This idea follows  the launch of his online money management company, Formula Investing, last  October, in which he offers clients “a unique stock screening system, and a disciplined approach to managing portfolios of high value stock” for them. He is also the author of “The Little Book That Beats The Market”, which was on the NY Times bestseller list, as well as “You Can Be a Stock Market Genius: Uncover the Secret Hiding Places of Stock Market Profits”, published back in 1997.

Born in Great Neck on the north shore of Long Island on December 13, 1957, Greenblatt, served as the former chairman of Alliant Techsystems, and is the founder of  the New York Securities Auction Corp. He also began Gotham Captial, a hedge fund backed by Michael Milken (the infamous “junk bond king”) in 1985.
In addition to his devotion to investing on Wall Street, Joel Greenblatt firmly believes in investing his own money in New York City’s educational system, particularly those schools catering to minority students.

Not only did he gift $2.5 million to the Ozone Park, NY elementary school PS 65Q, whose student body is primarily made up of kids from South Asian and South American immigrant families, but he also held found a charter school in Manhattan known as the “Harlem Success Academy” in 2006. Both schools continue to receive his support and have merited high marks for their growing academic achievements. In addition, Greenblatt serves on the board for the Institute for Student Achievement, which works to develop small senior high schools out of  larger ones in order to raise the standard of education in communities across the country.

If you have already been an established day trader, have you considered gravitating into a market that has more options such as the entire planet? Similar to a doctor attempting to diagnose an ailment, you have to search and then search once again to reach the end result. At times, the doctor will prescribe medications that just don’t seem to work, and you go back to the doctor to try something different. Well, it is no different in the stock market. You may think you are on track and it fails, so you attempt something different up until you find something that works.

If you are a stock trader, you understand this methodology. You have your system tweaked to the point where you know how to check your price to earnings and then price to book. You also look at the return you will receive on your equity, right? The better the system you have built, the better protection you have in the market thus improving your risk to rewards. The stock market is not an easy business. Sometimes it becomes a matter of trial and error. Eventually, we are fortunate and then other times, we tend to lose. The more educated you are the better a risk to reward you will have.

The global macro trading market provides an edge as it is worldwide, which means you can trade any instrument using the strategy you have developed globally. That means your chances of locating the best investment are greater. This market has really made a tremendous comeback compared to the last couple of years of trading. This is because a lot of people were trading long and leveraged. The macro traders however were shorting housing and financials then going long and doing some real interesting trading in short treasuries and dabbling in the commodities market.

What this really means is the global macro trading market provides a lot of options to test a variety of strategies. So if you set up your strategies to build on a model that you wish to invest, in you could be a real winner. This is a specialized market and the person who is new to stock trading might want to educate themselves before becoming active. If you are an active day trader that utilizes the same stocks day in and day out, you might not have an interest in global macro trading. However, anyone else that wants a variety and has a need to venture into a new market with a high variety, then global macro trading might be for you.

True Share Value – When people who do not know much about investing hear “penny stock” this is what they assume is the meaning. This is when a penny stock is valued under a dollar. Usually people believe that the stock is only valued at one cent. This meaning is not used very often in publications, probably due to the fact that it makes perfect sense. If a trader is speaking of a stock that is traded on a major market, such as the NYSE, then it is typically worth no more than $5.00 for each share.

The Stock Market Exchange – On occasion, and in particular with penny stock brokers, the meaning of penny stocks is derived from the market on which the stock is traded. The most prevalent penny stock exchange is Over the Counter, or the pink sheets. Basically, this means that the stock is not qualified to be on one of the more conventional markets. Pink sheets have started to examine penny stocks to make sure they meet their requirements for their exclusive penny stock market.

Market Capitalization – This is the final category of a penny stock and it is based on the company’s value. Usually, the companies have to be worth under $100 million dollars. The essential aspect is the company’s size, rather than the actual value and the price of each penny stock share.

Here is a brief overview of the two terms, the “bull market” and the “bear market”. Let’s start with the bull market. The bull market is when most traders feel that they have felt something positive about a certain stock market and they want to buy stocks. This will usually happen during a long bull markets period that the stock market would keep going up and up.

