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What is best investing strategy - best as determined by the amount of time involved vs. profitability?

I am wondering if there is an investment strategy that balances time managing the investments with profitability for the most "efficicient/optimized" gains. I am interested in a broad range of levels of risk, except for the ultra high/speculative and the very very low. Also, any suggestions covering a broad range of investment types is welcome a.k.a. not just limited to securities and debt. Thanks in advance!

Public Comments

1. Diversifictaion no more than 20% of your total portfolio in one area/sector whatever. ETF's Mutual Funds, CD,s online banks take your pick.
2. Hi, i suggest a great site with plenty of Issues related to your Investing and everything around it. it also provide clear and accurate answer to many common questions. http://investing.sitesled.com/ I am sure that you can get your answers in this website. Good Luck and Best Wishes!
3. If you start a business of your own, you will likely be investing more time than money, although depending on the business, you could be investing quite a bit of that as well. Your chances of success depend entirely on your skill set, persistence, and capital. You will need to develop a plan, and follow it. Regarding stocks, there are so many different investing/trading strategies, I would have no way to go over them all. I can give you some ideas, though. 1. Short term trading: - Advantages: a. high compoundability b. low exposure to long term market trends c. high liquidity d. small gains add up - Disadvantages: a. limited or nonexistent tax advantages (unless trading within an IRA) b. relatively high expenses (commissions) c. somewhat time intensive d. market hours 9:30am-4:00pm (Eastern Time) make it difficult to trade if you have a day job e. it's a job -- if you stop trading, you stop making money 2. Long Term Trading (A.K.A. Long term investing): -Advantages: a. minimal time required during market hours b. relatively low expenses (commissions) c. you're in good company -- most people with capital committed to the market are long term traders d. if you get lucky, or pick exceedingly well, you could retire very rich e. favorable tax treatment on long term gains -Disadvantages: a. beating the returns of an index is difficult, even by professionals b. liquidity is somewhat compromised (you don't want to be in a position where you need the money during a bear market, or when your account is down) c. making money at all in a bear market is problematic d. if you get unlucky, or pick exceedingly poorly, you could retire broke Okay, all of this being said, if you know what you are doing, and have the time to devote to it, short term trading has a bigger "bang for the buck" than long term trading. If you don't have the time to devote, or the knowledge/discipline, you would probably be served better as a long term investor with an index mutual fund (or ETF). Disciplined investing combined with a reliable annual return can serve you well without giving you the headaches speculation can give.
4. I think you should buy what the best investors are buying and sell what they are selling. You can do this at http://www.top10traders.com - this is a free site that lets you create a portfolio of stocks with $100,000 in "play" money. Each day the site ranks the best performing portfolios, so you can see how your picks perform compared to other investors. You can also read posts on investing from the best traders, as well as share your own investing ideas. There is also a charting feature , so you can see how your portfolio performs compared to the S&P 500. Here are this month's best traders: http://www.top10traders.com/Top10Standings.aspx Good luck.