Websites

The time has come for me to explain why I placed some additional websites off to the side.
In no particular order...

The BMW Method:
No, this is NOT the car. Back when I read the Motley Fool and subscribed to its message boards (oh -- back in the good ol' days before they became a newsletter driven rag... *grin*) the BMW Method board was my favorite hangout.
(The New Paradigms board was good too -- that was where I first heard mention of Dendreon)
Here's another link that explains the methodology (http://bmwmethod.com/about.php) but in a nutshell, BMW observed how the CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of large, stable, well-managed companies tends to stay at a historical average over long periods of time. The price in the short term fluctuates wildly -- both to the high side and to the low. Using his graphs, it is visually VERY clear to see when a stock is at a compelling buy price, and likewise, when it may be time to sell.
Note - this is NOT charting or technical analysis -- but simply taking the idea of buying low and selling high into a framework of how a company is performing right now.
As an example, the Tylenol scare from Johnson & Johnson would have seen the stock price far below the long term CAGR curve... and after a little due diligence to see that the company's response was a logical and good move, and that the rest of the company's product sales were unaffected, a buy would have been in order. One wonders how some of the present day banking stocks appear on the graphs right now... but I personally would hold off for a couple more months on these financial-type stocks as I think we have some more pain and possibly consolidation to endure first.

Investor Village:
Yes, this is a stock message board. It comes with the obligatory warning that you encounter all sort of rude and idiotic posters, along with obviously paid shills to either pump or pan the stocks. But for all that, you can meet some truly amazing thinkers, scientists, and satirists.
Rule of thumb: when you read the posts on a stock board, do not post yourself for a while; absorb the interactions of the prolific posters and their styles. You don't have to copy them -- but at least understand who are the well known people. If you disagree with someone popular just to have fun, you will probably start a flame war and have people put you on ignore. Yes, it's high school all over again, and things frequently degenerate into stupid arguments.
On the plus side, you will learn some amazing things. Two of the boards I frequent are the Elan and Dendreon boards. I, who if the truth be known, abhored the life sciences in school, have learned much about Multiple Sclerosis, Alzheimer's Disease, and prostate cancer -- and can speak fairly fluently about those ills and the method of action (MOA) of various drugs to treat them. I know how FDA clinical trials are designed, and what kinds of statistical bars are set for them. And, I truly *enjoy* talking about those kinds of things now.
Of course you still have to do your own due diligence, but you can also learn things about the companies you follow that are not really a part of any news item you might read until the stock price has already reacted. For example, the Elan board dissected everything known about the Phase II Alzheimer's trial results (that were released in mid June) and in the majority, hit nearly every major aspect of the summary results squarely on the head -- which in turn meant that those who understood it would most likely be good news were already buying more shares before the release.
(It's no secret that the board consensus is that the full results to be released at the end of July are going to be stellar and bring the stock to even new heights)
As further examples, from the Elan board I have learned that the company has nearly $3 BILLION in losses over the last few years that they can use to write down future profits, meaning enormous tax savings.
And that Ireland treats royalty income ... (*ahem*) ... royally when it comes to taxes -- and they constructed their Tysabri contract with Biogen so that non-US sales are all treated as royalties.
And that they have the ability to simply say, "Now" to Eli Lilly and from that point on, they get to share 50% in costs and revenues for a different, gamma secretase-based Alzheimer's treatment that looks to be very promising also.
On the IV message boards, there are a number of nice features. You can sort by the "most recommended" posts so that you see the truly GOOD posts first and do not have to wade through fluff. You can ignore idiotic posters so that you don't even see their posts. It's easy to add boards and navigate around the site.
I am going to skip a number of people who deserve a mention, but if you look at the Elan board, look for posts from Liposghost, Jivetalkin, Doodah, Pinvestment, and OKZ. On the Dendreon board, Ocyan is the king of the science, and MingtheMerciless is worth reading for his sense of humor.

Marketocracy:
This one is easy and short -- you can create your own virtual mutual fund. To be ranked, you have to follow some simple rules that professional money managers have to follow too -- and here's the kicker: the 100 best portfolio managers actually get paid by the site, which has its own mutual funds based off those portfolios. Fun!

Frugal Upstate:
I've plugged this before, but this blog is written by one of my best friends, who happens to have a wonderful site about living frugally. The point isn't to *not* spend money, but to choose what you are spending your money on, and to enable the lifestyle where you can afford the things you truly want.

The Sanity Check and Deep Capture:
I actually think Deep Capture should be required reading before investing money in individual stocks. I don't want to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but it is totally obvious to me that hedge funds are an enormous threat to small companies, and especially biotechs. The ability to "sell short" shares of a company -- regardless of whether it is "naked shorting" or legal -- caps the stock price of companies that you and I invest in. The SEC and some of the media are unwilling to look at some of the facts and do their job.
Here are a couple examples:
The company Taser has about 60 million registered shares. At a recent annual meeting -- 80 million votes were cast.
Another company, (and the name escapes me at the moment) had one investor buy up the number of registered shares. He watched in amazement as thousands of shares continued trading on the open market over the next few weeks.
... And yet, total silence on the part of the media, Deeply Captured...

The Sanity Check is a blog by the anonymous tipper (called Bobo) who alerted Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne to the naked shorting campaign against his company, and who figures prominently in the Deep Capture story.

Please -- read Deep Capture for yourself and let me know what you think!

Regards,
Trond