12 Tips To Growing A Small Portfolio

I am often asked whether times are different now when it comes to investing versus when I started investing. Many investors email to ask if the strategies I developed can still be used today and finally perhaps the most asked question is how to grow a small portfolio into a large one. On the member’s forum, a member asked all of these questions. Since she asked all these questions in one post I thought this was a good chance to cover all of them.

Let’s review her question and then look at some answers. Some of her post is adjusted into sentences to be better understood by readers.

Investor Questions

“Hi, I have been reading some of your articles on how you went about growing your account which I am assuming have been some years back. Would you still implement those same strategies to accomplish that goal today? Would you tweak them in any way? Perhaps there are others out there that have had success utilizing various strategies to grow a small account. Would you care to share what strategies you used to accomplish that goal. I would like to grow my small account and am interested in hearing from others how they went about doing so.
Thanks”

My Answers

The Past Versus The Present

Today is easier and faster to grow a small portfolio. When I started in the early 1970′s trading options were very rare and for the small handful of stocks that had options, they had to be traded over the counter, which meant there was no mainstream market to trade them in. Everything was handled by phone calls and paper. All charting was done painstakingly by pencil, pen and paper. Volumes on options was poor.

There were no ETF’s that followed sectors, indexes or global markets. The handful of mutual funds available had ridiculous fees attached and many had fees to get into a fund and out of a fund. Regulation was almost non-existent. There were no discount brokers and certainly no trading platforms for individual investors. I paid huge commission fees which meant having to risk more capital in a trade than I would have liked which made it more difficult to place trades and close them early. There was no way to close a trade for 20 or 30 cents profit per share on a small quantity of under 2000 shares. Commissions from brokers wiped out any return. Instead you had to hope for at least a minimum of $500 profit on a trade which would cover the broker commission fees and leave a very small profit for my account. It was difficult, slow and time consuming to grow a small portfolio when I started in the 1970′s.

Today is completely different. If I was starting today with the strategies I have developed I could grow a small portfolio quicker and easier. In this article I look at 12 tips for investors on how to grow a small portfolio and how to protect it from losses. The rest of this strategy article on growing a small portfolio is for USA Members.

This strategy article is lengthy at 3900 words. It will require 9 pages if printed.

FullyInformed USA Members can login directly through this link to read 12 Tips To Growing A Small Portfolio or they can sign in to the full USA members site here. Non-members can join FullyInformed USA here or read about the benefits of being a member.

Disclaimer: There are risks involved in all investment strategies and investors can and do lose capital. Trade at your own risk. Stocks, options and investing are risky and can result in considerable losses. None of the strategies, stocks or information discussed and presented are financial or trading advice or recommendations. Everything presented and discussed are the author’s own trade ideas and opinions which the author may or may not enter into. The author assumes no liability for topics, ideas, errors, omissions, content and external links and trades done or not done. The author may or may not enter the trades mentioned. Some positions in mentioned stocks may already be held or are being adjusted.