Now where have I heard that before? I know. It was my broker.

So I took his advice and bought some of the stocks he recommended. I am still waiting for the ’sell high’ part of the equation. Everything he touted went up for a while and now it is lower than when I bought it. It is so low I can’t bring myself to sell it. My capital has shrunk about 60% from where I started. That’s a lot of money to me because it took a long time to save it. What happened?

The brokerage company that your broker works for puts out recommendations almost very week for various companies listed on the major stock exchanges. They have simple things like Buy or Strong Buy. Then they have a complex group of words used when they downgrade a stock. It never goes from Buy to Sell. No, it becomes Accumulate, Underperform, Attractive, Market Perform, Neutral or some other meaningless term. If any stock is ever downgraded even one notch sell it immediately. Finally after a stock has lost 50% or more of its value it becomes a ‘Hold". And you know where you are holding it.

Last year the brokerage companies gave over 33,000 stock recommendations to their customers. Of those only 125 were Sell. On the NASDAQ exchange alone there were over 1,000 stocks that lost more than 90% of their value. The "experts", known as analysts, were all telling you to buy. Your kid could have thrown a dart at the Wall Street Journal in 1999 and done as good a job as almost any analyst. What I want to know (and I think you do too) is if they were smart enough to tell you to buy then why weren’t they able to tell you to sell?

I’ll tell you why. Brokerage companies never give sell signals because they don’t want to offend a company that might come out with a public offering on which they will make a killing. It is better to kill a few customers than miss out on several million dollars. You pay commission and ask for honest advice, but you are being fed disinformation.

Is there any way you can protect yourself from this nonsense? Yes! It is called a stop-loss order. Brokers don’t like them because then they have to watch your account. He will tell you you don’t need it as he will watch your account. And pigs can fly. The average broker has 300 accounts and unless you have a large 6-figure account you will be on the bottom of the pile.

Anyone can place a protective open stop-loss order for stocks. Most are about 8% to 15% below the highest closing price. I recommend that each Saturday morning you look in the paper for the Friday closing price of your stock and place your open stop each Monday morning with the broker. As your stock moves up keep raising the stop and you will sell near the high. Never lower it. This will lock in your profit or take you out of a losing position. I can assure you your broker will never call you to sell. Brokers are not taught to protect your capital.

This is the only way to buy low, sell high, protect your capital and lock in your profits.

Al Thomas’ book, "If It Doesn’t Go Up, Don’t Buy It!" has helped thousands of people make money and keep their profits with his simple 2-step method. Read the first chapter at http://www.mutualfundmagic.com and discover why he’s the man that Wall Street does not want you to know.

Copyright 2005

al@mutualfundstrategy.com; 1-888-345-7870

Has your broker been calling you recently with the "great opportunity" to get in on a new Initial Public Offering? With friends like that you don’t need any enemies.

I don’t care how good this new stock offering sounds. The chances it will stay even or go up are about 1 in 3 and I don’t want to play those odds with my money.

Most of the new IPOs these days are from the technology sector. That is where the romance and big money has been, but the NASDAQ topped out on March 10 this year. It is a good idea to take a look at what has happened to these new offerings since that time.

The S&P500 Index has dropped only 3% since March 10 while the NASDAQ Composite has fallen 43%. Here are a couple of numbers you will want to remember for the rest of your life if you have any interest in the stock market. Sixty percent of the move in any stock is due to the category or sector it is in. Twenty percent of a stock price is due to the overall market movement and 20% is caused by the quality of the company itself. You can immediately recognize that even if you have bought the best stock it has only a 1 in 5 chance of going up if the other 2 factors are not working for you. Since March 10 the New Issues Index is down 67%.

With all the major market indexes in the sewer there is little hope for ever finding one of those new issues that comes out at $10 and runs up to $200. Those days are gone forever - at least in the technology field. The NASDAQ has a better chance of going to 1500 before it ever goes back to 5000.

For the next year, maybe longer, we are going to see the number of new issues dry up and almost disappear. And there are many other good reasons other than the overall market. In a new issue you have no idea how the company will perform. Will management make its projected goals? Is there any possibility of a profit? You have no track record for their price performance. Will the stock price trend up or down? The more of these unknowns you throw into the mix the less chance there is that the stock will go up.

