By Mary Chung, Smash Street Media 

Sandy Chaikin is Co-Founder of Chaikin Analytics, a ground-breaking mobile stock research and analysis platform. Sandy started investing in 2012 with Chaikin Analytics and built a portfolio that has consistently outperformed the S&P 500 and most money managers. She spotted the two best-performing stocks of 2014 and bought at the right time – both stocks rose over 125% during that year. Sandy is living proof that you don’t have to be a financial expert to pick winning stocks. She presents webinars and speaks at industry events on fearless investing by following the Chaikin Five-Step Method and learning how to find winning stocks to buy and identify losing stocks to sell or avoid. Sandy is a contributor to Nasdaq.com where she writes and hosts webinars on investing and educates their investment community.

Q & A

1) What is Chaikin Analytics?

Chaikin Analytics is a ground-breaking mobile stock research and analysis platform. It was founded in 2009 by myself and my husband Marc Chaikin, a 40-year-veteran of financial markets, to help individual investors and professionals pick winning stocks and identify losers, using the same tools once available only to pros. Chaikin’s professional grade stock tools distill complex information into a simple Power Gauge rating: green for bullish and red for bearish. The Power Gauge analyzes massive amounts of financial data in seconds and is a remarkably accurate indicator of where a stock is headed over the next 3-6 months. It’s the only model that combines technical indicators with fundamentals. Chaikin is simple to understand and to use. Yet it is based on a very complex algorithm that analyzes the 20 most important factors that pros look at every day.

2) How did you go from a novice investor to beating the pro money managers?

During the market crash of 2008, I was using a financial advisor and, like a lot of Americans, I lost 40% of my portfolio. Others lost even more, and many Americans took their money out of the stock market because they were too afraid to invest again. That was the impetus for us to launch Chaikin Analytics to help the investing community make financial decisions using tools that were previously only available to professionals. It’s a very simple but powerful system and I became the poster child for our new company. I started picking stocks with the Chaikin Power Gauge rating and as I gained confidence, I invested more and more of my portfolio in stocks versus mutual funds. My portfolio has consistently outperformed most professional money managers and I picked the two best performing stocks of 2014 with Chaikin Analytics – both went up >125% that year – and, I knew when to sell.

3) You’re targeting women to encourage them to invest more. Why is it so important to get more women investing?

In research studies, women state their most important financial goal is having enough money to maintain their lifestyle throughout retirement, yet only 33% feel they are on track in planning and saving for retirement. Women can’t grow their money if they leave it in a savings or a money market account, with literally zero return. They need to invest in the stock market, but 72% of women say they don’t have the confidence to make financial decisions so they just don’t invest, according to Fidelity.

In order to secure their retirement, women must invest in stocks to grow their nest egg, especially since women in America control 51% of personal wealth, which accounts for $14 trillion (Bank of Montreal Wealth Institute). We know women are underserved in the financial industry and they are put off by the jargon and feel they are being talked down to so it’s not surprising that so many women are frustrated and intimidated by Wall Street. I know how these women feel because I was one of them for many years so I can relate, speak from experience and from the heart.

It is vitally important for women to take control of their finances and I am thrilled that our system gives women a very clear five-step process to follow and gain confidence.

4) How do you get your message out?

I write and speak at events, especially those targeting women’s groups. But we are also collaborating with Nasdaq, which has a worldwide audience that appeals to all levels of investors, in a series of online presentations on investing called “From Novice to Knowledgeable”. I present topics on how to find winning stocks, how to invest fearlessly and build a killer portfolio, and how to avoid the biggest mistakes investors make. For more information or to register, visit: http://get.chaikinanalytics.com/2015-ntk-webinars/

These presentations are for any investors at any level of experience – whether you’re a man or woman. We really enjoy our collaboration with Nasdaq. Our relationship goes back to creating three Nasdaq/Chaikin indexes in 2014, based on the Chaikin Power Gauge model – they all outperformed their benchmarks by >50% their first year. The logical step was to offer tools to their audience so they can use these tools to invest, based on the Chaikin Power Gauge so we launched these webinars.

5) What has been the most important lesson you have learned from investing for yourself?

I’ve learned that you don’t need a finance background to be a successful investor. If you have reliable, proven tools to help you invest like the pros and have a desire to learn, anyone can do it. I’m living proof of that.

6) What makes a good investor?

You have to start with a disciplined approach that’s objective, that you can believe in. We have a 5 Step Method that’s very easy to follow. I spend 15 minutes every day monitoring my stocks and my watchlist on Chaikin Analyics, and I have built a winning portfolio based on the Chaikin Power Guage rating and our methodology. But I also don’t get emotionally attached to stocks or panic at market downturns. I depend on the analytics to point me toward bullish stocks, and away from bearish stocks.

7) How has your portfolio performed this year?

My portfolio is up 25% YTD versus S&P 500, which is up 2% YTD.