. However, this first note by FT's Alphaville on the VP report and the second note, just published, on the challenge by Iberian Equities are enough to get a sense of the argument.

I have seen VP's rebuttal and I still square with their side of the fence. Especially, Iberia Equities make the following point in their report;

"Variant claims Spanish banks are not marking their loan books to market. Non-performing loans in Spain (4.6% of the system’s loans by the end of Jun’09) are marked-down according to different provisioning calendars set by the Central Bank. For non-mortgage loans, NPLs are provisioned at the end of year 2. The majority of mortgage loans (40% of loans or two thirds of mortgage loans) have been – until the BoS made changed the interpretation of the rule - also 100% provisioned by year 2. Only a small fraction of
low –risk mortgages (20% of loans) are provisioned according to a long calendar (100% provision by year 6). By international standards, Spain’s provisioning calendars are quite strict especially considering >60% of loans have a mortgage collateral".

To which VP replies;

"Non-performing loans are being passed off as current, vacuumed up and rolled ito cedulas to deposit at the ECB's repo window.  (Incidentally, that is the only way many Spanish banks are finding any semblance of liquidity right now.  Without the ECB, some Spanish banks would have the same liquidity problems that subprime mortgage originators had.  The ECB is a mega warehouse, effectively, for the Spanish banking system.  This is intimately tied in to the question of funding excess consumption in Spain, which we discussed.)"

In my opinion and apart from the glaring neglect, in the Iberian Equity report, on the macroeconomics of the situation this is the most important omission. This is to say, that had it not been possible (which it still is) for Spanish banks to park many of their assets at the ECB as collateral for funding, they would have effectively needed to mark to a non-existing market (i.e. write off the whole thing in one swoop in which case it would have been bye bye Sandy). I mean, this was what happended with Bear Stearns and Lehmann and then only afterwards did the Fed (and the "appointed" buyers) wade in to scoop up these assets which are now sitting and waiting for better times (presumably, I mean, I don't know how quick they are ground down to reflect market fundamentals).

So, as you can see, I am still with VP here but not everyone may agree in which case it is naturally something which should be debated with facts and reason.

Company Description

You probably already guessed it, but this company operates restaurants under well-known brands like Einstein Bros., Noah's New York Bagels, and Manhattan Bagel. The company primarily owns and operates locations but offers franchise opportunities as well.

A Big Surprise

On Aug 6 Einstein Noah reported second-quarter results that included earnings per share of 39 cents, 70% higher than the Zacks Consensus Estimate. While revenue did fall slightly, just $1 million to $104.4, operating margins improved by 430 bps, to 19.2%.

Continued Expansion

A few days after the latest earnings results, the company announced that it will continue its "Aggressive Nationwide Expansion." Expect to see 20 more Einstein Bros. locations in the coming months, for a total of roughly 700 stores.

Paul Carolan, Sr. VP, said "Even in this difficult economic environment, we have built tremendous momentum behind our licensing program."

Analysts Eating it Up

While year-over-year growth is expected to be down about 18%, it should be up 17% in 2010. These rates are after 6 of 8 analysts polled by Zacks have raised full-year estimates.

The Zacks Consensus for 2009 is now $1.14, up from $1.05 since the report. Forecasts for next year are averaging $1.34, up from $1.29.

The Chart

Investors loved the previously mentioned earnings announcement as shares soared on the news. Take a look below.

Zacks Investment Research

Of course you do.

Everyone, no matter how good or bad they are as a trader or investor right now, would like to be better.

The million dollar question of course is how – how do you become a better trader?

One thing is for sure, it will take some work.

But you can start making improvements right away.

3 Steps to Becoming a More Successful Trader

Let's go over the three key things that you can start doing today to become a more successful trader or investor.

1. Identify

The first step is to identify what kind of trader you are (or want to be).

So let's define what the four main fundamental trading styles are: Momentum, Aggressive Growth, Value, and Growth & Income: 

• Momentum:
  Momentum traders look to take advantage of upward trends (or downward trends) in a stock's prices or earnings. They believe that these stocks will continue to head in the same direction because of the momentum that is already behind them.

  And there's a lot of evidence to support the idea that stocks making new highs have a tendency of making even higher highs. This style of trade will likely carry with it a higher degree of volatility. 

• Aggressive Growth:
  Aggressive Growth traders are primarily focused on stocks with aggressive earnings growth or revenue growth (or at least the potential for aggressive growth).

  You'll often find smaller-cap stocks in this category. Expect volatility in this style as well. 

• Value:
  Value investors and traders favor good stocks at great prices over great stocks at good prices. However, this does not mean they have to be cheap stocks in price. The key is the belief that they're undervalued. That they are, for some reason, trading under what their true value or potential really is. The value investor hopes to get in before the market 'discovers' this and moves higher.

