Did I spell that right? What I mean is change happens. Like what we are seeing now in the stock market. In the Spring everything was headed down. For most of the Summer stocks were going sideways with few exceptions. The down-movers had made their lows and a few stocks were beginning to head up. The sideways pattern is over and we are now in the next bull leg up. The shift has happened.

Many people like to buy individual stocks, even IPOs, both of which I shun like the plague even though I am a former exchange member and floor trader. I have gotten lazy and learned (the hard way) it is not necessary to spend hours and hours each day in front of my computer screen, watching prices and charts. Now I let someone else do the heavy lifting; that is, pick good stocks that are going up.

How do I do it and how can you do it also? There are a few good stock pickers (believe me, very few) who not only know their stuff, but are also lucky to be in the right place at the right time. Anyone can hire these people to manage their money and not have it cost them one cent. Let me explain.

The only thing I buy is no-load mutual funds that are going up. The fund manager does the stock picking and you buy these funds through a discount broker. Therefore, no commission. There are more than 1,000 mutual funds that can be purchased for zero commission. The discount brokers call them NTF funds - no transaction fee. You want to be buying these for your IRA and SEP retirement accounts and now is the time.

You also want to review the stocks and mutual funds you now own to see if you need to shift (that word again) to a different issue. Every week you will find a list of the best performing mutual funds for the past 6 months on the front page of section 2 in Investors Business Daily. These are where you should be because these are the ones that are going up NOW. Never mind the 3-year and 5-year record of any fund; that is ancient history and it won't make you any money. At the race track I don't care if the horse I bet on won 3 or 5 days ago - is he in front of the pack NOW? If he isn't then change your bet. You can't do that at the track, but you can do it with mutual funds. Shift.

You cannot have loyalty to a fund, a fund manager, a broker or anyone. Your loyalty belongs with your money. Unless you take responsibility for watching it I can assure you no broker is going to do it for you. Once each month you should be reviewing your holdings to be sure they are maximizing your returns.

Time to let the shift happen.

Al Thomas' book, "If It Doesn't Go Up, Don't Buy It!" has helped thousands of people make money and keep their profits with his simple 2-step method. Read the first chapter at http://www.mutualfundmagic.com and discover why he's the man that Wall Street does not want you to know.

Copyright 2005