I seem to be much better at picking and buying stocks than I do at selling them. The number one reason for this is because I often forget to sell on the gains. But if I could always call the tops and bottoms of every stock than ranking with investing legends would be a snap.

Where will the market top? Where will it bottom? Buying after a correction or after a company has a rough week is easy. Learning to sell right before one happens is the real trick.

So If I’m not claiming to be a great investor what exactly do I need to be doing to get there? One thing that I need to work on is determining my selling point and timeframe BEFORE I buy the stock.

From there it is a matter of sticking to your guns and selling when you have hit the mark. Of course if significant news come out you will need to re-evaluate where you are going.

If I would have been following my own advice here within the past month I would have been able to sell off one of my stocks at my price, right below the top. Now I have lost much of the gains that could be out growing in another investment.

Well, I have learned quite a bit from this, and hopefully that will make me a better investor in the future. I suppose only time will tell.

What lessons have you learned in bear markets?

According to The Motley Fool (fool.com) now is historically the best time to invest in the stock market. In their article “Now Is the Best Time of the Year to Invest” they bring up some historical data about the average return of the market during the year.

Average return, November to April: 6.52%.
Average return, May to October: 0.98%.

Yowza.

Surprised?
That’s one of the lesser-reported stock market stats I’ve ever seen.

Of course, you’ve probably heard the old Wall Street adage to “sell in May and go away.” So, there’s some conventional wisdom that the summer has historically poor returns. Many are also aware that October (mother of a pair of Black Mondays, and more than a few other Black Days of the Week) is a scary month.

November, on the other hand, has clearly been a very good month for market returns, perhaps juiced by the weak three months that typically precede it. For 11 of the past 12 Novembers, the market has had positive returns.

There is of course a tendency for many of the articles at the Fool to end in promoting one of their investment advisory groups, and this article is no different. It’s a good read, just skip the last paragraph.

Sometimes that is good enough, not always, but sometimes knowing more than everyone else will allow you to advance. Of course it helps to know what everyone else is thinking before you claim to be smarter than them.

I just ran into a site called Buzzdash. They constantly run polls and about all kinds of things. The stock market, business, and finance being one of them. While I wouldn’t be using this information directly to invest, it can possibly help you determine some trends of everyday people.

Personally I will be sticking with Motley Fool’s CAPS, as that holds people accountable for their predictions and any market analysis that they make. Although with the market’s recent turns, I am not so excited to log in and see how my ratings are doing!