Fishing in the Gulf of Mexico this past weekend, I learned a thing or two about accuracy…
In a 24-foot Grady White, 26 miles off the very coast where Jaws 2 was filmed, my dad and I caught all the fish our arms could handle — from 45-pound Amberjacks to an assortment of Triggerfish, Red Snapper, and Grouper.
With an expert guide, my dad and I caught all the big fish we wanted.
But it wasn’t chance that put us on the fish. It was precision.
Know Your Target
With the GPS coordinates of artificial reefs and structure, Captain Chuck Dessommes took us to hotspot after hotspot. A few numbers were all he needed to position the boat so our baits would fall just to the side of sunken oil platforms and aircraft carriers, sometimes down more than 200 feet.
And with hi-tech electronics, he was able to see both the structure and fish below, often lifting anchor to move the boat just a few feet. Modern technology and years of experience — he’s been guiding Pensacola charter boats for 26 years — have allowed Chuck to know when which fish will be where.
The same holds true for making big gains from stocks, no matter which sector of the market you’re trading. The key, just as in fishing, is targeting one small group of stocks, and knowing as much about them and all the current conditions affecting them as possible.
Stay Focused
We stayed a bit closer to shore to get our rods on Red Snapper, using five-hook bottom rigs baited with cut squid. To fight the bigger Amberjacks, we moved out to deeper water and jigged much larger hooks fitted with large glow-in-the-dark rubber squid.
In much the same way, I’ve had great success from focusing on only cleantech stocks and becoming intricately familiar with how they react to the broader market, what types of policy and press releases make them move, and how their earnings will make investors respond.
As Captain Chuck was sharing his fish secrets with me, I was telling him that the biggest money in the stock market is made by outsmarting other investors — regardless of the stock being traded.
If you focus on only a select group of stocks, you become aware of (in the case of cleantech) how their technology is progressing, when their financial reports come out, and how other investors will respond to related bits of news about the company or its market.
Just as trying to catch every fish in the Gulf would be pointless, so is trying to invest in every sector of the market at once. Focus pays off.
It paid off in mid-January when I issued a buy on a small company trying to build two nuclear plants in Idaho. I told readers to buy the day before a key planning and zoning meeting and they double their money in two days:
And it paid off again last week when I got readers into a sustainable plastic play gearing up for a major exchange switch. The switch hasn’t even happened yet, but getting in before other investors knew about the event has led to a quick 25% gain:
Asking for Help
On the boat this weekend, I didn’t hesitate to ask any question that crossed my mind… From exactly how I should be moving the bait to how I should set the hook with different rods, I wanted to get the best info from an expert on the subject.
And the captain readily obliged, demonstrating the technique, offering up history on various landmarks and wrecks, and giving informational tidbits on every species we caught.
I do the same with stocks and so should you. When I want to know about deficits, macroeconomics, and their effect on the market, I walk downstairs and talk to Steve Christ. Ian Cooper is down there to answer my options questions as well.
You get the idea.
The point is you become an expert on something by studying it for long periods of time with repetition.
Think about it. You’re probably an expert on something, whether you know it or not. It’s probably the thing your kids, friends, and neighbors ask you about most often.
And when you don’t know about something… you seek an expert on the matter.
When I wanted to catch fish in the Gulf, I called Chuck’s Charters. And you’re here to learn about how to make more money in the market.
Our specialized editors can help you do just that by employing the specificity and focus I described above. From retail and real estate to energy and options, our publications are engineered to help you make more money in whatever sector you choose.
And with our growing network of coverage, I wanted to make sure you were aware of all the resources available to you. There’s the editor page, giving background info on all the experts on our team; the video section features new market-themed chats from the bar in our Baltimore office; and the free report section offers in-depth analysis on various investment themes.
At Angelpub.com, you can sign up for free newsletters covering other market themes, in addition to learning about the many specialized stock advisory services we offer.
So no matter the task you want to accomplish — catching more fish, making more money, or any other worldly pursuit — remember to break it down into smaller parts. Decide on a goal, focus on what will help you succeed, and do be afraid to ask a more knowledgeable person for help.
Call it like you see it,
Nick
P.S. You’ve seen how focusing on one sector has allowed me to make high-percentage gains very quickly. And I’ve found the next play that will make my readers a fortune. It’s not the nuclear company mentioned above, but rather a nuclear fuel company that’s pioneered a new fuel additive that’s changing the economics of the industry. My readers are already up significantly, but with nuclear energy riding billion dollar federal announcements, the conditions are right for this one to deliver much more.
