Jeffrey,<= /p>

Sorry for my skepticism as = I’m sure Mr. O’Neil derives great pleasure from helping people make money = using his CANSLIM principles, but don’t be misled into thinking he is = doing it out of the goodness of his heart. =

Mr. O’Neil at his most = basic level is a salesman. He has = something to sell: his methodology, his newspaper, his web = services for both individuals and institutions. What better way than to have products to sell to people that follow his very own = CANSLIM Method. Pretty = cool.

He sells you the gas that makes = the car run and he even sells you the car. Pretty neat, and = highly profitable for Mr. O’Neil. Also, profitable for the investor that follows it, if the = investor doesn’t crash the car while following his principals. Don’t get me wrong, = I have benefited from his knowledge and information. But individual’s performance in using CANSLIM will vary widely.

I don’t doubt for a moment = the AAII study results. But studies can be used to demonstrate all sorts of = things. Be aware of one thing. The returns you personally derive from CANSLIM can = vary widely from the numbers presented in the AAII study. =

For example, there are several = studies that demonstrate the difference in return between what mutual funds show = as performance and what individual investors actually receive. In other = words, what the average investor derives in terms of return can vary greatly from = what the mutual fund shows as performance because the average holding period of a = mutual fund for an average investor is not buy and = hold forever. Mutual fund investors typically buy and sell at some point. The = moving parts for a mutual fund investor are few, buy or sell. The moving parts for a canslim investor are many: buy,sell,C,A,N,S,L,I,M. Consequently more room for = error and therefore even more widely varying results.

Best of = Luck!!

Call me = crazy,

-----Original = Message-----
From: owner-canslim@lists.xmission.com = [mailto:owner-canslim@lists.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Katherine Malm
Sent: Friday, July 26, = 2002 2:20 PM
To: = canslim@lists.xmission.com
Subject: Re: [CANSLIM] = Intro: Jeffrey Gasta

Hi Jeffrey,

First of all, thanks for that great intro and = welcome to the list.

I'll take a stab at your question (1) as this = is something that comes up often when people talk generally about CANSLIM. = I think it's refreshing that O'Neil (WON) has never found the need to tout specific returns to inform others of the benefits of CANSLIM = investing. There are as many ways to pull profits from the markets as there are = people in China, but if you were to boil any one system down to its essence, the = successful methodologies all have two things in common: MASTERY and DISCIPLINE in = applying the methodology. How many times have you seen your friends flit from one investment "guru" to the next or one "investing = system" to the next? I see it happen constantly....somehow it's easier to blame = losses on "the system" than on themselves, so off they go to find = another holy grail. CANSLIM has its place in investing. It's based on sound and = time-proven investing principles, it has a specific set of rules, and it works. Why = would O'Neil tell people how to do it? Because his profits in trading this = discipline are not compromised by the success of others. He can afford to mentor = and develop good investors/traders and profit from it, because he knows that = it is not CANSLIM itself that creates investing profits for those he mentors, = it is the successful application of CANSLIM principles as applied by = knowledgeable users. I think of it as the principle of abundance. Imagine if you were = to have a child and in order to love another child, you had to decrease your = love for the first by half. It just doesn't work that way. There are plenty of = profits in the market, and thank goodness there are people like WON who are = willing to teach the rest of us how to find and *keep* = them.

OK, now that I've had my weekly rant....I'll = post (separately) a study done by AAII that shows profits from various investment strategies. This was done for the year 2001...remember *that* = year? Take a look at the 45% returns for CANSLIM. Pretty hard to sneeze at = that.

Katherine

----- Original Message = - -----

From: Gasta, Jeffrey

To:<= /font> 'canslim@lists.xmission.com'

Cc:<= /font> Gasta, Jeffrey

Sent: Friday, July 26, 2002 12:32 PM

Subject: [CANSLIM] Intro: Jeffrey Gasta

Hello,

Thank you for providing this group. It is so cool to find = independent,
non-biased sources of information. The net is great for that.

Aside from funding my 401K with mutual funds, I'm new to = investing. My
brother-in-law is a mortgage banker and he did VERY well in the 90s = by
investing. After years of asking he finally told me that he is now = using
the CANSLIM method (although he did well before he adopted this). = Also, he
won't have a dialog with him on this - in-laws are weird = sometimes. For the
past two months I've been reading IBD, IBD.com, and two of Mr. = O'Neil's
books. During the past year I have read two of John Bogle's books, = read the
financial section in the Washington Post weekly and watched the market = with
increasing interest. I live in the DC metro area and am 39 years old.

My degree is in Applied Mathematics and I perform technical work daily = as a
telecom. engineer. I have no background in finance or = investing. However,
I do have strong analytical skills and like working in an environment = with
rules/guidelines. Incidentally, in the book "The Millionaire = Next Door" the
authors point out that Engineers tend to do well with investing because = of
their belief in and adherence to rules/laws.

Will try to lurk for a while before posting any messages. I do = have a
couple starter questions if that doesn't offend the group. If = these
questions shouldn't be asked yet, or they are answered in the = archive,
please let me know.

1) The success stories Mr. O'Neil mentions are incredible. = But he doesn't
mention how his overall portfolio (including losses) has done over = the
years. Can anyone give me guidance on independent studies and/or = personal
experience with this system? For example, a 5-year total return of = 15% on
the entire portfolio that also includes the 8% loses. Also if = CANSLIM is so
profitable, why is Mr. O'Neil spending lots of his time writing books = and
giving seminars? It makes me wonder where his wealth is really = coming from.

2) I have found several "ride-the-coattails" web sites = for CANSLIM. A
quick survey of these sites seem to show that they simply regurgitate = the
info. already provided by IBD and thus are not worth the price. = Any
thoughts on these sites would be appreciated.

3) Does Daily Graphs Online really provide added value for a = beginner like
me? After viewing their tutorial I can't figure out what = they provide
beyond standard IBD membership.

Many thanks for your time!

Jeffrey Gasta
Telecommunications Engineering
Marriott International
Voice: 301.380.6204
Fax: 301.380.8649
jeff.gasta@marriott.com

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