This blog (and blog title) is inspired by the late, great Benjamin Graham, author of the Intelligent Investor. He was a pioneer the value investing approach, perhaps even the founder of value investing as a “method of investing,” even though many people probably practiced the technique much earlier. His value investing techniques can be applied to other investment instruments as well, such as bonds, real estate, and mutual funds. More than just value investing, Graham’s book made me look at investments using plain old common sense.
This blog is not just about value investing, however, particularly because I do not do a lot of individual stock investing myself. This blog will deal with common sense investing as well as personal finance. It will have a mostly Canadian slant, with of course some US content as well.
I really hope I can generate some interest with this blog. I find there are a lot of misconceptions out there about investing and personal finance. There are a lot of good books and a lot of bad books, and lot of bad financial advisors and some good ones, and some good investments and some which are downright bad. There are also a lot of people out there in the media and in the general public who have no idea what they are talking about that will try to give you free advice. That advice will more often than not be bad advice. The goal of this blog is not to give out advice. It is to educate people on the facts about investing and personal finance so they can make intelligent decisions themselves.