Last year we had a raging bull charging through fences and tearing everything up and we all loved it. All we had to do was follow the bull. The bear has taken his place and is ruining the landscape. And you know what bears do in the woods. Be careful where you step - or put your money.

Al Thomas’ book, "If It Doesn’t Go Up, Don’t Buy It!" has helped thousands of people make money and keep their profits with his simple 2-step method. Read the first chapter at http://www.mutualfundmagic.com and discover why he’s the man that Wall Street does not want you to know.

Copyright 2005

al@mutualfundstrategy.com; 1-888-345-7870

Being wrong is OK, but let’s not carry it to extremes. That applies to everything, but let’s limit our discussion here to the stock market.

I have been trading for several decades and was an exchange memebr and floor trader for 17 years. You learn fast there or you go broke in a hurry. As you can see I managed to hold my own for a few years until I found the secret and started to become a successful trader. Every professional trader I know knows the one great secret and that is to keep your losses small.

We all learned that when we took a position - either long or short - that we better be able to jump out if the trade was not going our way. Many of my friends were scalpers. That means they were trading for just a few ticks and every night went home flat. Flat is no positions at all.

Others, myself included, took a longer look and planned to hold a position for a period of time. That could be several days or weeks. If you were right the longer you held on the more money you would make.

The general public seems think that exchange members know everything and always made money. Tain’t so. Many traders were wrong more than 50% of the time. Huh? Yes, fifty percent. My account had losses 40% of the time and 20% were scratch trades (neither winners nor losers).

You ask, "If you are out of the money 60% of your trades how can you make money?" This is what every professional knows: Keep your losses small and let your profits run. How many times have you heard that one? BUT how many times have you ignored that rule?

At the end of the year when you analyze your trades you find that you made $3.00 for each $1.00 you lost you will show a nice big profit.

I don’t care what business you are in you don’t put your whole wad on a single outcome and stick with it until it either works or go broke. That is what brokers and mutual fund managers want you to do. They want you to buy, but never sell.

It is a tragedy for the small investor today that mutual fund families are putting in selling restrictions to discourage investors from dumping funds that are headed down. Many require long holding periods and if you sell prior to that time they charge an extra fee of 2%. They give lame excuses that I know are not true for doing this. Never buy any fund or trade with any brokerage company that has that kind of rule.

It is cheaper to pay the 2% or whatever fee there is and get out than hang around and lose 20% to 40% of your equity. Look back at 2000 to 2003. This can happen again despite what your broker tells you.

Be wrong and run home with most of your money. You still have enough to invest in a better opportunity. If you are disciplined to get out of any bad situation early you will end up a rich person.

Al Thomas’ book, "If It Doesn’t Go Up, Don’t Buy It!" has helped thousands of people make money and keep their profits with his simple 2-step method. Read the first chapter at http://www.mutualfundmagic.com and discover why he’s the man that Wall Street does not want you to know.

Copyright 2005

When most analysts, financial planners, fund specialists and investors try to decide whether to buy a particular stock they immediately go to the financial statements to determine the growth potential of the company. Numbers and more numbers. Then management analysis and industry speculation. Unless you are an experienced financial analyst (and there are not very many good ones) the numbers in the reported statements can be very misleading - just as the company Controller wants them to be.

Let’s not consider fraud as there has been plenty of that both here and abroad. They are all honest (I hope). Most corporate executives want to remain within the law so they report statements that are true to the FASB - Financial Accounting Standards Board.

As the old saying goes, "Numbers don’t lie, but liars can figure". If you are good with accounting techniques you can make a bankrupt company look good - on paper. On CNBC-TV many folks watch the CEOs telling a great story about their company. You sure don’t expect them to tell you the whole truth and nothing but the truth, do you? That is why I always hit the mute button. And many times when you look to see what the insiders are doing in this wonderful (?) company this executive and his buddies are selling out.

Then there is Morningstar that gives us those twinkling heavenly bodies. Nothing like a 5-star mutual fund - that has lost money for the past 4 years. So much of their information is old and if they know it you can be sure that has already been factored into the current price. How about those peer groups? Suppose this particular peer group is ranked 99th out of 100 or even 15th or lower. One question: why do you still own it?

