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Mark Solomon - Wendy Yaniv

Investing is in my DNA. My father gave my brother and me $1000 to invest in the stock market when we were 12 years old. That was serious money in 1978, especially for a kid in the 7th grade. Rather than immediately pick a stock , I studied a 400 page tome called How To Pick Stocks written by one of my uncles. Only after I finished that book did I choose my stocks by applying my new found knowledge. That was 31 years ago, and I have never stopped investing and profiting from the stock market since.

My late father’s goal was the complete opposite. He wanted us to lose our money and never look to the market for easy riches, like so many others. Instead, I learned how to evaluate companies well enough that I avoided most common pitfalls from my first foray into the murky market waters.

Eventually I began earning enough money from my investments that I became a full-time investor. With a background as an engineer (BSME, Univ of Texas - Austin), the math side of finance was easy, and the concepts were simple. I passed my Commodity Traders exam, officially known as a Futures Commission Merchant exam, in 2002, then my Financial Advisors exam. Now I advise others who appreciate an alternative non-Wall Street perspective on the markets, while making extraordinary returns on their capital.

After realizing the markets were increasingly volatile and risky, I branched out into buying and managing farmland. I own and manage over 10,000 acres of farmland myself and a private partnership focused on producing bio-diesel crops.

My approach for producing profitable investing works with three trends:

1. Long term - several years up to 20.

2. Medium term -6 months to 2 years.

3. Short term - Days to 6 months.

Historical research, fundamental analysis of general market segments such as stocks, commodities, bonds, and real estate, political factors, and technical analysis all enter into my development process for investment recommendations.

While the general U.S. stock market has dropped approximately 40 percent inflation adjusted since 2000, my portfolios have risen over 350% in the same time frame. This performance was achieved with less than 6 trades per year on average.

I focus on the topics that most stock analysts or financial advisors avoid: precious metals, off-shore investing, agricultural commodities, volatile high potential return penny stocks, and currency trading. These are the swing-for-the-fences types of investments where fortunes rise and fall in days sometimes. I have managed to catch the rises and avoid much of the dramatic falls within these challenging markets.

It is my great pleasure sharing the knowledge gained from 30+ years of active market investing with Suite101’s readers.

Aside from following economics, politics, and the markets, I ride motorcycles around the world, enjoy SCUBA diving, weight lifting, martial arts (hold a Black Belt in Chinese Kenpo and was a competitive point fighter), barbershop singing, plus buying and using all kinds of metal working tools.