The secret to choosing good stocks is that there really is no secret to it. The winning techniques are tried and true. They don't work all the time, but they work often enough that the methods employed by successful stock investors tend to be more alike than different. Information is the key. Having the right information about a company and knowing how to interpret it are more important than any of the other factors you might hear credited for the success of the latest market genius.
Information is even more important than timing.
When you find a company that looks promising, you don't have to buy the stock today or tomorrow or even this month. Good stocks tend to stay good, so you can take the time to investigate before you invest. You get much of the information you need to size up a company's prospects on the Web, and a lot of it is free. For those in search of income, not growth, it means applying the same tests so you don't make any false and risky assumptions about the stocks you buy. The Kiplinger way is not based on buying a stock one day and selling it the next.