If you want to do well when you are trading stocks then you need to make sure that you are putting the effort in. No matter what people tell you in life, if you want to be successful then you have to be willing to work.

So what can you do? Your stock picking abilities will improve by just implementing a few tweaks. You can read books or a stock trading newsletter, go on courses or get a mentor. Or even good old fashioned practicing.

If we look first of all at reading… I love reading books on stock trading. I have many on my bookshelf and I would recommend that you do the same. Please be warned that if you start buying lots of books then make sure you have time to put what you learn into action.

The next thing you can do is sign up for a stock trading newsletter. The are usually quite focussed, not only in terms of their details researched, but in terms of the type of analysis they use. You will be able to learn an awful lot from the contributors to the newsletters. They are also great to see how previous recommendations have performed in the past.

If it were me and I reached this point I would want to learn more. Many investors feel that after reaching this stage that they know enough. I would add technical analysis into my skills. This could be achieve through reading book or attending a technical analysis course. I would advise doing a technical analysis course.

If you are serious about your stock trading then by far the best way to learn is to get a mentor. Now the reason many people don’t do this is because it is difficult to get people who will accept you. Why not contact the stock trading newsletter and see if you could do some work for them in return for learning some skills?