Adrian Storisteanu, 53
Occupation: Software specialist, living in Toronto
Portfolio: Current stocks include: Royal Bank, Bank of Montreal, Potash Corp., Research In Motion Ltd., TransCanada Corp., EnCana Corp., Barrick Gold Corp., Penn West Energy Trust, Berkshire Hathaway Inc., General Electric Co. and Citigroup Inc.
The investor
Adrian Storisteanu, a software specialist with several patents to his name, has a mischievous sense of humour. Of note: the April 1 post to his blog, Financial Tactics, shows a screen shot of a Google search for "serious financial information" pointing only to excerpts from his blog. His acquaintance with literary works comes in handy, too. In one post he references a letter Karl Marx wrote to a friend wherein Marx reveals he has been speculating in English stocks and "in this way ... made over £400."
"It's a type of operation that makes demands on one's time," Marx wrote. "But it is worthwhile running some risk in order to relieve the enemy of his money."
His approach
Mr. Storisteanu recently joined the ranks of the do-it-yourself investor. Years of "portfolio shrinkage ... high MER (what he calls the mismanagement expense ratio) funds, the jolly crash of 2008, followed in short order by a fortuitous layoff," gave him the impetus. "I mostly put money in the more solid sort of companies, with some always set aside for fun play on the TSX Venture exchange. The market's ups and downs usually take everything along for the ride, so I usually buy during the downturns and sell during the upturns."
Best move
He bought SanDisk Corp. in March, 2009, and sold it at over four times the buying price. "This, of course, isn't entirely my own personal wisdom. At the time, the proper investing strategy was: 'Buy anything.' "
Worst move
"Following a few fast trades done the right way, I repurchased the HBP NYMEX Natural Gas Bull Plus exchange-traded fund. Then I kept it for too long - against the trend."
Advice He's been known to contribute the occasional thought at http://financialtactics.blogspot.com. And:
1. "Trust no one (not even the one who tells you so)."
2. "It's only money after all."
3. "Wrap fresh fish carefully in the newspaper page you're now reading."
Want to share your strategies?
E-mail mccolumn@yahoo.com