The stock market will continue to present attractive opportuni-
ties for the investor with a sharp pencil and a strong stomach.
However, the days of broad-based, double-digit annual gains expe-
rienced in the final decade of the twentieth century are over. To
profit in the stock market over the next 10 years, very different
skills are required from those that grew portfolios earlier. Buy and
hold won’t work anymore. You must be prepared to buck the
trend, to do your own research on individual stocks, to pay careful
attention to timing, and to admit errors quickly. Most people are
not interested in going to all this trouble and expenditure of time;
for them, their own business will be a far more reliable and satisfy-
ing producer of wealth than the stock market.26 The Old Methods No Longer Work in Today’s Economy