Investment Philosophy

Every investor, even unknowingly, has one.

Are you investing for the short, medium or long term?
Are you growth or value orientated ? Do you know the difference?
How do you feel about risk? Aggressive or conservative?
Have you lived through market downturns, if so how did you react? what happened?

I can't answer these questions for you, as the answers are different for each individual. But I can answer them for myself, and show you my own philosophy.

I'm investing for the long term (20+ years)
I'm more value then growth orientated
I'm fine with the moderate to high risk that comes with investing mainly in a diversified equity portfolio.

I believe in low cost/expense investment and avoid any complicated or high fee/expense investments. Any mutual fund that has a MER (Management Expense Ratio) higher than 1% is too much for me. Which ends up meaning mutual funds I invest in are index related versus actively managed.

At least half of my portfolio is kept in low-cost index funds that don't attempt to beat the market, but simply match the market.

The other half is in individual equity stocks (over 5 but under 15)that I feel will be consistent in delivering profits to shareholders in the form of dividends or distributions.

You can think of the first half of the portfolio being orientated towards John Bogle's teachings while the second half partially leaning towards Benjamin Graham.