The truth is, a strategic system has to be
compatible with the way you invest if it’s going to work
for you. But if you never try a strategic approach, you’ll
never know whether or not it might have been helpful.
One thing you can do is to identify a system
you’d like to try out for a period of time — say a year.
That’s probably long enough to know if you’ll stick
with it, and also long enough for the technique to show some results.
Or, in some cases, you may be able to experiment
with a hypothetical
portfolio.
A number of brokerage firms and other financial information websites
let you select an imaginary portfolio of investments and track
the results. Since you’re not actually buying the investments,
there’s no risk. Of course, there’s no return either.
But it can be a good way to experiment, gain experience, and build
confidence.
Remember, though, that the state of the economy
and of investment markets in particular will have a major effect
on the return that’s attributable to any strategic system.
If stocks overall are losing money, you may find it harder to
produce a positive return for your stock portfolio than in a period
of increasing prices.
Gail Dudack,
Managing Director,
Dudack Research Group
Gail Dudack, 