Why are you putting your money in the stock market at all? The idea was to make more money. Right? Yet the majority of little investors will hold a stock or mutual fund while it goes down and down. Wouldn’t it make more sense to sell out once it loses a certain percentage from its highest price after you buy it? If you bought it at $20 and it is now $40 is it now time to sell? I don’t know so why not let the price action tell you. If you only wanted to risk 10% when you bought your stop-loss would have been $27. It now should still be 10%, so you will be out at $36 if it starts down. Suppose you tracked that stop all the way up to $80? This is why I have always preached that stops make you money.

The best (?) analysts know very little more than you. They just have a bigger vocabulary about the market. You and your dart board can do as well. All any truly smart investor needs is common sense and the ability NOT to fall in love with any position. Know when to hold ‘em and know when to fold ‘em.

Al Thomas’ book, "If It Doesn’t Go Up, Don’t Buy It!" has helped thousands of people make money and keep their profits with his simple 2-step method. Read the first chapter at http://www.mutualfundmagic.com and discover why he’s the man that Wall Street does not want you to know.

Copyright 2005

The single most expensive stock market trades are those made with emotions, but, of course, you are not an emotional trader are you?

Before you bought that stock, mutual fund or Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) you did your research to be sure that what you were buying would return a good profit over the long haul. You bought it and over time you look at it less and less.

Ask yourself: when you plunked down your hard earned money did you have any idea where you would sell it or where you might exit the trade should the stock go down instead of up? And suppose it has gone up have you made any plans to protect those profits?

There were many geniuses in 1999 who bought a tech stock at $20 and saw it run to $200 only to come back down to $2. Those who had an exit strategy probably sold out as it turned over and dropped like a rock. They kept most of their profits as well as their original investment.

What kept those BuyNholders in? It was emotion. They fell in love with the stock because they “knew” it was worth more and would “come back up”.

Investing is not an “I hope, I hope” business, but it is a business. Never become emotionally attached to anything you buy. If you were in the buggy whip business in 1900 and saw the automobile putting the horse out to pasture you easily knew it was time to sell out. That also applies to any investment you make in the stock market.

Once each month you should be checking to see if your various stocks are advancing as planned. Forget all those pretty research reports your broker sent you. Burn them. Now you must not care anything about that company. What you care about now is your money. As long as the stock price is advancing you may continue your love affair, but when it starts down it is time for a divorce. Time to leave before the damage gets worse.

This is where emotion becomes expensive. If you just bought it your ties are strong and you know if you sell you will have a loss. Never fall for that old broker’s adage that you don’t have a loss until you sell. Anyone who believes that will be eating cat food at retirement.

When you bought that new car you knew as soon as you drove it off the lot it would be worth 20% less than you paid for it. Twenty percent is a lot and more than most folks should be willing to risk when investing. Forget “the long haul” as you don’t want to take the 40% losses that many investors did in 2000.

Usually a good rule of thumb is 10%. When you drive that stock off the exchange floor your risk should be limited. You decide how much you are willing to lose if it goes down instead of up and as it goes up carry that risk percentage along to lock in your profit.

If you do sell never look back. Fagedaboudit! In 80% of those sales when you do look back six months later you will see you are way ahead in the money game.

Do not allow an emotional attachment to keep you in any stock or fund. It will drain you both mentally and financially.

Al Thomas’ book, "If It Doesn’t Go Up, Don’t Buy It!" has helped thousands of people make money and keep their profits with his simple 2-step method. Read the first chapter at http://www.mutualfundmagic.com and discover why he’s the man that Wall Street does not want you to know.

Copyright 2005

al@mutualfundstrategy.com; 1-888-345-7870

One of the most believed bits of conventional wisdom from Wall Street is to Buy and Hold. Any stock or mutual fund should be put away for eternity and never sold. This is total hogwash and is guaranteed to reduce your investment income.

Brokerage companies never will advise you to sell. Last year over 1,000 stocks on the Nasdaq lost more than 90% of their value. During that same period of time brokerage companies issued 33,000 (yes, that’s right, thousand) recommendations for their clients. Of that 33,000 only 125 were "Sell". What happened to those "expert" analysts who were telling you to buy on the way up? Couldn’t any of them figure out to tell you to get out when a stock was headed down at breakneck speed?

When you want to know something I have a favorite method. It is, "Follow the Money". Where does a brokerage company make its greatest return? Not on commissions as you might think. It is selling a new issue of stock or a secondary issue for a company now in business or debentures of some kind. We are talking about big bucks here. Minimum six figures and most times seven figure commissions for the brokerage company. Just one of these more than makes up for the customers piddling commissions.

