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Do you believe in experts? I do, although I think you have to choose them very carefully and take their advice with a grain (or a whole shaker-full) of salt. I like the idea that someone who is familiar with the history, dynamics or people of a country, market or conflict stands a better chance of giving good analysis and advice than some random guy on the street. Like most people, if I’m sick, I go looking for a doctor, not the next jogger who comes by. You’d think everyone would believe in experts. Most of us do research before we make an important decision, so why wouldn’t we listen to someone who’s been doing research for months or years?

The Santa Monica Museum of Art, although I’ve never visited it, has brightened up my week. I read in a recent news story that the museum holds an art sale every year called “incognito.” The idea is simple. Hundreds of artists (over 480 this year) donate paintings, all of them in the same format (8" by 10") and the museum sells them for $300 each, regardless of who painted them. Some of the artists in the sale are quite well known, and their works are worth much, much more than the $300 price. Others are, of course, are worth much less.

A lot has been written in previous Cabot Wealth Advisories about how to pick a growth stock. The advice from my fellow Cabot colleagues is sound and, when followed, will lead to exceptional returns. The editors of the growth-oriented Cabot letters know their stuff, and can produce performance numbers that prove it. But I like value stocks, and I believe that value stocks should be included in your portfolio. In my opinion, your portfolio should contain half value stocks and half growth stocks and should not contain 100% value or 100% growth stocks. Value investing, perhaps more than any other type of investing, is more concerned with the fundamentals of a company’s business rather than its stock price or market factors affecting its price.

Instead of writing a regular issue today, I’m bringing you the top four essays from our recent contest, “How I Lost Money in the Bear Market and What I Would Do if I Had Another Chance.” Our thanks to all our readers who submitted entries -- I thoroughly enjoyed reading your reflections.

I’ve discussed the tumult plaguing the newspaper industry several times recently and after today, I’ll let the topic rest unless something noteworthy happens. But first, I want to share a few more of your letters because they express some ideas that haven’t been voiced here before. Thanks to everyone for writing in, I appreciate you taking the time to share your insights with me and your fellow readers. To read all of the past issues I’ve written about the newspaper industry and see how others responded, go to our Web site archives. If you haven’t shared your view yet, you can do so by sending me an email or commenting on our blog.

Last weekend, I wrote about the mostly car-free German community of Vauban and I received lots of great responses both by email and on our blog. Thanks to everyone who wrote in, the letters gave me a lot to think about and some even made me laugh. Today, I’m going to share some of those responses with you and I invite you to submit a response of your own if you haven’t yet. If you missed last week’s issue, you can read it on our Web site archives.

Back on Monday, I tackled the big challenge of our healthcare system once again, beginning with a few personal stories--including the $840 bill for my wife’s sliced thumb--and finishing with a prediction that the big pharmaceutical companies were in for tough sledding once Washington begins a serious effort to reduce costs. The responses to the column were numerous and excellent, and I share the best with you here.

There is something sadly ironic about a newspaper reporting on its own demise. Certainly it’s important for readers to know what’s going on behind the scenes and for many employees, the decisions being made at their newspapers are the biggest news of the day. But it still shocks me a bit to see headlines in The Boston Globe proclaiming that its largest union rejected $10 million in wage and benefit cuts. In what seems like a “punishment,” union members will now endure 23% pay cuts. It’s almost guaranteed that the very people who wrote, edited and laid out the story will be part of that salary slash.

Chevron Chairman and CEO David O’Reilly spoke about the need for energy security and alternative energy at the recent Chief Executives’ Club of Boston meeting. So clearly, with even Big Oil conceding the pressing need for alternative energies to be in the mix, the future market for Green technologies is huge. How much does Chevron believe this? It’s now the largest non-public utility producer of geothermal energy in the world and is one of the largest installers of solar panels in the United States. Even Big Oil is going Green.

In trying to explain the Cabot approach to picking growth stocks, I’ve come up with an acronym. I call it the SNaC approach. That means that a great growth stock must have a compelling Story, excellent Numbers and a technically supportive Chart. Story, Numbers and Chart. Cute, ain’t it? But it’s more than cute; I think it really makes sense. And using it can make you a better stock picker for one big reason: it forces you to look beyond a stock’s story.

The best stocks have a good stories, numbers, and charts.

