This blog post was originally published on the MoneyGeek.ca blog by Jin Choi. The website no longer exists, but Jin has graciously allowed us to re-publish his research for the benefit of future investors forever.
Image credit:Gotzila Freedom/Shutterstock.com
I want to start this announcement on a personal note.
Insofar as investments are concerned, this year is shaping up to be the toughest one in my life. If youve been following this blog for a while, you will know that my portfolio has taken a big hit over the past year. My financial loss however, is not why this year has been tough for me.
As you may know, I offer two types of paid subscriptions on this site. Regular members have access to certain tools, including various types of model portfolios, a risk analyzer, and so on. Premium members have access to everything that regular members have access to, but they also have access to my research on individual stocks.
In the past year, Ive recommended and published research on three Canadian oil and gas stocks. I continue to hold all three of them in spite of the fact that theyre the main reason my own TFSA portfolio has suffered.
Of the three oil and gas stocks, two of them are doing OK, all things considered. Im not worried about them going bankrupt, even if oil stays near these levels next year, and I know they will eventually go up when oil goes up. However, I cant say the same about the third company, Long Run Exploration (LRE).
Unfortunately, LRE was also the company that I felt was most undervalued. In fact, I still believe that its undervalued, so as noted, I will continue to hold the stock. As I published my own research on the company, many of MoneyGeeks premium members bought in as well, and those members have lost money as a result.
Now, I dont mind losing my own money on my own investments. Ive invested in other companies that have even gone bankrupt in the past, but my portfolio as a whole always recovered. However, what this experience with LRE has taught me is that I dont want to be responsible for other peoples losses. Even though I warn people that investing in individual stocks is risky, Ive learned that I still feel guilty when other people feel unhappy about the outcome.
Therefore, after some reflection, Ive decided to slowly shift the focus of MoneyGeek. Ive decided that I want the membership to be less about relying on my own analysis, and more about helping members think for themselves. The new resource Im launching, which Im calling Stock Centre, is the first embodiment of this shift.
About Stock Centre
Let me explain what Stock Centre is today, and what it will be in the future.
Stock Centre has a page for every Canadian stock today. Each page contains links to the official financial statements, and a growing minority of those pages also contain extracted financial statements, so you can quickly see the financial performance of each stock over the years.
Also, a growing number of pages have charts that display the stocks momentum. Historically, stocks with positive momentum outperformed stocks with negative momentum. As an example, you can take a look at this Baytex Energy page. For more information on momentum strategies, I would refer you to the book called DIY Financial Advisor.
Over the next months and years, I plan on adding more types of information on each page, including news and value investing metrics. I will do my best to make all the information there easily understandable for non-investment professionals. In essence, I want Stock Centre to give the average user easy access to everything he or she needs in order to properly analyze a stock.
Ive decided to launch Stock Centre now, rather than wait to add more features because I want to start getting your feedback as soon as possible. If, after browsing through the pages, you have any suggestions on what to change, or what features youd like to see, please dont hesitate to email me or post the suggestion in the comment box at the bottom of this page.
Stock Centre is also just the beginning. I also plan on introducing other tools that will help investors create and implement their portfolios more easily than ever. I plan on introducing resources that track different markets, such as oil, bonds, and so on. Some of these features will be available for the public for free. However, other tools will be available only for paid members.
Given the shift in focus, current members might wonder if Ill scrap some of the existing services. For the foreseeable future, the answer is no. I will keep the existing services as long as I believe people find them valuable. That means I will keep writing regular articles and answering questions on the Q&A forum, among other things. However, I may scrap some services in the future if I find that people no longer use them.
Finally, I want to thank those members who have emailed to encourage me through this time. Im human, so I make mistakes, but I will try my best to learn from them and deliver a better service going forward.
This blog post was originally published on the MoneyGeek.ca blog by Jin Choi. The website no longer exists, but Jin has graciously allowed us to re-publish his research for the benefit of future investors forever.
