It sounds like you are exactly where I was
in the mid 1990's--no worries, it does not
take too much effort to get up to speed.
Some of this you are probably already doing,
so I apologize if this sounds too simplistic.
First off, and mainly so I don't get in trouble
here, let's say you're a bit of a gambler. You
already have your grubstake together...you don't
need that money for anything else.
Now for giggles, let's first focus on only one
area in biotech. Perhaps CNS companies with a
marketcap less than 500M plus some private companies.
Put together a list of a couple dozen names, start
a folder for each.
Google around for a free sample of Neuroinvestment's
newsletter. See how you are doing so far, maybe snag
a few more names. I subscribed for awhile. Don't
expect a subscription to pay for itself with a ten
bagger right away, but you may avoid a stock with
some good advice, that's pure gold.
Visit the websites, try and dredge up some stuff
at Pubmed (google Entrez Pubmed, hit the lucky
button). Start throwing in some jargon, see what
comes up!
Oh, don't forget to get a copy of some text books.
I have The Cell. My four year old loves the pictures.
Also, I have a free subscription to Nature biotechnology.
Freebies are easy to get.
Now work backward through SI, see what you dredge up.
Avoid Yahoo entirely, I can count on one hand the
number of people who are helpful over there. It is
fun to BS a little, see if you stir up any hornets,
but not really worth your time.
Good. Now you are doing about a third of what
Rick, Peter, Tuck and the rest are doing.
And lets not forget, Rick is a molecular biologist
of some sort who used to be in the industry,
Peter graduated Harvard Law, and Tuck, well,
he climbs rocks and doesn't eat meat (having
a little fun with Tuck, he is your biotech
tool company man).
There you have it, those three right there are
my biotech mutual fund fantasy team. I am not
kidding.
I have not made money the past few years, well,
mainly because I've been out of the market.
But there are 101 ways to lose money in biotechs,
and only 100 ways to make money. The odds are
tilted against you a bit. You don't have to
make the biotechies here on SI your heroes of
course (heck, they're probably only one standard
deviation smarter than me <g>) but do read some
of their old posts, clearly they are thinking
critically, this is not dart throwing, that only
paid in 1999. To make money every other year you
have to know your stuff.
You can tilt the odds back in your favor perhaps
by doubling your DD and timing things a little better.
Try to buy low too, the stock market is not going
anywhere--you may get a fantastic buying op five years
from now for all we know.
(Finally, please do not follow my posts backward to
snag some biotech picks. I have a baby and a preschooler
in the house and have lost half my mind to rotating
shifts. I'm not playing the market seriously, and
have not for several years. I just like to follow
biotech casually.) |