If the brokerage company analyst tells the truth that he doesn’t think a company is a good buy anymore and to sell you can be sure the executives at that company have a long memory should they decide to sell more stock. Issuing a sell signal would be the death knell for the brokerage company ever selling any new issues for that company. And the analyst would probably get fired.

Instead of telling you to Sell they downgrade the company from Buy to Neutral or Accumulate or Underperform the Market or Hold. The latter is the worst rating you will see. Any downgrade is your signal to Sell immediately.

There is a successful way to Buy and Hold, but it will take about 15 minutes of your time each week. You could do it monthly, but you will have better results if you do it weekly. One of my basic criteria for owning any stock or mutual fund is that it must be going up. Not down or sideways. Let’s say you have from one or several stocks in your portfolio. On Saturday morning you look at the closing price of the stocks you own. You figure out what 10% of the closing price would be. You might want it to be more or less. For example, if the stock is $40 per share that comes to $4. On Monday morning you call your broker and place an Open Stop Loss order for $36. Never lower the price. If the stock sells down to that level you want to be sold out.

The Hold side of the Buy and Hold formula has been met. You held it while it was going up. You don’t want to hold it while it is going down, do you? This is the right way to Buy and Hold, not the way Wall Street tells you. You bought. You held. You got out with a profit (or a very small loss). Congratulations. You have outsmarted Wall Street.

Al Thomas’ book, "If It Doesn’t Go Up, Don’t Buy It!" has helped thousands of people make money and keep their profits with his simple 2-step method. Read the first chapter at http://www.mutualfundmagic.com and discover why he’s the man that Wall Street does not want you to know.

Copyright 2005

The stock market has been going up for more than 7 months and many investors who held on through the big crash of 2000 are seeing their portfolios get back some of what had disappeared. Is now the time to sell those equities that are ‘even’ with what you paid for them? No.

The reason I say “no” is because that is a guess and to be a successful investor you don’t want to be guessing. That is a sure way to go broke. Then what is a better way? When you talk with a broker he never advises you to sell. In that case you could be sucked into another huge downward move. There must be a way.

Yes, there is. You let the market tell you. No, you don’t have to be clairvoyant. When you buy any stock or mutual fund the first question for your broker should be, “When do I sell?” If he says you should hold on ”for the long haul” I definitely recommend you fire him and find someone who knows how to protect your capital. If you buy a stock or fund for $40 per share you must know immediately how much you are willing to risk (lose) if that equity starts down instead of up. The same applies to giving back any of the profits you have earned.

When you are playing poker you don’t put more money in the pot when you have a mixed suit 2, 5 and 10. The best thing to do is fold.

Over the last few months almost everyone has seen his stock and funds go up and he thinks he is a genius for hanging on. Don’t confuse genius with a bull market. So what do I mean let the market tell you? It actually is very simple. You place an Open Stop Loss Order with your broker on all your stocks. You determine the risk and place the loss limit at that point. Some people use 10% and others may limit their loss to 7% and yet others to 15%. That is your risk quotient.

You will find that if your stock or fund is sold as a result of the stop loss that in 4 to 6 months that equity will be lower than where you got out even if it went higher for a short period of time. When a stop is executed don’t look back. Find another equity or keep your money in cash in a money market account. Cash is a position. Sometimes it will make you more money than owning any stock especially when the market is headed down.

People become confused by Wall Street into thinking that buying right is the way to make money. Wrong! The secret of success in the market is a well disciplined exit strategy. Know when to hold ‘em and know when to fold ‘em.

Al Thomas’ book, "If It Doesn’t Go Up, Don’t Buy It!" has helped thousands of people make money and keep their profits with his simple 2-step method. Read the first chapter at http://www.mutualfundmagic.com and discover why he’s the man that Wall Street does not want you to know.

Copyright 2005

People are always asking me when should I sell my stock or mutual funds?

There are some relatively easy answers to this. In fact, so simple that you won’t believe them, but they are things I have learned over the past 30 years as a professional trader on the floor of the commodity exchange in Chicago. These ideas apply equally well to stocks and mutual funds and to just about any kind of investment.

