About the stock bloggers: Lita Epstein

We've asked each of our bloggers to introduce themselves and talk a little about why they love the market and what positions they call their own. We encourage our bloggers to own common stock and abide by a common code of conduct.

I love to write.  I started working professionally as a daily newspaper reporter for the Jersey Journal in Jersey City at the age of 19.  After graduating from Rutgers University, I worked as an editor at Popular Photography magazine.  Then I got married and moved to Washington, DC, where the political bug caught me.  I worked briefly as a press secretary for a U.S. Congressman from California.  Today I have over a dozen books on the market, including "Trading for Dummies" and "Reading Financial Reports for Dummies." 

Why are you passionate about stocks?
My interest in investing and helping others manage their finances started while I was DC.  The first two stocks I owned were Wendy's and Apple.  I did well with both of them and luckily got out in time before both took their first big fall.  But, as I got more and more involved in financial writing, I shifted to investing through mutual funds to avoid any potential conflicts.  Today my portfolio is at the no-load mutual fund shop, Vanguard.  To pick my investments, I carefully research the managers of the funds I choose.

To increase my financial knowledge and credentials, I went back to school to earn my MBA degree at Emory University's Goizueta Business School, sometimes called by its students and faculty Coca Cola U.  Coca Cola does give a lot of money to Emory.  I started teaching investing classes on the web at Ziff Davis University and then at Bloomberg University.  Both are gone now.