Ok, so, for the past few years, I have dabbled in the stock market knowing very little about investing, but determined to learn and invest on my own without brokers.  I have made investments with very little money, fully prepared to lose more than I gained initially while I get my bearings.  My career in the stock market was borne out of the late great Internet bubble, which burst, and I was determined to pace myself as I really did not know a thing. 

A couple of years later and I only feel slightly more educated and more comfortable investing than I did when I started.  I go through cycles.  Although I am adamant about seeing the activity in all of my accounts daily, there are times when I am reading and listening a lot to gauge what is going on in the general market and then there are times where I only track what is going on with the companies in my portfolio.  Over time, I have lost a little and have gained a little – in terms of realized losses and gains.  As of now, I am in the red in terms of unrealized loss and am at a point where I want to take the next step in investing.  I have a one year goal that I won’t disclose here (for fear of failing miserably and having to eat my words), but it is a goal nevertheless.  I realize that I need to learn and understand a lot more about the fundamentals of companies and prospective paths these companies are following. 

In theory, I’d like to be a long term investor in most of the positions I hold.  In reality, I am still an adrenaline seeking freak with a shaky trigger finger.  But, I am honestly trying to do better by eliminating the uncertainty that causes my emotional anxieties to flare up.  I want to be able to sit back and be comfortable about an investment, even through periods like this week’s credit crisis where companies were tanking prices left and right.  I see this time as a good time to buy into good companies at a discount.  But what might those companies be?

Over the last few years, I started with penny stocks, then moved up to small caps under $10, then to companies between $10-$20 and now I am investing in companies between $20 and $30.  Not big time by any means, but big enough to be in a realm where I can pick some strong long term multi-baggers…. if I can see and understand the right information about the companies that I would like to own. 

I promised myself that I would follow less hype (um, I bought a certain satellite radio provider at the height of the hype, doh) and more demonstration of how a company has grown over time.  This week, I bought a certain mortgage lender based on strong financials and growth alone.  I was very proud of the unemotional way that I decided to ignore the slight tugging I felt about buying a company at the very heart of an industry causing such a big bear in the market.  The very next day, said company was in the headlines with rumors of bankruptcy.  After swallowing REALLY hard, I asked myself, how could I be such a shitty investor?