First let’s examine what the Wall Street mavens tell you about mutual funds. Ever heard this one? Buy a good fund and stick with it even when it is going down. WRONG! Go with a good fund manager and follow him from fund to fund. WRONG! Don’t buy the current "hot" fund, as it will go down when this fad is over and you will lose your money. WRONG!

Let’s look at the one basic reason all these ideas are promoted. The mutual fund industry which is the biggest owner of individual stocks in the world doesn’t want you to take your money out of their particular fund so they all band together to promote the above ideas even when you are losing money. Fund managers are not paid for performance. They are paid by the amount of your money the fund keeps.

Do you want to stick with anything that is going down in value week after week? The great cry of stockbrokers is, "The market always comes back". But when? In your lifetime?

I don’t know of any individual fund manager that has made money for the investors every single year. They all run hot and cold, even the best of them. You can put the best jockey on a slow horse and he is not going to win the race.

The Wall Street gurus talk about "hot money" flowing from one fund to another and want you to feel guilty just because you want to make more profit. Hey, what is your money in there for - cold pizza?

There is one basic rule that will keep you outperforming the pack. If your mutual fund is not currently (meaning in the past 12 months) outperforming the S&P500 Index you should sell it immediately and buy a different no-load fund. Don’t buy any fund that charges commission. You can buy directly from the fund itself (phone numbers listed in IBD very day) or through a discount broker such as Waterhouse, Datek, E-Trade and many others. The maximum commission charge should not be more than $25 no matter the size of the buy or sell with no restrictions on how long you must hold it.

Where do you find the best performing funds? Each day Investor’s Business Daily publishes a list of these funds. Look for the day they publish the top performers for the past 12 months.

Don’t pay any attention to the longer-term statistics. Each week you should look to see if your fund is still listed in the top 25. If it isn’t, sell it and buy the one at the top. Simple. Forget the 3-year, 5-year and 10-year records. My philosophy is ‘What have you done for me lately?’.

As far as selling stock this is what I do. I keep at 10% trailing stop which I change every Monday morning with my discount broker. The open stop is 10% of the previous Friday’s close. This may or may not be the top of the move but I don’t care. I’m either stopped out with a small loss or a profit, but my money is always protected. When I have doubled my money I will sell half my position and let the rest ride with the following stop. Protection of your capital is the most important thing you can do.

Al Thomas’ book, "If It Doesn’t Go Up, Don’t Buy It!" has helped thousands of people make money and keep their profits with his simple 2-step method. Read the first chapter at http://www.mutualfundmagic.com and discover why he’s the man that Wall Street does not want you to know.

1-888-345-7870; al@mutualfundstrategy.com

Now that you have some money burning a hole in your pocket and the stock market is going up you have decided to buy some stock or maybe a mutual fund, but you have the momentous decisions to what to buy.

At this point you have three decisions to make besides which equity to buy:

1. How much to buy.
2. When to buy.
3. When to sell.

Which of these is the most important decision? Let me tell you this as a professional trader. What to buy and when to buy are the two least important of these decisions. Maybe only 10%. I know that comes as a shock to you because everyone is trying to find that one perfect stock that will make him a millionaire almost immediately. It’s not going to happen.

Trading is an occupation. Just like the business or profession you are in now it takes time to learn. There are certain basic rules that apply to every occupation. Most brokers and financial planners don’t know them, but as a former floor trader I had to learn them or I could not have survived.

What to buy is the least important because there are always several good buying opportunities every day. When to buy is not anywhere as important and when to sell. Every professional trader I know will first determine the risk, his potential loss, before buying. At the same time he makes his buy he puts in a sell order called a stop-loss order to automatically exit the position should it go against him. He is not thinking about how much he will make on a trade. He is thinking about protecting his capital should he be wrong. Professional traders are right less than 50% of the time, but they never take big losses.

The loser’s philosophy is always thinking about how much he will make and he refuses to face up to the very possible fact that he could lose money, a lot of money if he does not have a loss limit of some kind on his position. The loser is willing to be wiped out rather than admit he is wrong. Brokers tell you you have not lost money until you sell. Believe that and I will sell you my flying pig.

The other very important concern for your investments is how much of this stock should I buy. A good rule of thumb is between 10% and not more than 20% of your portfolio. Most mutual fund managers limit a risk position to about 5%, but they have other considerations. Never put all your money in one trade because it looks so good. That is super dumb.