Yesterday was my birthday, one I share with a U.S. president, several musicians, novelists and other notable historical figures. And one that I might share with you. Statistically speaking, all you need is a group of 23 people to have a 50% chance that two people have the same birthday. With about 160,000 Cabot Wealth Advisory subscribers, that means that several thousand were probably born yesterday. If so, I wish you a very happy birthday! Today, you’ll meet others who share your birthday. If your birthday wasn’t yesterday, I hope you’ll still enjoy the following wealth advisory and even learn some fun facts to share with your friends and family.

Yesterday, you heard from Timothy Lutts, who wrote about the stock market’s three-week rally and why it’s time to buy. He wrote, “My charts tell me the worst has passed, and this correction will soon be replaced by a new leg up in the Bull Market of 2009. So my goal today is to get you back into the market, so you’ll be one of the early winners!” And he recommended that you follow the guidelines in Cabot Stock of the Month Report, of which he is the editor. Today, I want to delve into the history of that publication and explain why it’s so popular among investors, especially those new to the stock investing game.

When it comes to market timing, I prefer to keep it simple, and that’s exactly what my Letters do. For the most part, my timing is based on two things--the trend of the overall market, and the action of leading stocks. However, there is one category of indicators that I do track ... though they generally give signals only every few years! Thus, you can’t use these indicators to tell you when to get in or out of the market, and they’re unlikely to be much benefit in your daily investing routine. So why follow them? Because when they do flash green lights, it tells you something unusual is happening--something unusually bullish!

Last week, I wrote about the problems facing the newspaper industry and some possible solutions. I asked for your feedback and I got a huge (and insightful) response. So today I’m going to feature many of the best letters submitted via email and on our blog, The Iconoclast Investor. If you haven’t shared your view on this yet, either send me an email or post it on the blog, where it’ll get shared with your fellow readers as well. Thanks for writing in!

In my last issue, I touched on a couple of blast-off indicators, including one that likely triggered a green light a couple of weeks ago when 90% of all NYSE stocks rose above their 10-week moving averages. In addition, the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence survey came out at 55 this month, a big improvement over 41 last month. But the real story is that the lows in confidence usually occur near major bear market lows. Now, I’m not the type of guy to sit here and call for the Dow to hit such-and-such a level by the end of the year; I just take it one day and one week at a time. But the 90% blast-off indicator, along with the truly historic pessimism among investors and individuals, tells me to expect higher (probably much higher) stock prices in the months and years ahead.

Stocks don’t know you own them. That’s the standard reply to anyone who’s feeling paranoid because a stock they bought immediately fell on its nose. Similarly, the sports team you’re watching on television doesn’t know when you leave the room, turn your hat around in “rally cap” position, or give the evil eye to the shooter, kicker or passer. At least that’s what they tell me. The truth is, though, that while the stock may not know you’ve bought it, the stock market does. Or, rather, the market knows when a bunch of people have bought a stock because the chart reflects the rising tide of buyers.

I was talking with a long-time subscriber last week--a professional money manager--when the topic of education came up. He told me, “The thing I’ve always liked about Cabot is you educate your readers. You don’t just tell them what to buy and sell, you explain why.” Today, recognizing the value of that thought, I’m going back to basics, bringing you five rules for successful growth investing, complete with the all-important reasons why.

We recently received a very interesting proposal from a Cabot Wealth Advisory reader who suggested an essay contest with a subscription to a Cabot newsletter as the prize for the best entry. We have never done such a contest, but the reader had obviously thought through the details, and made a very persuasive case. And we liked the idea so much that we’ve decided to hold the contest! We love competitions and we like the idea of asking Cabot Wealth Advisory readers to share their stories and we think others will enjoy reading them. The entries will give us an opportunity to get to know you better, dear reader. And the winner will have a chance to get back into the market with our best advice because the prize is a FREE one-year subscription to a Cabot newsletter!

It’s March and that means it’s time for the NCAA tournament, the gauntlet of games that will eventually crown a school the king of college basketball. I filled out my bracket before the games began, but I didn’t have high hopes, especially since I’m no basketball expert. However, after a few days of play I ranked at the top of my friends’ bracket pool and decently high on the nationwide ESPN.com competition as well. But I don’t apply my basketball team selection methods to the stock market because investing is a whole different ball game.