On the 40 year journey through the turmoil of a volatile stock market I've noticed "P/E Ratios," "Consensus Estimates," " Bull and Bear Markets," stock ratings of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, star ratings of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Also, stock ratings of "buy," "strong buy," "sell," "hold;" stock rankings of "market perform," "market outperform," "market underperform," "market underweight," "market overweight," "market equalweight," and "market neutral."

And there's more! The 40 year journey includes as well terms like "Relative Strength Indexes (RSI)," "Bollinger Bands," 10, 20, 50 and 200 day "moving averages," "short and long positions," charting services, margin accounts, point and figure charting.

Whew! Let's see, "butterfly spreads," "option calls and puts," "triple bottom and tops," "head and shoulder formations," "pennants," "flags," "cup and saucer formations," "wedges," "necklines," "ascending triangles," and a partridge in a pear tree.

Never has so much been written that has so little meaning for the long-term, dollar-cost-averaging, buying investor of company shares that have a historical record of raising their dividends year after year after year.

"The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook." - William James

There is really only one word that insures successful investing in the stock market, and for that matter, success for any endeavor, and that one word or option or rating is "desire."

The desire to be a success is a force that will negate all the "charts," " ratings," "consensus estimates," "P/E ratios," "moving averages," "ascending triangles," and, even a partridge in a pear tree.

To read the PREFACE from the book 'The Stockopoly Plan- Investing for Retirement' visit: http://www.thestockopolyplan.com

Charles M. O'Melia is an individual investor with almost 40 years of experience and passion for the stock market. The author of the book 'The Stockopoly Plan'; published by American-Book Publishing. You can invest in the book at http://www.pdbookstore.com/comfiles/pages/CharlesMOMelia.shtml

You have permission to this article either electronically or in print as long as the author bylines are included, with a live link, and the article is not changed in any way. Please provide a courtesy mailto: charles@thestockopolyplan.com telling where the article was published.