My Scanner Daybook - April 15th

This morning in the shower I imagined playing the stock market to make some quick money and fund my early retirement.

I have the idea that you can either play the stock market 2 ways: the scientific approach and the gut feeling approach.

Either you spend hours and hours studying fluctuations in the market, tracking historical movements in stock prices and applying complicated statistical models to diversify your risk and maximise your return (all things I learned during university but have since very much forgotten).

Or you follow your gut feeling, with minimal input, just some common sense. I definitely like this approach better and am sure the results can be just as good, if not better.

I mean, I'm sure if I was looking to invest 10 years ago, Google would have "felt" like a really good horse to bet on, and I'd be stinking rich by now. Something I'm sure no statistical model could predict. So the idea would be to identify the next Googles of the stock market and invest my money in them (not that I actually have money to invest, but I'm speaking theoretically here).

So, what would I look for? Companies just starting to make a name for themselves on the market place. Probably offering simple but effective products or services, usually creating a market for themselves by tapping into previously unrecognised needs. I mean, who can live without Google in today's world? When 10 years ago most people didn't even realise they could one day have any use for its functions.

Of course, that would imply some research, scanning the internet for articles, news, new trends and recently developed features. I firmly believe internet is the future and will see amazing developments in the very near future, so I'd probably investigate internet companies first.

I would also need to look into the best way to actually buy and sell. Would I have to pass through my bank? That seems so tedious and slow. I'd look into online services that allow small investors to manage their investments online in real time. Hopefully something like that exists and doesn't cost you a huge commission. It would be almost like a video game. Probably very intangible. Which would make it fun to do, especially starting with a small sum to limit the risk of losing everything I own :)