By Zigfred Diaz

This is part 2 of the four part series on the discussion of principles of investment in the stock market. In the first part, the first principle involved realizing that the stock market is just another investment vehicles and that before you start investing in the stock market, you must realize that there are other vehicles of investments. We continue by discussing the next two principles. If you wish to view the entire article, please visit my blog.

2.) A roller coaster ride - It could be said that the biggest advantage in investing in the stock market is the huge profits that are made when the market goes up. However this is also conversely true because huge losses can also be made when the market goes down.

The general strategy is to sell when the market is up and to buy when the market goes down. About two years ago when I started investing, the Philippine Stock exchange index was only about 2000 + points. I've seen it go up to 2500 points and slide back to the 2000 level in the middle of 2006. It slowly and steadily climbed up to the 3200 level in the 1st quarter of 2007 and dropped in a very short period of time during the last days of the 1st quarter of 2007. It climbed steadily to a high of 3700+ points in July 2007 but slid back below 3000 points a month after. By October 2007 it climbed steadily to its highest at 3800+ points. A month after it dropped to 3600+ points.

The conclusion here is that it is really a roller coaster ride. During those up and down moments of the market, profits and losses are made

3.) Know what type of investor you want to become - There are two types of stock market investors, long term investors and short term investors. This is a very vital question that each serious new investor should ask himself. This will ultimately affect whether you should buy or sell a certain stock.

Long term investors hold their stocks for 5 to 10 years. This means that that they believe in the company that you are investing in. This also means that and that they have extra money for other things because they can afford to put in their money for a long period of time.

One of the main benefits of being long term investors is that you do not have to worry about monitoring the day to day technical analysis. There is no problem if the stock is held for a long period of time since what is considered is the strong fundamentals of the company. On the other hand, short term investor,who decide to cash in within a months time to 6 months time, will have to monitor the day to day market activities to ensure that they are making a profit.

Similair to the the long term investors, short term investors have to make sure that they can afford to put in their money for a long period of time. But such time is not as long as that of the long term investor. One of the main reasons for doing that is because during the short period wherein you plan to invest and pull out your stocks, it is possible that you might incur losses. With this in mind you might decide to wait a while.

When I started out I determined to be more of a long term investor. I do have stocks whom I consider as short term but I consider most of the stocks I hold to be invested in the medium and long term period.

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