Howard, >Any time someone suggests a growth of more than about 40% per year, >take that with a very large grain of salt.
I expected you to disagree with my statement. I'm sure a lot of traders would be aghast at the numbers I quoted as the theoretical potential. At his website Professor John Price posts audited returns of approx 20-25% PA over a 5 year period, or more, using simple Techno- fundamental methods (as I recall the figures). The caveat there is that the sample period is short and selective. Trading on margin that would return 30-35% PA with less than half an hour a days work and no effort to use any other timing mechanisms. If your statement is true we can all give up any further efforts and simple trade his method. Similarly, the ASX, which is a high dividend paying market (due to franking) has total returns of in excess of 15% PA on average over longer time periods. Using simple leveraged buy&hold strategies that is 20-25% without any ongoing effort required what-so-ever. In "Stock Market Wizards", Schwager, Jack.D, Harper Business 2001 the first page of the first chapter in the book quotes Stuart Walton, fund manager, who achieved "115 percent average annual compounded return in trading profits" un 8 consecutive years during the nineties. As I understand it Schwager's books are well researched and based on verifiable case studies? I only opened the book at the first chapter and didn't need to go any further or to his other 2 books containing similar testimonies. brian_z
