Starting new blog

Hello to any and all readers,

First off i am a Canadian who enjoys reading and writing about investing. So i figured i would start this blog. I have several reasons why i wanted to start but, first and foremost was to journal my thoughts, trades and ideas regarding investing.

I figure my background in how or why i started investing is a good idea so here it is:

I started investing seriously in the past 4-5 years. I figured it was important since my pension plan is self directed. I jumped around with different investing techniques from daytrading, value investing and options (all this with non-registered funds). Most of my funds continue to be left in a few 'choice' mutual funds. While i like ETF's in theory i have not had much use for them yet. I will explain my disdain for Canadian ETF's in another entry.

While i have tried many different investing ideas (some more foolish than others) one staple remains. I have continued to add monthly contributions to my current low MER mutual funds. This dollar cost averaging is almost fool proof for younger investors such as myself because it takes the market psychology away from investing. One of the first investing books i read was 'The Wealthy Barber' which outlines principles for 'easy' investing that are still with me.

Currently i do little to no daytrading as this is stressful, time consuming and doesn't make sense for me. I have shifted my focus to a Ben Graham value type approach. In Graham's book 'The Intelligent Investor' he highlights principles for sound investing. He also states that one may allocate 'funds' (lets say 10% of a portfolio) for speculative or gambling type endeavours.

This is where my blog is headed. I currently 'play' with about 10% of my investment capital using mostly options trading. I have yet to incorporate options into the bulk of my investments, but can see this happening in the future.

One final note i have never been or will claim to be an English major so if you see any grammar or spelling mistakes please ignore.

Please stay tuned to my different thoughts and ideas, most of which will surround the world of Canadian options trading.