re: Would you agree with this "stock advice"?

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I'm not saying follow it blindly, but it does affect stock prices.

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Good point. You want to be aware of the news (a quick scan of Reuters and Yahoo Finance is what I do daily), but don't base trading/investing decisions on news or commentary.

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I don't believe in charts/technical. infinite political, economic, technological, and competitive variables have a much greater impact of future pricing than how the market felt last month or year

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IMO price is king. All of the political, economic, and technological variables drive the price. Following the price from technicals can give good clues. Is it foolproof? Absolutely not, that is where good risk management comes in.

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I think the 'rules' for trading and investing are very, very different and often contradictory.

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Couldn't agree more. Trading vs investing to me is a time frame issue. I put traders into three categories:

1. Day trader - multiple trades in a day, no overnight positions (I don't see how people make a living from this and don't have a heart attack).

2. Weeks to several months of holding a position- this is what I shoot for.

3. 1-2 year position - Difficult to hold for this long with any type of leverage, this is what I want to grow into.

Traders tend to use leverage where investors do not.

Investors tend to hold positions for years to decades. The great thing with investors is what is shown as a 1.5% dividend in present time is usually a much larger return for the long term investor. If one were to have bought a stock such as Home Depot in late 08 to early 09 they'd be making a 9 to 10% dividend.