Hi, I’m Mich the author behind BeatingTheIndex; my personal investment journal with a large focus on the North American oil and gas sector.
Back in 2008, I stood indifferent looking at the markets crashing. Why should I care? I always injected my free cash flow in my mortgage because I believe closing off this debt is an important step towards early retirement. What little money I had in registered retirement savings were contributed by the company, so it was not *my* money.
By the end of 2008, our company got bought out and going forward we had to contribute our own money in order to get the amount matched by the employer. This new reality forced me to start following the economy closely through the media and I started reading the business section of the daily news paper we receive at the office. Early in 2009, I struck a new passion after reading an article about Canadian oil and gas producers. There was no stopping it after that, I was hooked and I had to find out as much as I can about this sector. My first investment account followed shortly after and I started my investing journey in the summer of 2009.
Not My First Passion
Investing was not my first passion. In my teens I picked up a diary of Luftwaffe pilots from WW2 and since then I have read tons of books about WW2 in general. As a result, I spent countless hours across the years playing Hearts of Iron, Panzer General, Company of Heroes and the like. This should explain why my investment activity is littered with military terms.
Later in university I picked up another passion, theology. Was that a misplaced time to find a new love or what? But I had questions and instead of opting for easy answers I went all the way and ended up settling comfortably within Catholic theology. If you seek you will find.
In both cases, I had no one to discuss these subjects with since I had never met anyone who shared my interests in his 20s. Worse, my first job was at a mobile games studio; this was worse than university as discussions were centered on games, of course. I worked there for 18 months and moved on to a more professional company where the average age was definitely higher than at my last job.
What did all of that have to do with BTI? Well this is where I met my coworker Kevin from InvestitWisely who was the first person that I could discuss personal finance and economic subjects with. He was the one who encouraged me to start a blog and ended up launching a blog of his own. What started as an investment journal has become a community of investors in the oil and gas niche.
Opportunity knocks?
While I always thought of my blog as my investment journal, it created a new income stream and I got to connect with people who share the same interests. It was an eye opener to a new world on the internet. I recently launched a small niche site CanadianOilStocks that I am working on building up slowly. While I am not building castles in the air with what little Adsense provides it doesn’t hurt to have a new income stream while I build my growing dividend income.
Final Thoughts
We are all following our dreams out there and to put it bluntly, even though I am a project lead in one of the top mobile companies, this is not my dream field. I would love to build an online business on my own in a field that I love. Maybe in the future I will get the chance to quit the corporate world or just jump into a new field of activity leaving the 9 to 5 corporate world behind me.
Even before I joined the Yakezie, I’d been reading many of your blogs. You might not notice since I haven’t had the time to comment on a daily basis. I appreciate this community and wish to thank you all for the energy, the creative ideas and the information sharing this group exhibits. I stand ready to help anyone with a favor, so please don’t hesitate to ask.
My passions only presents a partial picture of who Mich is so let me add that I am a happily married man with 5 year old twin girls. I enjoy pretty much the same things many of you do such as a good meal out, movies, travel etc… I look forward to this community thriving as more and more of its members anchor themselves in the selflessness of helping others.
Great backdrop to your personal life Mich! I enjoy reading your blog and it is very refreshing to read your insights on the O&G sector!
Thank you MC,I am a reader of your blog as well, keep it up!
Hey Mich,
Welcome to the Yakezie! I’m glad that we pushed each other to start out on this blogging adventure. I am always fascinated by your insights into the oil & gas industry and by your success in investing, knowing when to move in, and knowing when to consolidate your positions. That sort of trading is not for me but I enjoy reading about your adventures. :)
It’s good to be able to share one’s thoughts, and sometimes you just need that extra push; I know I do! :)
Thanks Kevin, I know I needed one heck of an extra push to take the jump and I am glad you were there.
Mich, I love the personal story and enjoy getting to know you better. How cool you “actually know” Kevin in the flesh! I really appreciate your frequent visits to my sites and I enjoy reading your blog. You are a wonderful addition to the group.
Thank you Barb, I am a regular on your blog as well. It’s frustrating when my link backs always end up in the spam folder :)
That is amazing that you 2 work together! What kind of business are you guys in
We’re in software development.
I’m surprised to find out that investing was not your first passion! i enjoy reading your blog and I know you will find the right opportunity in your passion.
Thank you! That’s the beauty of life, you keep discovering new passions as you walk along.
I like how you contribute a large majority of your extra income toward your mortgage. I plan to do the same thing! Even though interest rates are low right now, I still think it would be amazing to be without a house payment. Plus, you could put some serious money away for your future retirement!
It’s true that the interest rates right now are low but we don’t know where rates will be in the future. By contributing to the mortgage, you will be getting a variable rate of return as rates are supposed to rise. To top it all, nothing beats securing your lifestyle!
3-4 more years and I am done with my mortgage hopefully!
I’ve been an avid reader at your blog and enjoy every analysis that you put up. It is interesting to hear that you weren’t originally attracted to the markets, but to software. I guess when you look at it, every company/market is just a bunch of binary, “if, then” statements. Makes sense why a software developer could enjoy it. :)
Keep it up and good luck in your niche site expansion!
To be honest JT, software never attracted me really, tried my best to avoid it but i couldn’t because when I graduated my comp engineering program in 2002, it was the post dot com era. The only jobs available were mostly in software and had to jump on the first opp I had!
Glad to learn more about you. Now I know why you use military terms to discuss your investing battles! I appreciate your energy and selfless help as well. You helped nudge me along as I was going through growing pains. Thanks again!
You’re welcome buddy, don’t hesitate to ask if I can help in any way!
Wow. I stop by your site often so know you are about the oil and gas! Glad to get to know more of your back story!
Thanks for stopping by often, you’ve been posting some great content lately yourself! I’m also a reader of your site.
Hi Mich – nice background story, and also good to know about your other project. You must be stepping into an alternate dimension to do it all, since I’d bet having two 5 year-old princesses keeps you busy enough.
You guessed right 101, I am so busy my blogging activity is NOT my first priority. Kids are growing fast and I want to enjoy them as much as I can since you can’t press on PAUSE and come back later to watch them grow!
Mich,
It is good to read a little about your personal life and learn something about you. Sounds like you are quite busy also.
Busy indeed optionsdude, I wish I can post on a daily basis as there’s daily action to report on in the O&G sector.
Great to hear your story. Look forward to learning even more about you and your blog!
I think nat gas has a great future!
Thank you Dr Dean and I have to agree with you on nat gas!
Nice to meet you Mich! Thanks for sharing your story. You’re definitely on the right track and best of luck.
Thank you Untemplater, all the best to you as well!
Welcome to the network Mitch. We too are trying to put as much extra cash to our mortgage as possible right now.
Thanks for sharing your story and like Barb said- so cool that you know Kevin in the flesh.
Thanks for the welcome Miss T, you can’t go wrong with throwing your extra cash on the mortgage!
Interesting story, I look forward to learning more about your blog.
Thanks Krant!
Thank you so much for the wonderful insight that you shared, life is really beautiful sometimes we learn and know what we really want in life. It is a constant travel and change is really something we need to cope with. A great food for thought to ponder!