  The value investor will typically need to have a longer time horizon because if that stock has been undervalued, i.e., 'ignored' for a while, it may take a bit of time before that stock gets noticed and makes a move. 

• Growth and Income:
  Growth and Income investors and traders are looking for good companies with solid revenue that pay a good dividend. Often times these are more mature, larger-cap companies that generate solid revenue. These companies then pass that revenue along to their shareholders in the form of a dividend.

  This kind on investor will also have a longer time horizon, especially since you'll want to hang onto your stocks long enough to receive the dividend. 

• Are you looking to make fast money by getting in and getting out quickly?
• Or are you looking to find long-term core holdings?
• Or are you somewhere in between?
• Is this for your retirement?
• Your kid's education?
• Will this supplement your income or completely replace it altogether?  

Because then you'll be able to find the stocks that are in alignment with who you are and your risk tolerance.

If you find yourself getting into stocks that are not in alignment with your style or beliefs, you'll find yourself dropping those stocks the moment the market hits a rough patch.

2. Analyze

The second step is to analyze.

No, you don't have to turn yourself into an analyst.

But you do have to search for stocks and analyze which ones fit into your style above.

This is actually the easiest of the three steps. Because once you've identified what kind of trader you are, it's easy to find stocks with those types of characteristics.

Think about the last car you bought. Once you decided what kind of car you wanted, you probably saw them everywhere. They didn't just magically appear on the road. They were always there. You just became aware of them.

In short, once you know what you're looking for, it becomes easier to find. You know what you want. And you also know what you don't want.

This helps cut thru the clutter and frustration of finding the right stocks.

Even the staunchest of value investors might get sucked into buying a high-flying momentum stock with over-priced valuations once in a while. Maybe it's being hyped on TV or one of your friends is in it. But if you know what kinds of stocks are acceptable for you and your style of trade, you can avoid those pitfalls and follow your plan.

The easiest way to search for and analyze stocks is with a stock screener. I personally use the Research Wizard stock-picking and backtesting software. But you can accomplish this with many other products.

The point is, if you use the right tools, you can quickly and easily find just the right stocks you're looking for.

You might also want to look at some proven, profitable trading strategies specifically designed for a particular style. Whether you decide to trade them as a trading strategy or use them as a guide to find the right stocks, you'll be one step closer to becoming a better trader.

3. Manage

The third and last step is to manage your investments.

Manage my investments? I don't have the time.

Sure you do.

Your investments are probably the largest, most important chunk of money you'll ever be responsible for in your entire life.

Keeping track of your investments doesn't have to be difficult or time consuming. In fact, it shouldn't be. The more difficult something is, the less prone we are to do it.

You just need to know 'how' to manage your investments.

You can stay on top of your portfolio in literally 5-10 minutes a day. Even 5-10 minutes a week if that all you want it to be.

And everyone has at least 5-10 minutes for virtually anything. Especially your investments.

I know in the last year, a lot of people couldn't bear to open up their account statements. 2008 was a brutal year.

But not looking at it didn't make the losses go away. In fact, it likely made it worse.

Think of it this way; if there was a particularly hot summer or drought, your lawn would suffer. But if you committed to watering it more than you usually do, it would likely be ok and make it thru that rough patch.

Likewise, during easy summers, you may not think you need to pay attention to your lawn or landscaping. But you do, even in good times. Weeds can quickly overtake your garden leaving you wondering what happened.

Same thing with your investments.

Managing your investments means getting rid of losers before they ruin your portfolio. Taking profits before you give them back. Making sure the reasons you bought a stock in the first place still apply. If the stocks you're in now have characteristics that never would have gotten you into that stock in the first place, then it’s time to get out and replace it with a new stock that does.

Managing your portfolio is really just about paying attention. That goes for your open positions and stocks you're considering.

Practice, Practice, Practice

No, this is not a Carnegie Hall joke: ('How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice').

But the saying holds true.

Whatever you practice consistently, you'll get better at.

Even if it's just a little every day. Or just little every week.

And remember the 3 steps:

Identify, Analyze and Manage.

And soon you'll be able to say:

I AM a better trader.

To get started, you may want to look into our Zacks Method for Trading: Home Study Course. It's a DVD/workbook set that guides you to better trading step by step. In it, we go over in detail how to identify what kind of trader you are, how to analyze stocks for the proper style characteristics and how to better manage your portfolio. It also goes over some of our best performing strategies and shows you how to create your own.

If you're interested, be sure to check it out now. We're making it available to you at our cost, but only until Saturday night, August 15. Click here to learn more.

Thanks and good trading.

Kevin

Zacks VP Kevin Matras is our chart patterns and stock screening expert. He runs the Research Wizard and personally developed many of its built-in market-beating strategies. He also directs the Zacks Method for Trading: Home Study Course.