Stock Selection Shorthand

I’m going to lean more toward the ‘capitalist’ spectrum in this post, which hopefully will be a welcome change to many people. This post is again going to be pretty lengthy, and I apologize for that, as I have promised shorter posts. I guess what I am discovering is that if I care enough about a subject to actually write about it, I generally have a lot to say. My guess is as I more thoroughly lay out my point of view to you, these posts will tend to get shorter.


Throughout my career, I have worn many hats as a professional in the financial services industry. During much of that time, my family and many of my non-financial friends have had little to no idea what I actually did for a living. However, over the years many have asked me how I go about picking stocks, so I figured I would pass along the five general things I look at and what levels I am trying to find before becoming interested in a stock.

My wife is a lawyer and she has urged me to include what is called ‘a hedge clause’ at the top of this post, so here goes. I am not telling you to buy or to sell a stock or group of investments in the following post. I am not saying that this is the best way to go about picking stocks. Indeed, more than likely, it will turn out that I am completely full of crap, and I have the tax loss carry-forwards to prove it. The following post is just my opinion as to what is a good way to approach the stock market. Nuff said.