As for the bear market, the bear market is actually the opposite of the bull market and it is when the stock market is constantly going down no matter what a trader would do. This will usually happen during the times that a trader loses sleep and if they continually wonder whether they should be selling their stocks.

However, most of the time the market is placed somewhere in between the bull and the bear market. Normally, the better stocks would go up over time and then the stocks of the companies doing poorly would go down. It is always considered wise to always try to pick a stock of company that is doing well or will do well when the time comes.

Now that you know the difference between a bull and a bear market, what does it mean for you.  Many times an investor has no control over what is happening in the world that affects the stock market.  If the market is experience a downward turn, it is a good idea to invest in defensive stocks.  Find those stocks that experience little volatility.  Another idea, is to go the sidelines and wait it out.  The problem with this trading technique is, you may miss the rally.

However, all too often people are afraid to put their money to work in the stock market because it seems like a confusing place. Many worry that their money might evaporate away if a stock goes under. For example, if you invest in a gold ETF fund, and the price of gold collapses, then you’re busted — you lose your investment. The same goes for Oil ETFs, the natural gas ETF and others. While this fear is legitimate if you are invested in only one stock, there are ways to diversify your money and to grow it without having to learn the complexities of the market. This way is by investing in a high yield ETF.

A high yield ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) is an investment vehicle in which your money is given to a professional who manages the money for you by placing it into a number of high yielding stocks. A high yield stock means a stock that pays a high dividend relative to it’s share price. By investing in this kind of ETF you are allowing compound interest to work in your favor in order to significantly grow your money over time.

Conservative style investors might be particularly drawn to high yield ETF’s because of the glamor of the high dividend. Investors have the option of receiving their dividend (share of the company’s earnings) in the form of a check every three months, or in the form of reinvestment in the stock. Reinvestment in the stock gives you a bigger share each time and is generally thought of as the smarter move financially, unless you are using the money as income.

While ETF’s are a relatively new product of Wall Street, they are in many ways similar to mutual funds. They allow you to not have to worry about studying the stock market before investing. You may simply place your money into these funds on a set schedule (i.e. monthly, weekly, etc.) and allow it to grow over time for you. This makes your investing automatic, rather than focusing on random ETF news and sound bites. Naturally you should never jump into an investment halfheartedly. If you want your money to work for you and compound over time, then you are going to need to stick to your investment plan.

The stock market can be broken down into sectors based on the types of stocks for sale, such as blue chip stocks, industrial stocks, technology stocks, or financial stocks. The financial sector is a popular area for investment, but as with all stock market investments, and indeed all of life, it is important to know what your are buying before you buy it. What that means for you is that you need to research the companies that you are interested in.

All companies in the United States are required to send financial information to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which posts this information on its web site. By looking through the financial filings of companies, you find out a lot about them. Some things to look at are: how much the company owes, how much it makes per year, and how much it has paid out to investors in the past in the form of dividends. You can find out more about what to look for in these financial filings by going to your local library and checking out any book on the stock market.

There’s more to the stock market than just this, however. One thing that is hammered into the heads of all business school graduates is this: diversify, diversify, diversify. Think about it: if all of your money is tied up in one company, and that company goes belly-up, you have no hope. But if you have spread out your investments over many different companies, then you will take only a small loss. Something else to watch out for is becoming too attached to your stocks. We all have our favorite companies, but if your pet stock is showing losses quarter after quarter, it may be time to bail. It’s better to take a small loss now than to wait until that favorite company is selling for pennies per share.

There is much more to playing the stock market than just this, of course, but if you follow these few simple tricks, you’ll be well on your way to success.

We’re having our very first (but not our last) contest here at Beating The Stock Market!

The contest starts right NOW and ends on Sunday, September 30 at 12:00 noon EST.

First, the prize….one winner will receive a copy of Kiplinger’s: 12 Steps To A Worry Free Retirement.

Actual customer review:
“This book lays out what you need to know about planning your retirement using easy to understand text and charts.”

Here’s how to enter:
All you need to do to enter is post about the contest and link to this post. Leave the link to where you posted about it in a comment here so we can keep track of the entries.

Good luck!