In the investment arena people are generally very afraid of making their own choices as they learn how to invest in stocks. They still don't want or are too unsure of themselves to make and accept responsibility for the decisions they make, even after they have seen their decisions work time and time again.

As they learn how to invest, there seems to be a desire to blame someone if something goes wrong with an investment. Unfortunately, someone to blame after you have lost money on the basis of their best investment advice is of little financial consolation to you. The money is gone. Is there anyone that has more vested interests in you making money than you? I doubt it. You are risking a serious "wealth hazard" in shirking your responsibility in this regard.

By learning how to invest correctly to make your own investment decisions, you can fix a reluctance to make decisions or a lack of knowledge in doing so. But how do you do this? Simply by learning stock investing concepts that you have seen work over an extended period of time. This approach must work not just when the market is going up and when it is going down, but also when stock volatility is in effect. There is no lack of investment methods or stock market online investing advice but it's important that you find one that works for your personal situation and individual circumstances.

The next step is to learn how to invest with plenty of practice, perhaps via paper trading, testing various money management techniques without risk so that when you do invest your real money you are confident that you will get a much better return than the average.

Unfortunately, there are many people in the stock market community who would not or could not see financial advisors, brokers, entertainers and journalists for what they really are, and worse still, believing what they say.

When you think about it, brokers are commission sales people. They make their money from the brokerage they earn from placing trades on the stock market. Their primary motivation is not to make their money from making you money or teaching you how to play the stock market.

Financial advisors make their money either through commissions from placing your money into managed funds, hedge funds, or from fees for consulting. Their income does not come from making you money.

Financial journalists write articles about financial matters in stock market newsletters and other publications. That's how they make their money. Their income does not come from making you money.

Financial entertainers make their money from assuring you that the best investment of your money would be to purchase the product they are endorsing or from TV appearances. Their income does not come from making you money.

Again, learn how to invest to become a successful trader with a method that has been proven over time. Test the method before risking your money and then enjoy the satisfaction that it was all done by you and not through the assistance of financial advisors, brokers, entertainers, or financial journalists.

Market Direction:  - Thursday's trading formed a doji in the DOW. It formed right at the recent high of mid-August. This became a very important level to watch. With the stochastics in the overbought area, witnessing selling at the recent high after a doji would have indicated that the double top had formed. The fact that the bulls pushed up through that level immediately revealed the resistance area was not going to be a factor. The uptrend was still in affect.

DOW