New York - Ending up with a small fortune in the stock market is really quite easy, as long as you start with a large fortune. The truth of that axiom could be confirmed by Larry Tassinari, a transplanted New Hampshire native who retired to Sarasota, Fla.

Tassinari admits that he was a lousy investor before he "smartened up." Getting smart in his case meant joining an online investing community called ValueForum.com and getting engaged in the discussions on various stocks, sectors and strategies. In fact, he says that his portfolio grew more than ten-fold since the current bull market launched in early 2003.

Instead of acting on hunches or tips from cab drivers, Tassinari and more than 1,300 other ValueForum members get online to split the due diligence necessary to vet winning stocks. Actually, more than half the battle was moving into the right sectors, and the group did a decent job at that, arriving in a timely fashion to take advantage of gargantuan moves in energy, real estate, precious metals and royalty trusts.

We spoke with Larry Tassinari recently at a ValueForum get together in Sarasota, Fla. To find out which sectors the group finds most attractive now and to hear about a few of the stocks they're buying, click here for the video.