how to pick stock that give good returns in the long run?
Picking right stocks needs years of experience and the investor must be well aware of the industry, sector, micro-macro factors and the list of requisites is very lengthy. It is really very difficult for mere mortals like us with limited salary or any other income based funding on which our sole livelihood depends.
What suites me best:
Generally speaking for long run, instead of searching for multi-bagger stocks and losing more than what gained in the process (often most of the time), I think Mutual Funds are best. But Markets operate in cycles, so diversification and asset allocation becomes quintessential.
When the broader Equity market index is in a downward trend, 40% of capital in reputed Mutual Funds with "Value Investing" theme (can be further sub-divided into different Mutual Funds), 30% in Debt Funds/NCDs/GSECs, 20-25% in PPF/NSC and the remaining 10-5% in Bank FD for emergencies.
And when in an uptrend, 40% of capital in reputed Mutual Funds with "Growth Investing" theme (can be further sub-divided into different Mutual Funds), 30% in Debt Funds or NCDs/Govt. Security Bonds, 20-25% in PPF/NSC and the remaining 10-5% in Bank FD for emergencies.
Moral of the story:
Do not keep all eggs in one nest, keep compounding, survive and spent on the interest gained and let your capital grow.
it would be nice to have some websites which recommend good stocks on a real time basis.
None reliable so far for me. My money, my decision, why take someone else's tip. Also please draw a clear distinction between the two terms - "Trading" and "Investing". It's not that trading is gambling but for these two inter-twined participation, different set of rules apply. Remember market is a nasty place to loose money easily and it is designed to fool masses especially new-comers.
How does someone gain in-depth knowledge about investing in the stock market?
They don't teach this in school and one needs to be "street smart" in order to survive in the financial markets. Reading
TONS of market related books, understanding methods/processes/techniques, experimenting, implementing, failing most of the time, learning from mistakes, moving on, gaining experience, evolving mind-sets, becoming smarter with understanding of inner psychology, going beyond Emotions. In one word, "Perseverance".