what is your trading story?, page-48

My story

Started trading in 1982 ( i am 49). Back then used to drive my broker crazy ringing every hour for updates. No internet back then. Financed all my shares using bankcards and did very well except for MIM options. Just kept building and building on 20%plus bankcard rates. Got married in May 1987 and sold the lot 2 weeks before the big crash in October 1987 to buy my first house ( pure arse) Got straight back in after the crash to buy Ariadne @ $1 and a few others which i thought couldn't go any lower . Wrong that time. Now do a lot of research , look at ROE - most important number , earnings per share growth - second most important number, Dividend Payouts, Debt level, quarterly cash flow statements for the specs. Keep some price charts in the loo ( wife thinks i am crazy). Doing all right at the moment even with the GFC although got JBH and CDA terribly wrong ( for now)
nearly 30 years trading/investing my comments are

1./ Always have a core of good quality dividend yielding stocks as a base
2./they don't have to be in the top 150 - there are some very strong companies in the $250 to $1bn mark - just watch the liquidity
3./never buy a stock with the founder's name in the company name - pure ego
4./Don't avoid the specs - Australia has been a great breeding ground ( my best buy ever equinox) - just watch the cash flow statements
5./Make use of the financial information now available
6./buy stocks in businesses that you would persoanlly consider buying as a business
7./I don't subscribe to TA but sometimes you just shouldn't try to go against the trend and finally
8./Don't be afraid to average UP - much better stategy than averaging down

Cheers