A few months ago, just before the market slipped into recession, when stock prices where high with a corresponding high-spirited followership, there where IPOs, POs, stock seminars, investing gurus sprung up from desert grounds of nothingness; we had penny stock gurus, blue chip gurus or just plain gurus, stock newspapers sold like lozenges in the raining season, all saying the same thing: BUY! And boy, did people buy! Fast forward a few months to the present; IPOs are announced in near shy-ness, POs have receded to a trickle, stock seminars have vanished, stock newspapers are cooling their feet at the stands, and the gurus, well, they are still there, only they are whispering now: “it is the best time to buy…” But no one is listening, no one is willing, no one is buying...

The article encourages users that are starting out to start small and increase the size of investments as their experience increases.

"Make a decision to be succesful right now.Most people never decide to be wealthy and that is why they retire poor. " Brian Tracy Yet, some have lost money. This suggests that making money from the market requires strategic moves. It calls for timing of your actions. One of such strategies is to take position in a stock at the end of each financial year and before the announcement of the company’s results. Some short term investors have made good money from stocks by investing on rumours of impressive results, dividend and bonus payment and if their perception is right, they strike it big by selling. Following this principle, investors can reap good returns from stocks which financial year ends in March. Allowing for the two to three months period of account auditing preceding the official release of financials and the holding of annual general meeting, the time to invest in such stocks is between now and May. The stocks include First Bank, Union Bank, Afribank, Cappa D’Alberto, Seven-up, Flour Mills and Neimeth Pharmaceutical.

ABC of the Stock Market