Too Much Information

On Saturdays I have some time to peruse some other blogs and see what people are talking about. I cannot believe how much information is out there. It seems everybody is doing something different or is focusing on a different aspect of the market. Charles Kirk has a list of his favorite blogs on his website. Clicking on one of those brings up a whole new list of that person's favorite blogs. The amount of information seems infinite.

That's why I enjoy stock screening so much. It takes a LOT of information and weeds out all but the stuff that's most important. I can get a list of my picks for the week in less than 15 minutes! For me, that's the way I want to be spending my time.

I've tried other methods. I've tried to copy the techniques of others (take a look at my 2005 performance to see how that worked out for me). I've tried to buy stocks that made sense to me (ala Peter Lynch) and that worked for the last half of 2003 (but what didn't work the last half of 2003). I've tried to religiously follow the recommendations of a newsletter (The Stock Superstars Report in 2004) and did OK, but I knew I could be more independent and learn more if I managed things on my own.

So that's where I'm at now. I'm trying to avoid all the information that gets me worked up and causes me to make mistakes. I've been too cautious as everybody doom and glooms this rally. I need to avoid much of the information and focus on what works for me.