How does one go about picking stocks like these? my father - who only understands the basics of investing - outperformed him by holding and buying only one stock during the decade - GE (my father worked for GE and it was his primary investment - it compounded at about 28% over the 1990s). Forget the incessant "trading around positions," finding the hot sector, hedging with options, gaming the Fed, etc, etc. Most individual investors should find a couple of high quality companies trading at a discounted valuation and buy. Then they should hold them until they trade at a premium valuation. Sell and repeat. My father sold his GE "when it got too expensive" in 2000. I would say that's genius. The way Jim Cramer trades is controlled insanity - it's not genius. This is easier said than done. If the authors father was working in Enron and used the same investing principle he did with GE, he'd be broke.