The number one question investors should be asking themselves at all times is “what is my investment horizon?” More specifically, “what is my time horizon?” 

Early on in my career while working for Bloomberg I was fortunate to do a lot of traveling for them between North and South America teaching technical analysis to traders, investors, analysts, sales people, portfolio managers, etc. During that time I remember often feeling exceptionally grateful for the mentors who took the time to answer my questions and let me learn from them.

Financial media, specifically financial television, tends to get a bad reputation. People refer to it as noise and discuss how financial TV has a tendency to sensationalize things. Personally I don’t feel that this is a fair assessment, rather I think it is important to look at how you are using financial media to influence your own thoughts and beliefs on the market.

I’m now two months in with my new role as Chief Market Strategist at StockCharts.com and, as expected, my to-do list has seemed to grow exponentially.  Besides getting my family all settled in a new region of the country, I’m trying to absorb as much as I can as I meet coworkers and scope out new projects and initiatives.

Settling into my first month doing my new daily show, The Final Bar, one of the biggest lessons I am learning is  how to speak more effectively. Throughout the course of my career I have learned a lot about communication, but having only a 30-minute window has given me an entirely new perspective on mindful communication.

Fall is upon us and for many of us, that means the excitement of football season has finally arrived!

Being a life-long Cleveland Browns fan been a tough life. As someone who has grown up a Browns fan, seeing them leave Cleveland and the organization starting over it is always interesting to see how the team has developed each year.

 Last week I spent time in Minneapolis speaking to the local CMT Association chapter and while I was there we had the opportunity to interview and speak with some prominent technical analysts. One individual we got to spend an unforgettable afternoon with was a friend and personal mentor of mine, Ralph Acampora.

I have a secret. I love video games.

One of my favorite games a few years back was a game called Batman Arkham City. It was a childhood dream of mine to BE Batman and fly through Gotham City, fighting crime, helping the police, and chasing the Riddler – and this game allowed me to do exactly that.

I am just wrapping up my first week of hosting my closing bell show on StockCharts TV, The Final Bar (you can catch it on weekdays at 4pm EST). Most of the days this week I have had the opportunity to have a guest on the show. This has given me the opportunity to pick the brain of some really capable market strategists and analysts. The one thing that has struck me the most is that I give them 3-5 minutes to give me their individual take on the market and most of them are coming at me with really long term charts.

When I first started to learn how to fly an airplane I very quickly learned the value of checklists. You don’t just take the plane out to the runway, and fly. There are a hundred odd meticulous steps you must go through individually to ensure that the mechanics of the airplane are fully functioning, and the safety gear is also ready to go.  While a checklist does not minimize the chances of something going wrong, it certainly lessens the probability.