Picking stocks is one of the more entertaining things investors get to do.  You’ll always hear financial advisers and insiders offer warnings about stock picking.  While their point is valid, the truth is with sound analysis and homework anyone can make money picking stocks.   Warren Buffet’s investment strategy is investing in industries he understands. As investors we should use the same strategy, even if we don’t have the colossal bank account Warren Buffet does.

       Then obviously the first step is to figure out what it is you know. Start to look around your home, your car, your town, where you eat, where you shop, where you work…everywhere. You’ll start to notice just how many public companies have a role in your everyday life. These are the stocks you want to research. For one, you’ll be interested in them. They’re a part of your life for a reason, and in some cases you’ll be able to relate to or even add to view of the consumer. Utilize all the online tools such as Yahoo! finance to get your news. When you look up a stock quote, Yahoo! neatly gives you all of the latest news from around the web where you’re company is mentioned. This is a great place to start…but don’t fall into the trap of only reading headlines. Headlines can be misleading so if you aren’t going to read the article disregard the headline.

       As you read about the company you’ll begin to get a good feel for their operation. What’s their outlook for the future? Do they have any new products coming out? Are their cornerstone products succeeding or tanking miserably? Based on all of this stock research, you are getting closer to making a decision about the stock. Is it a buy or a sell? The biggest and most important question you’ll be able to answer  is “Can this company grow?”

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