Conflicting Emotions

I was prompted to write this piece after having a discussion with someone in the real world-offline that is-about this blog, my reasons for writing and how I could possibly write about companies that I have a financial interest in.

What I would argue, is how can you write about a company with any authority and conviction without having some of your own moola on the line.

Of course one of the biggest arguments against writing and having a pecuniary interest in your subject is that your output may be tainted and that of course you have a financial imperative to spin your story to make it positive and fluffy.

That is true of some but you are bound to get caught out eventually if all that you commit to the PC is unmitigated candy floss.

I prefer to write about what is happening in the company from day to day, good or bad.

Of course I may put my own "slant" on things but it is unintentional and is purely my own style of writing.

Once you get to know how I write then I guess you may be able to see right through the crap!

Clearly I bought the companies that I sometimes write about so I do see them as good buys and I am bound to accentuate the positive when things are going well. On the other hand if anything is going wrong, I will be one of the first to point it out.

If anything, when I have a financial interest in my subject I tend to be more critical than if I had no money invested. My passion for the subject allows me to explore the negative aspects of a company even if individuals reading it get the wrong idea and perhaps decide they wouldn't want to buy shares in a company because I may have have written something disparaging about it.

Every company goes through bad patches and I will talk about those as well as the good times, I will leave it up to broking houses, brokers and some mainstream commentators to give the market the spin.

In the end it is up to the reader and individual investor to accept or reject the screeds of comment about some companies and make up their own mind.


c Share Investor 2007