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There have been a lot of books written on how to be a smart investor and how to time the market. In fact, many people make a living on developing a “system” to time the market and then sell that system to other people. While there are a lot of indicators that can tell you when to invest and when to get out, one excellent way to invest is to be a “contrarian investor.”

A contrarian investor means that you are doing the opposite of what other people are doing. It takes a certain amount of finesse and “chutzpah” to be a contrarian investor but it can help you make money, and it can keep you from losing money.

Contrarian investing means that you need to buy when other people are selling and sell when other people are buying. For example, during the tech boom in 2000, the person who made money was the person who sold their tech stocks when everyone else was feverishly buying. Likewise, the person who bought Asian stocks during the Asian flu is seeing — and will see — an appreciation in that investment because they’ve bought what other people are selling.

People buy and sell every day, so how do you know what to buy and what to sell? The answer to this question is to go and look at the cover of investing and stock market magazines at your local magazine store. On the cover, you will see the popular industries that people are snapping up like crazy or dumping as quickly as possible. If you own the popular ones, get out. If you don’t own the unpopular ones, get in. The popular ones may go up some more, but it will go down because that’s what stocks do: they go up and they go down.

By selling when others are buying you are taking profits easily. By buying when others are selling you are snapping up opportunities at a discount. The concept seems crazy, but it works. Why? Because of the herd mentality. Many investors are undereducated when it comes to investing so they simply follow the crowd. Willingly, they buy and buy stocks that go up in price and are shocked when it comes crashing down because they followed the herd and didn’t realize that stocks fluctuate.

Is contrarian investing foolproof? No. And no investing philosophy is foolproof. Contrarian investing is not meant to replace quality research and carefully considered transactions. What contrarian investing is meant to do is to help you take profits when they’re available and buy cheap stocks when they’re available. It’s true that some stocks plummet for a reason but if you combine contrarian investing with some research, you’ll be able to buy stocks when they are unpopular and ride them back to the top!

Jeff Lakie is the founder of Investing Information a website providing information on Investing

[tags]finance[/tags]

Over the last few decades, smaller stocks called “penny stocks” have slowly gained a bad reputation. While there are hundreds of fly-by-night companies and shell companies that many unscrupulous business people have used to make money off of the uninitiated, there are thousands of great, small companies that qualify under the label “penny stocks”.

The current term “penny stock” usually denotes any publicly traded stock that is currently trading under $5 per share. A majority of these are traded either on the OTC Bulletin Board, Nasdaq or the Pink Sheets. Most investors are familiar with Nasdaq. The Bulletin Board and Pink Sheet markets are “Over-The-Counter” (OTC) quotation systems which brokers use to trade stocks between themselves and for their clients. The old term “Over-The-Counter” is just a traditional way of describing trading that is not done on a major exchange and is traded between individuals connected by telephone or computer networks.

There are three main reasons why companies will be listed on these OTC markets:

1. The company is new or small and unable to meet the initial listing requirements of the Nasdaq or NYSE. In many cases, companies will decide to have their stock traded here as a way to advance to the larger markets later.

2. The company has been delisted from a major exchange. Sometimes, companies cannot meet the filing requirements, run into financial trouble, or are near bankruptcy.

3. The company has decided that it is not worth the time, effort and expense to join a major exchange. One of the most familiar examples is Nestle. While it is listed overseas, Nestle has decided that it is not worth the expense to join an exchange like the NYSE.

As you can see from the last example, not being listed on a major exchange does not mean that a company traded OTC is any less worthy of your consideration. Several very large companies, including JDS Uniphase are considered “penny stocks”, but almost no one would call them small or fly-by-night.

These smaller stocks tend to be more volatile than their bigger brothers. As they are smaller companies, the growth rates tend to be higher, and the stocks themselves tend to move at a faster pace. In fact, for many years now, smaller stocks have out gained the larger companies in performance.

To take advantage of good companies in this arena, you will need information. As these stocks are not usually followed by more than a few research firms, and may not have the finances to hire an investor relations firm, information is key to finding these stocks before everyone else does.

For help with penny stocks, you may want to check out FalconStocks.com. Sites like these can help you gather the information you need to make winning stock picks.

Shane Sokol is one of the leading internet investment coaches and information gurus. He has helped thousands of investors across the entire globe with their investing decisions. His success in picking money-making penny and small-cap stocks has created a loyal following who subscribe to his website.

[tags]penny stock, small-cap, investing, micro-cap[/tags]

Travel Home Wall Charger for Verizon LG ENV3, VX9200, VX-9200 / ENV TOUCH VX11000, VX-11000

Wireless Phone Accessory: 
Premium Charger with Full Metal Contacts, IC Chip to prevent overcharging., 4ft Cord, Rapid Quick charge fully charges your phone in less than 1 hour, Perfect for the Home, Traveling or in the office

Company: Accessory Export 

List Price: $0.00
Amazon Price: $0.96

Protect and personalize your Samsung Solstice A887 AT&T with this Silicon Case. This rubber soft case has openings precisely made for the top and side buttons, charger port/Dock Connector, headset jack and speaker to allow full access without removing your phone from hard case. It molds perfectly to the phone’s shape to highlight its beauty.

Wireless Phone Accessory: 
Soft case with silicon skin touch., Made of durable, high-grade environment-friendly silicone., Designed to offer all-around external surface protection to your phone., Provides anti-slip grip with a soft, more comfortable feeling to hold, Smart design, gives you total access to all functionality and buttons.

Company: Wireless Central 

List Price: $14.95
Amazon Price: $0.01

WIRELESS SOLUTIONS Fitted Leather Case with ratcheting belt clip Samsung SCH-U640

Wireless Phone Accessory: 
Fitted Leather Case with removable ratcheting swivel belt clip., Vinyl over LCD and keypad, Made from 100% genuine leather and features a detachable ratcheting swivel belt clip that can easily fasten to your belt, purse or pocket, Wireless Solutions Premium Leather Cases defend your mobile device from bumps, drops, and scratches in style.

Company: Wireless Solutions 

List Price: $19.99
Amazon Price: $7.99

Designed for consumers, the zBoost dual band cell phone signal booster extends a zBoost Cell Zone for single or multiple users in homes or offices simulatneously.

Wireless Phone Accessory: 
Extends cellular coverage for single or multiple users in homes or offices–provides up to 2500 square feet of coverage, Dual-band device works with 800/1900 MHz frequencies from all major carriers–AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon, Alltel, Cricket, and more (not compatible with Nextel), Omni-directional signal antenna receives signals from multiple cell towers, Antenna can be installed outdoors above the roofline or indoors in the attic or near a window, Extends phone battery life–uses less power when signal is stronger

Company: Wireless Extenders 

(2006-10-17)

List Price: $399.00
Amazon Price: Too low to display

Used Price: $284.17