It's Father's Day, and while my daughters aren't old enough to play the market yet, here are some investment-related lessons that I plan to teach them as they grow. Many of them are things my own dad taught me.

1. Dare to take risks. If you don't risk anything, you'll likely never grow – either your portfolio or as a person.

2. Don't rush into things. Do your homework and know what you're investing in. If you have any questions, don't do anything until they are answered.

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Since over half of a stock's performance is due to its sector, it is important to have a method to evaluate broad sector and industry trends. As readers of my previous posts may guess, I am quite partial to IBD's industry ranking feature which ranks 197 industry sub-groups according to six month price performance. This level of detail is hard to emulate easily at home, but even simpler systems can give you insight into the market and help you make better informed trades. One easy way to gauge broad sector trends is to track sector ETFs versus a broad market index.

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Watchlists are great. Dave (my PBT compatriot) and I put together a nice little system using Google Docs where we cull out potential stocks from larger lists, identify target buy points, and add any notes and additional information that might be useful. Using this relatively new system, we've both come up with some great plays, a few of which we've discussed on this very blog.

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Mr. Rogers (Kenny, that is, not the neighborly guy) has given us some timely advice that works well across many disciplines. I could write a long post using an overextended metaphor as to how the stock market is like a game of poker, taking bits of K-Rog's classic country song to illustrate various analogous situations, but I'll spare you. Suffice it to say that knowing when to hold and when to fold is key a key part of both gambling and investing.

Let's look at a couple examples.

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