ME AND MY MONEY

'Big-picture player' takes long-term view

TONY MARTIN

Special to The Globe and Mail

November 29, 2008

JIM PROCTOR

AGE: 61

OCCUPATION: Retired public health nutritionist.

PORTFOLIO: Agnico-Eagle Mines, Kinross, Goldcorp, Silver Wheaton, Silver Standard Resources.

Print Edition - Section Front

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THE INVESTOR

Jim Proctor managed to not only use the dot-com bubble to learn about investing, but make a profit from it as well. "In 1999 I realized it was a bubble, so I missed the last year of it by sitting on the sidelines."

Today, the retired public health nutritionist who lives in Kenora, Ont., is a self-professed "big-picture player." His strategy is to look two or three years down the road and try to pick the sectors that will be doing well at that point. Noting that his father was a historian, he says: "I'm interested in geopolitics, international finance, central bank policy, the Middle East and oil."

These days, he's looking at where all the money that rushed into cash will go when the subprime dust settles. And when that money starts to be invested again, he feels it could lead to rising prices and an unstable U.S. dollar, adding further fuel to the fire. "I don't think people will want to be in cash or in fixed income in a currency that could be unstable."

This distrust in paper money and paper investments, he says, will lead to a demand for "real things" such as precious metals and commodities.

He also sees a bright future for agricultural products - he invested in Potash and Viterra at the beginning of this year - and oil. "Those two sectors will come back much faster than copper and nickel and other commodities," he says. "You can do without a flat-screen TV that's got a lot of copper wire, but people need food and people need energy. They are the necessities of life."

Half of Mr. Proctor's portfolio is currently in precious metals. He holds Agnico-Eagle, Kinross - which he bought at just $4 a share right after 9/11 - and his biggest holding is Goldcorp, which he began picking up at $9. Two years ago, he also began buying a few silver stocks. "It's a precious metal and also an industrial commodity."

WHAT HE'S WATCHING

When the economy starts to pick up he'll look at financials and the railways. "We're heading into an era of high energy prices and I think they'll replace highways as the backbone of transportation."

BEST MOVE

Burnaby, B.C.-based fuel cell maker Ballard Power went public in 1993 at just under $3 -- adjusted for splits -- and by 2000 was just shy of $200, with Mr. Proctor selling all the way up. Ballard closed yesterday at $2.68.

WORST MOVE

Global Crossing was one play "where I stubbed my toe really badly." The company drew a lot of attention over its plans to lay down a network of fibre-optic cable, but fizzled out with the crash of the tech boom. "I didn't realize they were doing everything with so much debt, and it turned out to be totally unsustainable."

ADVICE

"Trust your judgment. If you really have a good gut feeling and everything you have read supports that view, stay with it."

tony.martin@sympatico.ca