Mergers and Acquisitions

By Ira Cutler

It is a sometimes expensive hobby, but I love betting on the stock market. Lotteries are not intellectually stimulating, the racetrack is too inconvenient, and so I bet on the future of American capitalism.

I am not terribly good at it. I buy late and sell early, and I am unable to adopt a consistent investment strategy. I tell myself that I am buying a stock for the long haul, but I get impatient and sell it just before it goes up. Or I sell the minute it goes up a little and then watch it continue to climb without me. Sometimes it seems right to follow advice, but other times it seems that by the time I have gotten the word it is too late to cash in on it. I have done pretty well lately but everyone has--it is hard to go wrong when everything is going up.

This is a harmless pastime. I do not invest money that I cannot afford to lose, and I never buy on margin or sell short. I may lose a little but not enough to matter, and along the way I have learned a...