I know I can come off as an, at times, arrogant son of a gun...SOMETIMES!?!?

I thought I would give you a bit of a background on how I came to hold the views on the markets that I hold....Self indulgent? Yeah...a bit, I know I'm a bit of an attention whore, mea culpa.

Back in the days of the tech craze I was hired in a sales and marketing role with, (what would later become) a dot bomb flame out. I knew nothing about the stock market back then, I was still shaving with a washcloth in those days. But the company gave me stock options and the opportunity to take part in the ESOP (Employee Share Ownership Program). Wooo hooo, I was a big roller. I think I chose about $100 per month or so to go into purchasing shares of the company I worked at. They went up, I was getting them at a slight discount....and my options, while not yet vested, they were green. I was a genius!!!

I opened a brokerage account and started buying some stocks...and did alright at first. Then my company stock started moving down, my own stocks were doing okay though. So one day I dropped in to see my late great father. He was a forensic accountant and had worked in the financial industry all his life. When he found out I was investing in the market...he hit the roof. That's overstating it, but he wasn't happy. He wasn't upset with me for investing in the markets though, he was mad that I hadn't discussed it with him first.

Back in the 60s, when I was still in diapers, my father worked on Wall Street. But I never really knew what he did there, he called it 'The Agency'. Well, it turns out he worked the trading desk for the international bond market, and he knew lots about the stock market. In fact he'd played stocks heavily in the 60s during the bull market that was going on...and thanks to some friends who liked him, he was able to furnish our house with new living room furniture, a hi-fi stereo and colour TV set, all with money he made in the market....

Living in NYC was expensive (still is I imagine) and Dad was very junoir and not making a great salary and had a wife and 2 kids to support. He told me he floated entire pay checks (it was in NYC so it was a check, not a cheque). I loved and love my Dad enourmously, he died in 2013. He was an incredible jock....could play any sport. In NYC the firm had a softball (fastpitch) team that played in an industrial league on Staten Island where we lived, (because he couldn't afford Manhattan or NJ). For 3 years in a row he led their league in HRs....the Americans couldn't believe a Canadian could play anything well other than hockey.

When he found out I was risking money in the market he did two things....first he told me that Wall and Bay Streets are full of criminals, that the public markets are full of sharks and that I'm little more than chum....Remember Chief Brody in Jaws with the ''chum'' bucket?

Then he gave me a book to read....by Joseph Granville, it was called 'Daily stock market timing for maximum profit'. I believe it was written in 1972....

I'll continue this later.