When you start investing in the stock market, there are many bits of advice you will hear. One of them has always been that investing in stocks long term is one of the most profitable investment strategies. When you learn how to buy stocks for beginners, you are told to buy good solid companies and hold them for years. Don’t trade stocks and try to time the market, just buy and hold them. The stock market for dummies is hard enough without trying to time it perfectly.

Does the buy and hold stock strategy still work in 2008? It seems it might not. The world has changed an awful lot in the last 50 years and that includes businesses. Years ago, you  could pick a solid company, say automobile companies, and you could count on it growing year after year. Everything moved slower in those days and that included competition and the advancement of new technologies. You could pick a whole list of industry leaders, invest in them, and be sure that they would be worth more in 10 years than they were today.

In today’s world, a good company with a leading technology may be ahead in the marketplace now, but left in the dust just a couple of years down the road. Things happen so fast now that it is hard to pick a company to buy stock in that you feel confident that will still be a leader 10 years from now.

In the old days, large companies rarely had scandals or went bankrupt. Today, scandal and bankruptcy seem to be common place and stock prices can fluctuate wildly. Today’s investors buy stock in seemingly great companies, like Citigroup or Washington Mutual, only to find themselves down 75% several months later.

The Internet has also contributed to the rapid pace of the current day’s stock market. Day trading is something that was never done before the Internet. Everyone now has instant stock quotes and the ability to make trades effortlessly with the touch of a button. The stock market for beginners is more difficult to grasp now than it was in years past as information is instant and it is everywhere no matter where you live.

The world moves at such a fast pace now that it seems you can no longer buy a stock, sock it away, and come back 5 or 10 years later and be guaranteed of a gain. When you buy a stock now, you need to constantly monitor it to make sure nothing drastic changes. You need to be able to make decisions constantly of whether to continue to hold it or sell it.

Want to make money on the stock market? In that case you must plan wisely and execute the plan carefully. No doubt about it – stock trading is an option for the wise investor to make fast money. Financial institutions use stock trading to maximize profits, but as an individual you really need to take care. The stock market and the stock trading system is made for large financial players, but with constant care you too can make money on the stock market.

The following advice will help you to make a profit while not being too risky. Obviously you could contact an investment firm, who can help you analysing stock, but the following advice will  set you off to a good start.

• Analyze one stock at the time thoroughly. In what industry does the company belong? Is this industry in growth or in crisis as a general? How does the company make its money? Require and read the company’s press releases, financial news and reports. Check the competitors in the market and the general trend in the industry.
• Keep a journal. Whether you decide to sell, buy or hold a particular stock make a note about the reasons for doing so. Analyze your notes and learn from them. Which decisions were good, which were bad and which were absolutely brilliant?
• Analyze and analyze again the stocks you have chosen the same way. Compare and contrast the stocks and you will gain important and valuable knowledge about the stock market.
• Build and use a brain trust. A group a like-minded friends with whom you can share ideas and thoughts. Explain why you reached certain conclusions and how you expect the stock to perform. Very often the brain trust will keep its rationale when you are not.
• Forget about emotions and loyalty (when it comes to trading). You need to be platonic and rational in your decisions, while the stocks are volatile. Review your buy, sell, hold decisions whenever new information hits the market. Are your reasons still valid?
• Reevaluate you portfolio on a weekly basis. Are you exposed to the risk you have decided to accept? Observe market trends – how do they correspond with your portfolio?
• Do not rely on media quoted rates – do not expect to be able to buy or sell at the same price.
• Remember that high valuations entail high risks.

Tools that will help you in the stock market

Information is the most valuable asset when trading stocks and for that the desktop stock ticker is excellent. The desktop stock ticker will provide you with the latest trading prices and in many cases also the latest data on the company. For real time stock quotes you need to have a paid subscription to a broker, the free desktop stock ticker does not have real time quotes, only near real time quotes, which mean a delay of 15 to 20 minutes.

The desktop stock ticker is available for both Windows XP and Windows Vista.

The Free Desktop Stock Ticker Online will give you lots of advice when explore the world of trading stocks. Whether you are a beginner or an experience stock trader you will find lots on information on tools for online stock trading.