Trust Yourself

It seems to me that with the ease of trading online instantaneously,
America has become a stock market based on emotions. I have invested
in the markets for years now, and the most beneficial way I have found
to feel confident in any kind of investment deal, is to do your
homework. If you are interested in a company and are thinking about
putting some of your savings into their business, take a step back,
analyze the full company, come up with a price range that you find the
company worth, and then compare it to market value. If the price you
come up with (through many hours of hard work) is higher than market,
then your company is undervalued and it is a good investment. If the
price point you reach is lower, then wait it out for a while.

I did this for apple about a year ago. The price range I came up with
was between 100 and 120 dollars per share. I didn't buy in because
aapl was trading at prices much higher than this. At this point in
time, Apple is trading lower than the company is valued. At this
point, due to my analysis, aapl is worth between 120 and 140 per
share. I am choosing to buy at this time.

One may ask, "If Apple is worth so much, then why are people trading
it at below 100 dollars per share?" The answer to this is emotion.
People are trading on emotion right now. Yes the economy is in a
downslide, yes we are going through tough times, however, in the end
(may be 2, 5, even 10 years from now) when this mess has cleared, the
companies that are not sucked under will again rise and maintain their
true value.

So my bit of advice to you, ironic in the sense that you are reading
this now, is to avoid all of these forums and emotional biases from
mainstream investors, and take matters into your own hands. Do your
own homework. Don't listen to emotion.

Good Luck to All,
-Andrew

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