Surviving a downturn in the stock market

Article Excerpt

You may want to have a look at my June 20, 2008 interview on the Business News Network “Market Call” program with Michael Hainsworth. (You can find it at www.bnn.ca). The show got way more calls than we could handle. Many came from investors who hoped to profit from investing ‘themes’ such as uranium, or fertilizer, or even water. Many callers started their questions with ‘If’: For example, “If oil goes to $200” You are far better off to buy stocks that don’t need a big jump in the price of their product to make them attractive. That’s especially so when the product has already had a big price jump in the past few years. I also think all investors would improve their results if they began to look at their stock portfolios in terms of the five main economic sectors — Manufacturing & industry, Resources & commodities, Consumer, Finance and Utilities. It’s common to assume that owning lots of different stocks ensures you…