Welcome to 2009

With the new year comes a new committment, and that is to study and perfect my skills in stock trading.  I have been a student of the market for over ten years, managing my retirement portfolio through good times and bad.  Nothing has been more satisfying, or humbling, than following the machinations of market fluctuations.

My journey started upon finishing a medical specialty residency in 1994 when I began to seek out opportunities to invest for retirement.  Where to put all that coin I was going to make?  To my initial dismay I found that objectivity was lacking in the financial markets.  I began by reading books by John Bogle and Charles Schwab about mutual fund and stock investing.  I joined an investment club during the tech boom of the 1990's and found that fundamental analysis can lead to very poor portfolio performance during times of irrational exuberance.

With the new century my interests have expanded to macroeconomics, money creation, the vagaries of the banking industry and the necessary role of government.  I am fortunate to be blessed with a healthy skepticism which has served me to avoid major disasters.  My medical training has taught me risk management which is very useful when managing assets.  Patience and study are also necessary in both medical practice and stock trading.  

Lately I have become enamored with technical analysis, trend following, support and resistance lines, and have even found some value in knowing about Fibonacci retracements and Elliot wave mechanics.  While I am hardly an authority, and lack a developed right-brain, I have become increasingly proficient in interpretation of the squiggly lines and the hard right edge.  Books by Alexander Elder have helped me get a grasp of day trading.

So with the new year I have carved out a giant notch in my schedule in order to pursue my love of trading stocks and ETF's.  My beautiful wife has given her generous support of my hare-brained scheme... as long as I am serious about it.

Join me and I'll make every attempt to keep it interesting.  The site will attempt to be real-time, but I fear that will not be consistent with day trading, so I may just put up themes on a daily basis and keep you up to date on my thoughts and concerns.  Most of all... it will be fun!