And Last, But Certainly Not Least, "Promote Investment Capital Growth"

 Many people feel that this should be the first thing an investment advisor focuses on, not the last.

But if you look at the numbers in investing you see that a loss of 10% requires an 11.11% gain to get back to even; 25% loss requires a 33.33% gain to break even; and a 50% loss requires a 100% gain to break even.

It seems to me that to Preserve Capital and to Manage Risk can be more important then a total focus on promoting growth. It requires much less gain to have a good return if you are protecting your capital base.

Markets are volatile and moved by events and you can't always count on them going your way.

My strategies for promoting growth center on screening for fundamental strengths and using point and figure charting to determine supply and demand of the securities that I purchase.

Although I do buy individual stocks, I also like to use exchange traded funds(ETFs are baskets of securities not mutual funds) for sector plays.

There is generally less volatility in an ETF than in an individual stock which can be hit hard in one day by news events. Usually an ETF, which has several, securities is less volatile.