How to avoid becoming poorer...

Many years ago, when the stock markets crashed in 1987, I learned a few wise lessons but luckily I don't own all the stocks mentioned below:-

Never buy a company where the director names a yacht after his wife.... "Pixie" (Skase from Quintex)
Never buy a company where the director hangs a van Gogh painting in his boardroom. (Bond)
Brokers do not look after you; only their commissions.
One good article does not translate into one fantastic stock.



In later years, I learned that:-

Any stock which grows very fast, financed by debt, will also die very fast when debt becomes expensive or harder to service (Centro, ABC Learning)
Rapid rise in stock value leading to directors earning an even more rapid rise in remunerations, means greedy board (eg Babcock & Brown)
Watch the borrowing... (News Limited almost went under)
Stocks which use tax-free havens to reduce their fair tax can also reduce payouts to shareholders
One big shareholder can mean only one person is very well looked after
Superlative reports generated by the board... but the losses are accumulating year after year means you have been conned
Good ideas do not always translate into profit, even when given a lot of time and capital (Metalstorm, CFU and a lot of biotech stocks)
Avoid stocks where a director buys a football club which is losing money (Tinkler)
Avoid stocks where the government sticks its nose in all the time (petrol companies, bread companies, cigarette companies)
Avoid stocks that sell goods much more expensive than online retailing; they will die a slow death.
Never buy any stocks where they use good looking chicks to sell their shares (Myers using Jennifer Hawkins, DJ.... these good looking chicks become wealthier at your expense)
Nothing is safer than the big 4 banks for the risk you take (Estate Mortgage)
Anything which rises rapidly with no obvious reason will also crash rapidly with no obvious reason
If lots of people are talking about a stock, that is not a reason to buy.
Never dump shares just because others are dumping it... when there is no reason to dump them; lemmings have very small brains.
Fund managers are managers having fun with your investments and very few have long history of success above market long term averages.
Avoid brokers with flamboyant lifestyle (you are funding it... )
Big city brokers only look after big clients.
Governments do not sell stocks for altruistic reasons.