Going Against The Grain - Investing in Stocks When Others Pull Out

I got some extra dough this week.

I decided to activate my auto invest plan for Tuesday.  And here are my picks:

LULU = $140.00 (2.71 shares @$50.18 + $4 fee)
ETP    = $140.00 (3.06 shares @$44.38 + $4 fee)

I'm still bullish on LULU because of the customer (brand loyalty) loyalty and the fact the LULU does not compete in the cheap apparel market.  LULU's customers are willing to pay up for the products because of the style, technology and what the company stands for.  LULU does not pay millions of dollars to have pro athlete endorse their products.  Instead, LULU does it in a local, word-of-mouth marketing strategy.  Free yoga classes given by local personal trainers build a community of loyal customers (and endorsers).

ETP is my energy play for the coming winter.  Natural gas and LPG will be used by millions to heat their homes and cook their food this coming winter.  Plus, I get paid a dividend just to wait for the stock to go up.  Plus I think the moves Kinder Morgan Partners (KMP) would have some pin action in the Nat-Gas sector.

I would have bought some more AAPL but I'm a bit short on liquid cash.  I'm still bullish on AAPL even after Steve Jobs' death.  I am confident that the genius CEO had 2-5 years of product line in the pipes and I shall review my position in the next 6 months and see if the new leadership has captured the Steve Jobs magic.

The recent decline of the Stock Market (Thanks a lot Europe) caused a lot of people to fear the market.  This is good news for me.  The time to buy into the market is when everyone is afraid and baby, everyone IS afraid.  Due to my age, I can afford to take some near term declines from my positions because I have a lot of time to recover.. unfortunately, the boomers do not have a lot of time.