It is entirely possible for individual investors to beat the market. It is not easy and may seem daunting, but by concentrating on your strengths you’ll find a way to consistently beat the market.

While Buffett said start with the A’s, I prefer to start my research with stocks hitting their yearly lows. With around 1200 Australian listed companies, it may take me a few years to get to know each and every one.

A look inside the returns of our Self Managed Super Fund, SMSF, over the last four years. With relative comparisons to a managed fund, Australian index & a newsletter.

An explorer’s survival guide to the money jungle by Marcus Padley
■ Remember the golden rule: If it’s any good, you wouldn’t be offered it. If you get offered it, you don’t want it.
■ If you don’t understand it, don’t buy it. Complexity is camouflage.

Professor Damodaran suggests an option pricing model for patents and similar intangibles with possible future cash flows. I find this detailed approach to valuation of intellectual interest, but not of great investing interest. If I have to value a company using option pricing then I know I don’t have large enough margin of safety.

Fundamental and technical analysis of the Australian Biotechnology company Biota Holding highlights how looking through several lens can improve your investing results.
The following chart is a great example of why you should consider adding moving averages to your investing toolkit. It is also a great example of why you should not rely solely on technicals.

This is not the Complete Guide to Futures, it is a pointer to the guide and a reminder for me. The book which has been called a comprehensive and essential examination of fundamental and technical analysis has been essential reading since 1984.

Fundamental investors in general argue against using stop losses. The simple argument is stop losses guarantee a loss. Those investors often prefer to double down as the margin of safety is now perceived to be even larger. Perhaps that attitude is born out of arrogance and an inability to face losses.

IN the following TMF post, David G. Downey, CEO of OneChicago shed light on why the SHLD SSF was trading below fair value. A topic brought up by a excellent TMF poster. I’m reposting it here as it is an interesting piece of information which was buried in a thread on Toyota.
It is true that in a positive interest rate and positive time environment that the SSF should trade at a positive basis to the the stock since there is no dividend. But in certain cases there is another …

* Apple CEO Jobs backtracks on health, takes leave- AP
* US foreclosure filings up 81 percent in 2008- AP
* Oil falls to near $36 on weak US crude demand- AP
* Stocks tumble as worries grow about banks- AP
They were the current headlines at http://finance.yahoo.com/ on January 15th.
Check you local finance mags for confirmation and be on Bottom Alert. Before everything went crazy back in October, while people were still clear of thought, we spoke of how headlines are one of the best market timing tools.
So check your Business Week …