Page 946 - How to Make Money in Stocks Trilogy

• AP P E N D I X A •

The Method of Our Success

W. Scott O’Neil

Back in the early 1960s, when my father began William O’Neil + Company, the
investing landscape was vastly different. Mutual funds were at their early
growth stage, whereas today the big funds dominate the market, and anyone
can open an online trading account. In the interim, countless investing
methodologies have come and gone. For example, the Buy and Hold strat-
egy—a favorite of the bullish 1980s and 1990s that we never believed in—
buckled under the two rough bear markets of the past decade. Institutions
have fallen, too. Big ones. When Bill started his firm, Merrill Lynch; EF
Hutton; Dean Witter; Shearson, Hammill & Co.; Kidder Peabody; and
Bache were part of a long list of national brokerage houses. Does anyone
remember Bateman Eichler, Goodbody, Hayden Stone, Mitchum Jones, or
Bear Stearns? Nearly all are gone or transformed beyond recognition. You
don’t need that many years under your belt to know how hard it is to keep

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