Seasonally Speaking, October is time to buy stocks, especially late Oct & esp techs & small caps. October can evoke fear on Wall Street. Memories are stirred of crashes & massacres. -- Jeffrey A. Hirsch (@AlmanacTrader)

September and October are notoriously turbulent and challenging. The gains of July and August are likely to be tested. The pundits will again assail the track record of Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway only to discover -- if they're fair and paying attention -- that IT'S STILL WORKING. In our community, weakness in September & October is welcomed as an accumulation opportunity.

We celebrate one of the better January stock markets in recent years and glance in the direction of Groundhog Day -- our annual celebration of community-based investing at Manifest Investing. For 19 years ... and 16 years of Groundhog Challenge, the stock selection has been formidable. This year's celebrity hog will be David Einhorn (Greenlight Capital) and the individual championship likely comes down to Lisa Robertson and Kurt Kowitz for the win. The group entry is a photo finish between Montgomery County (Maryland), LA/MS (New Orleans), North Texas (Dallas) and defending co-Champion Space Coast (Florida).

This month, as we update the most widely followed stocks, we're reminded of strength in numbers and how often our community of investors experiences long term success. Ken Kavula spends a few moments with keeping score and our target of beating the market.

We want to focus on what matters ... and continuously become a better long-term investing resource for you. This month we revisit what's important and offer some glimpses of some work in progress.

This month we are reminded to focus on growth, profitability and valuation ... and that it's easier (and more fun) with friends. Our investing community is a source of ideas and support for the marathon.

What can we learn from successful long-term investors? This month we take a look at a screening technique for non-core opportunities inspired by our repeat Groundhog Champions.

This month we take a look back at a Lost Decade and a prescient forecast by Ralph Acampora made back in October 2001.

During our recent TSP webcast, the audience was quiet. Too quiet. Turns out that attendees were rustling papers and punching keyboards, putting their own statements to work. We clearly struck a nerve.

A group of investors heeding the lessons of Graham, Babson and Nicholson has at least one leg up on the crowd and a better than average opportunity to generate exceptional returns.

“The only people who think buy-and-hold is dead are short-term thinkers frustrated by their inability to follow it.” -- Morgan Housel, The Motley Fool (2013)

We'll side with Graham in our quest for above-average performance ... dare to be a little different ... and lean on a heavy dose of skepticism about shortcuts.