HEDGEfolios gives (mostly) great ideas for trades that you need to research further on your own. Or if you already have done your homework and just want some additional confirmation, it works great (usually) for that too. What’s with the (parentheticals)? I am covering my ass and pointing out that I am not right all the time and more importantly, you need to be your own investor. YOU SHOULD NOT DO PIGGYBACK INVESTING!

CNBC and Bloomberg (and the rest of financial media) love to highlight what the biggest and “best” investors are doing. Whenever Berkshire’s 13F comes out, there’s a ton of piggybacking going on by the Warren Wannabes. Last week, when it was disclosed that Joseph Lewis bought a stake in BSC, there were tacit recommendations that other investors should now jump into this mess. The same thing happened when Bank of America bailed out (temporarily) Countrywide and investors were encouraged by the wrong assumption that CFC was no longer in trouble. As for listening to Cramer, I hope you have fun with it.

The list of Piggyback Investing opportunities is endless. But just take a look at the recent examples and you’ll see that it isn’t a successful strategy - at least not in the short term. Remember that most of these disclosures are often weeks and months old. Getting in when they are made public is foolish. The best and most successful strategy for investing is doing your own homework and using a blend of fundamental and technical analysis.