INVESTOR SPOTLIGHT.

Name: Carole Margolis

Residence: Northridge

Occupation: Homemaker

Age: 56

How she got started: ``I don't have much money, but my mother encouraged me. I've watched her for years. She did pretty well.'' Margolis' 88-year-old mom, a widow, needed to boost her income during her retirement years.

Best stock pick: Microsoft. Last November, Margolis bought a handful of shares for $149 a share. The stock then split to $77 a share. Since then, Microsoft has doubled. It closed at 138 1/2 on Friday. But Margolis laments a missed opportunity: She thought about buying Thousand Oaks-based Amgen when it was $6 a share. Why didn't she? ``Because I was stupid, stupid, stupid.''

Worst stock pick: HemaCare. She bought a few shares for $8 a share in the early 1990s, after reading a flattering article about the company and believing that HemaCare might find the cure for AIDS. But stock in the Sherman Oaks-based provider of blood products and services plunged to a little over a dollar, where it hovered last week.``I don't know why,'' Margolis said. ``I can't figure it out.'' Since she's already taken a big hit on it, she figures she might as well hold on to it.

Investing philosophy: ``Don't play with money you can't afford to lose.''

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