Hi! My name is Aaron Grow and I live on a ranch near Hill City, SD.

I’m passionate about stocks and my objective for this blog is to build an interactive forum where you can learn from me and I can learn from you. If you read something you’d like to know more about, or if you have helpful information, please post and I’ll respond to the best of my ability.

I hope to see this grow into an online investment club. (Or support group, depending on how we’re doing!)

The goal of this blog will be to provide the kind of helpful financial information-from a local perspective-that will help us avoid losses and grow our portfolios in this tough market climate.

I have a post-graduate degree in another field, so I’m self-educated in the world of investing.

I watch CNBC (Fast Money and Mad Money are my favorite broadcasts), read the Rapid City Journal, Investor’s Business Daily, Newsweek, Newsmax, BusinessWeek, Forbes, various investment books, and on occasion, USA Today.

I have nothing to sell since I’m not employed by the financial industry in any way.

When I trade, I’ll post a new blog, tell you my reasoning behind the trade and how well the stock or stocks performed. I will provide a complete portfolio update with every blog post.

I have a good chunk of my life savings on the line which I’m actively managing, and I believe that this process is one of the greatest educators around. (For some mysterious reason, losing money or making money helps me pay exquisite attention to what I’m doing!)

My hope is that the Rapid City Journal online community will learn something from my overall success in the market. However, some of the more optimistic readers out there may see my potential little financial train wreck as a great learning experience as well! (Some might even find that entertaining!)

Please join me in navigating this treacherous market, where the Dow just turned in its worst June performance since the Great Depression! Praise the Lord and pass the short ETFs!

Quote of the day: “In the short run, the market is a voting machine, but in the long run it is a weighing machine.” Benjamin Graham, Value Investor

Disclosure: Aaron owns shares of Agnico-Eagle Mines (AEM), American Oriental Bioengineering (AOB), Broadwind Energy (BWEN), IShares Silver Trust (SLV), Market
Vectors Russia ETF Trust (RSX), Merck (MRK), Prudent Global Income Fund (PSAFX) and UltraShort Financials ProShares (SKF)