What alternatives do you have for beating the low interest rate you get from your bank on your savings account? Let’s start looking at what you actually get now. Do you know what the interest rate is that you are getting on your savings account in 2010? Have you checked? If not, do that now.

My bank has lowered the interest rate I am getting on my savings account in 2010. I am now getting only a miserable 2.5%. For a Stock Trend Investor, that is not enough. For nobody, that should be enough. What are the alternatives?

Bad news for buy and hold

What shall you do as a Stock Trend Investor now in January 2010 when all stock market indices have increased like they did in December 2009? It depends.

Stock Trend Investors do not only look at the last month but also at what happened during the previous months. We are looking at trends that last for months and not just at what happens during an individual month. So, what are our conclusions on how to start in 2010?

Positive trend

For all eleven stock market indices that are currently covered by the Stock Trend Investing system, the trend is positive, except for the Japanese Nikkei index. This positive trend indication from our system means that we give the scenario where the stock market indices will continue to increase over the next few months the highest probability.

Investors in the stock market who have a long time-horizon shall keep a close eye on their investments, but there are better ways than checking your portfolio every day. Let’s start looking at the disadvantages of checking your portfolio value every day before going into the available alternative.

Four disadvantages of checking your stock portfolio daily when you have a long investment horizon:

1) It takes you every day a few minutes that do not bring you any positive results. Five minutes per working day is more than an hour per month that you can spend in a more fruitful way.

Has the Nikkei 225, the Japanese stock market index that has been on a losing streak for a few months, now turned around? During this month, the Nikkei index has been gaining and during the last week it has hit its highest point in 4 months.
 
In the beginning of December, the Stock Trend Investing system warned that if the Nikkei 225 would decline another month during December, it would issue a sell warning for your holdings in funds that are expected to follow the Nikkei. We noted that those investors who firmly believed that the Nikkei would decline again during December, could as well sell already.

You do not have to live overseas to use an stock market investing system that is ideal for expats (expatriates). It is what you; many expats and I have in common which defines what the appropriate investing strategy is for you. So, what do we have in common that is of interest here?

You and most expats are not an investing expert

Except for those among us that have jobs in the financial markets, you have no time to study everything that has to do with investing in the stock market, or even in other markets. You have your own profession and it takes most of your energy to balance that job and your private life.

So, having that hectic life, you cannot expect of yourself to become an investing expert.

It hurts that your hard-earned savings get such a miserable interest