<THE FOOLISH FOUR>

Foolish Four Survey
by Ann Coleman
(TMF AnnC)

Reston, VA. (October 23, 1998) -- Speaking of Messin' with the System, I've been messing with the Foolish Four and Dow areas a bit and plan to do some more messin' around with them over the next few months. Under Robert Sheard's management, these areas grew like Kansas corn on steroids and provided a rich harvest of strategies and innovations, but the time has come to do a bit of pruning. We've got some dead branches and fallen leaves that are obscuring the view and possibly even frightening away some of the folks who wander in from time to time to visit.

My goal is to make the Foolish Four area and the whole Dow Investing area work well (aren't you glad I didn't say "bloom?") for both newcomers and old timers. To that end, I am soliciting feedback from you, our readers, the folks who count -- whether you've been reading this column for years or just dropped by for the first time.

For starters (I actually expect to be asking for input rather frequently over the next two months), I am looking at two pages: the Current Dow Order and the 1998 Dow Returns. Current Dow Order lists the 30 Dow stocks and their most recent closing prices, dividends, yields, and RP ratio. It also lists the current picks for our three main strategies: The High Yield 10 (Dogs of the Dow), the Foolish Four, and the RP variation. Go ahead, click on those links if you want to see them. I'll wait.

Survey 1: We know that the Current Dow Order page is frequently used by many readers, but it would help me greatly to get an idea of how just many use it and how often it is used. So, if you would, click here. That will open an e-mail window addressed to a special mailbox at fool.com.

All you have to do is type in the subject line the approximate number of times per month (0 to 20) that you check the Current Dow Order page and click "Send." (Please, please, don't write anything in the body of the e-mail message! I won't read it. I have no idea how many responses this survey will generate, so I am planning to simply count the responses from the subject line rather than opening each message. Some e-mail systems require there to be something in the body of the message. If that's the case, just put in a single period.) You'll pop right back here when you finish, so please, do it now so you won't forget. Thanks.

Survey 2: The 1998 Dow Returns page is a bit more complicated. On that page we list the year-to-date returns for each Dow stock and the major indices. (I don't anticipate any change in those listings, by the way.) We also list the returns for a number of strategies that have been discussed at various times in this area. That's what I need to get a feel for.

For this survey, I am asking you to click here and in the subject line just type the abbreviation(s) of any of the strategies that we cover that you personally can't live without OR any Dow strategy you would like to see listed that isn't presently included. Again, I will just be looking at the subject line, not the body of the e-mail.

For your convenience, here is the list of strategies that we currently cover in the 1998 Returns page. If you don't recognize some of them, don't worry about it. I'm not sure why they are all there, either.

PPP
UV 2
Foolish 4
BTD 4
HY 4
RP 4
UV 5
BTD 5
CUVY 5
HY 5
HY 10
Dow 30

Thanks! That's the cut-and-dried part. The other part is this: I always welcome any kind of suggestions from my readers. I read them avidly, in fact. If you want to send me any kind of suggestions for changes you would like to see in the Foolish Four area and the Dow area, now is a great time to do that. Just put them in a regular e-mail and send to [email protected]. I'll read every word.

Fool on and prosper!

Current Dow Order | 1998 Dow Returns

10/23/98 Close

Stock Change Last -------------------- UK - 7/16 40.88 IP - 7/8 47.19 MO + 3/16 50.13 EK -1 15/16 74.56

Day Month Year FOOL-4 -1.86% -1.75% 8.90% DJIA -0.95% 7.77% 6.88% S&P 500 -0.72% 5.28% 10.33% NASDAQ -0.52% 0.00% 7.86% Rec'd # Security In At Now Change 12/31/97 206 Eastman Ko 60.56 73.50 21.36% 12/31/97 276 Philip Mor 45.25 50.00 10.50% 12/31/97 289 Int'l Pape 43.13 45.56 5.65% 12/31/97 291 Union Carb 42.94 39.81 -7.28% Rec'd # Security In At Value Change 12/31/97 206 Eastman Ko 12475.88 15141.00 $2665.13 12/31/97 276 Philip Mor 12489.00 13800.00 $1311.00 12/31/97 289 Int'l Pape 12463.13 13167.56 $704.44 12/31/97 291 Union Carb 12494.81 11585.44 -$909.38 CASH $754.73 TOTAL $54448.73