Before you decide what to buy be sure you have in mind the amount you are willing to risk and the size of the position you wish to take (number of shares or dollars). When you have learned this you will be a successful stock market investor.

Al Thomas’ book, "If It Doesn’t Go Up, Don’t Buy It!" has helped thousands of people make money and keep their profits with his simple 2-step method. Read the first chapter at http://www.mutualfundmagic.com and discover why he’s the man that Wall Street does not want you to know.

1-888-345-7870; al@mutualfundstrategy.com

One of the greatest challenges of investing in stocks is developing a “sell discipline”. Some of the most adept investors struggle with the decision of when to sell.

First, recognize that there are no absolute formulas to tell us to sell at precisely the right time. Instead, we’ll need to consider a bundle of factors such as the investment’s characteristics, the broad economy, and your own needs, with an eye to market trends. The answer will come from some combination of these hard-to-quantify characteristics.

If you’ll need cash soon, for whatever reason, you should be more ready to sell, especially if a stock becomes less of a sure thing. Similarly, if the economy is weak, we might be more motivated to take profits (or even losses) in stocks which are sensitive to economic swings, while a strong economy might allow us to hold tight.

Most important, however, is the intrinsic value of the stock itself. A simple rule plays out here: buy when a stock is under-valued (when the stock sells for less than its intrinsic value), and sell when it is over-valued (priced above intrinsic value). The trick is measuring intrinsic value, which can be done many different ways. We’ll talk about measuring intrinsic value more at another time, but regardless of how we measure it, we had to have an idea of what the company was actually worth when we bought it. So, if we reach that target, we can start thinking about taking profits. It isn’t always necessary to sell out immediately, though. For a pure value stock, we should sell somewhere in that range, but if the company is expected to grow, we can wait longer and take advantage of that growth. Perhaps, as a rule of thumb, wait until the stock reaches a price double what we think it’s worth. Of course, this is a personal decision, too, and depends on how patient you are, and how much you have invested. At this point, the “easy money” has already been made.

Market Trends. It is our firm position that market trends alone should never lead to buying or selling a stock. However, if we’ve already decided to sell, trend indicators, used carefully, can enhance profits. For example, if a stock is in a solid uptrend that shows no signs of slowing, it may be profitable to wait for the stock to approach a short-term top before selling. Beware that you don’t hold too long. Better to sell early than late. Eventually the market will catch on to reality, so if your evaluation of the stock is right, the risk of holding on too long can be far greater than the small benefit from holding out for that extra dollar.

A few other errors to avoid:

Don’t avoid selling because you’re emotionally attached to a stock. Circumstances change over time. There’s no reason to beat yourself up over it. Just dump the loser and move on.

Don’t sell when panicked. Panic is an emotional response, and usually wells up when things aren’t going your way but you can’t tell why. Know why you want to act. Until you can make a judgment about why to sell, it’s probably best to hold on and wait out the fear.

Don’t sell when worried. In many ways, worry is similar to panic, if a bit milder. It is still an emotion, and one that should be controlled. Stocks are often said to “climb a wall of worry”, which means that they will ease upward through difficult times. When news is worrisome, but not devastating, the only remaining catalysts are good things, as all the bad news has probably already been factored in by selling among the worrywarts.

Don’t sell when bored. Just because a stock isn’t moving doesn’t mean it was a bad selection. It may just indicate that you’re smarter (and therefore earlier) than the market hordes. If you’re still convinced it was a good choice, hold firm and wait for everyone to catch on to your wisdom. Especially with value stocks, it can often take a year or longer before the mainstream recognizes a good stock, and that’s when the price will start moving. Patience is a virtue.

In the end, every selling decision is a personal one, and must balance out all the factors we’ve mentioned. The most important rule, of course, is to sell when it benefits YOU.

To send comments or to learn more about Scott Pearson’s Investment Management Services, visit http://www.valueview.net

Scott Pearson is an investment advisor, writer, editor, instructor, and business leader. As editor and publisher of Investor’s Value View, a national investment newsletter, he provides general money tips and investment advice to readers, and demonstrates a special knack for locating the up-and-coming stocks in the burgeoning high-tech industries. As President and Chief Investment Officer of Value View Financial Corp., he offers investment management services to a wide variety of clients.