Investment objectives.

When you invest, do you tend to "swim against the tide," always taking a point of view that is opposite from your counterparts? If so, you may be a contrarian investor, points out Joseph P. Lizzio, vice president for investments, Dean Witter Reynolds, Garden City, N.Y. Conversely, do you always check the asset value or book value of a stock to determine if it is attractively valued? That could mean you're a value investor. Which of the following investment styles is closest to yours?:

Contrarians buy stocks that others shun. Such stocks often have low price/earnings ratios, are usually in an out-of-favor industry, trade close to book value, and have small institutional ownership. According to contrarian opinion, when people say the market is going up, it means they are fully invested and have no additional purchasing power. To the contrarian opinion, when people say the market is going up, it means they are fully invested and have no additional purchasing power. To the contrarian, this means the market is at its peak. When people are predicting a decline, the contrarian believes they already have sold out, and thus the market will go up>

Cyclical investors purchase stock in companies that will benefit from a...