FAQs Frequently Asked Questions
General Questions
Why make this service available to others? Arent you concerned that it might make your strategies less useful to you? What are your goals in delivering this service?
Our goals in delivering this service can be summarized as follows.
First, as we wrote in our book, even if a large number of people were to buy or sell on the basis of the model's signals, there should be no effect given the massive number of highly liquid ETFs in existence, and this model is but a tiny grain of sand in a sea of ideas. That said, I do continue to fine-tune the model, though the inherent logic behind the model has never changed. Inherent logic should not have to change otherwise the logic behind the model was not inherent, and thus the model would be defective or at least limited from the start.
Thus, we make the signals available as well as make stock recommendations and teach others because we learn much by teaching others. I used to have an open door policy at William O'Neil+Co after market hours for anyone, regardless of skill level, to come talk to me about the markets. Interestingly, I found that those who knew the least and made the most mistakes helped my own trading the most, because it underscored what I already knew to be true, and thus had a way of keeping me on track. Operating VSI is no different. We get a number of good questions every day, and thus, as I've mentioned, are building an investor education section in the FAQ portion of the website.
We also found that by sharing ideas and research results with others, ideas beget ideas. So some people come to us sharing their ideas, and a vigorous exchange of ideas can result from this, which in turn, results in new ideas and new research studies. Since the market does change in subtle ways over time, it is important to stay on top of these changes as they occur. For example, in the late 90s, some dot.com stocks such as AMZN had no earnings though were leading the market. The C and A in CANSLIM are all about earnings. So we had to adjust for this, and quickly, since stocks such as AMZN were soaring with no earnings. Sharing ideas with others and doing our regular routine in the markets each day made us quickly aware of such changes in the market.
Finally, we believe that our purpose here is to help others reach their maximum potential. Sharing the wealth creates more wealth of ideas. Wealth is not static. It is not a zero sum game. Thus a significant portion of our book is about psychological and personal optimization, regardless of whether one is interested in the stock market or some other pursuit.
First, as we wrote in our book, even if a large number of people were to buy or sell on the basis of the model's signals, there should be no effect given the massive number of highly liquid ETFs in existence, and this model is but a tiny grain of sand in a sea of ideas. That said, I do continue to fine-tune the model, though the inherent logic behind the model has never changed. Inherent logic should not have to change otherwise the logic behind the model was not inherent, and thus the model would be defective or at least limited from the start.
Thus, we make the signals available as well as make stock recommendations and teach others because we learn much by teaching others. I used to have an open door policy at William O'Neil+Co after market hours for anyone, regardless of skill level, to come talk to me about the markets. Interestingly, I found that those who knew the least and made the most mistakes helped my own trading the most, because it underscored what I already knew to be true, and thus had a way of keeping me on track. Operating VSI is no different. We get a number of good questions every day, and thus, as I've mentioned, are building an investor education section in the FAQ portion of the website.
We also found that by sharing ideas and research results with others, ideas beget ideas. So some people come to us sharing their ideas, and a vigorous exchange of ideas can result from this, which in turn, results in new ideas and new research studies. Since the market does change in subtle ways over time, it is important to stay on top of these changes as they occur. For example, in the late 90s, some dot.com stocks such as AMZN had no earnings though were leading the market. The C and A in CANSLIM are all about earnings. So we had to adjust for this, and quickly, since stocks such as AMZN were soaring with no earnings. Sharing ideas with others and doing our regular routine in the markets each day made us quickly aware of such changes in the market.
Finally, we believe that our purpose here is to help others reach their maximum potential. Sharing the wealth creates more wealth of ideas. Wealth is not static. It is not a zero sum game. Thus a significant portion of our book is about psychological and personal optimization, regardless of whether one is interested in the stock market or some other pursuit.
| First published: | 17 Sep 2010 |
| Last updated: | 17 Sep 2010 |