Or down less. One way to use relative strength is to look for stocks that hold up well during a market correction and are the rst to rebound after the market comes off a relative low; these stocks are the market leaders. When you rst started trading stocks, what method did you use to select your buys? I [He laughs heartily at the recollection.] I didnt have any method. was buying low-priced stocks that were making new lows. I was also taking tips from brokers. Tell me about that. The worst experience was in the early 1980s when my broker talked S T O C K A R O U N D T H E C L O C K

The stock came off about 4 or 5 points, and I was really concerned. He told me not to worry. He assured me that the stock was a bargain and that the sell-off was a once-in-a-lifetime buying opportunity. He claimed that the company had developed an AIDS drug that was going to get FDA approval. He actually convinced me to buy more. The stock kept on sinking. Eventually I couldnt buy any more because I ran out of money. The end of the story is that the stock fell to under $1, and I lost all my money. How much did you lose in that trade, and how much had you lost up till that point? Altogether, I lost about $30,000 to $40,000, with about half the amount on that trade. Even worse, part of the loss was borrowed money. Did that experience cause you to lose any of your zeal for the stock market?

No, but it was very upsetting and discouraging. I literally cried. What hurt the most was that I thought I had lost my chance because I had wiped out my trading stake. But no matter what happened, I never stopped believing that there were great trading opportunities available every day. It was just a matter of my guring out how to identify them. My mistake had been surrendering the decision-making responsibility to someone else. I was convinced that if I did my own work, I would be successful. What gave you that conviction? It certainly wasnt your trading results.

Its just my personality. I dont give up very easily. Perhaps the single most important factor was that I had a great passion for the game. I think almost anyone can be net protable in the stock market given enough time and effort, but to be a great trader, you have to have a passion for it. You have to love trading. Michael Jordan didnt become a great basketball player because he wanted to do product endorsements. Van Gogh didnt become a great painter because he dreamed that one day his paintings would sell for $50 million. Was your passion for the market related to the opportunity to make a lot of money? 1 6 5 1 6 6 M A R K M I N E R V I N I Initially I might have been attracted to the stock market because of the money, but once I got involved, making money was not the issue. What was the issue?