About the stock bloggers: Tobias S. Buckell

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.

Who are you, and why are you passionate about stocks?

I'm Tobias S. Buckell. I grew up in Grenada, West Indies, and spent time in the British and US Virgin Islands, and now currently live in Ohio, of all places. It had something to do with hurricanes. I'm a former English Major from a small mid-west college. In my spare time I write fiction, with my first novel having just come out this year and another scheduled for next summer.

My obsession with stocks stemmed from an encounter one summer in college. A young cousin of mine had a paper route. We both got up every morning to work (he had a paper route, I cleaned boats), but every morning before delivering papers he sat down to go over his stocks. He set aside a portion of every check to invest, and at maybe 10 or 12 at the time this kid had more money in play than I made that summer. Ouch.

I had a rough younger life in regards to money, but this cousin shattered my assumption that everyone except the obviously rich lived month-to-month. I knew I had to break that cycle, and that smart investments would be an important part of that.

As a book-a-day reading geek, I set about reading every book I could get my hands on for several years about the subject.

What was the first stock you owned?

SPDV. Spacedev is a science fiction writer's dream. It's a penny stock, but the idea of investing in a company that focused on space industry of the sort that I wrote about made me a natural sucker. I purchased it at under a dollar, but had to sell 6 months later to pay for some college books I needed at the time. But knowing I owned a stock of a company made the world... brighter.

What is your worst investment ever?

I have the equivalent of a house mortgage of student debt over my head because I went to a small private college. At the time I didn't question or go shopping for my education, and I vastly overpayed for what I got and I'm saddled with that mistake now and still paying on it. I still twitch when I think about it.

What is your investing success story?

My best investment so far is my retirement plan. My employer matched my contributions plus about 30% so everytime I socked money away into it I doubled that portion every month. That's just plain awesome. Sadly that's over now, but I'm glad I took full advantage of it. The account started right when the internet bubble burst, and I picked the riskiest investment package that still dabbled in those kinds of stocks, and didn't look back.

What do you own now?

I'm a bit of an old school Warren Buffet kind of guy as I try to own stocks of items that I use or have some sort of consumer confidence in. I own Starbucks because I drink way too much of their coffee, I guess it could be an odd attempt to regain some of that particular investment. I own Apple because I enjoy their product. I also own Church & Dwight stock, not because I'm an enthuisastic customer, but because everytime I swipe a debit/credit card the chances are they're involved somehow.

Every month a little bit is withdrawn from my bank and those shares purchased. I'm in it for the long haul as I'm in my mid-20s and in no particular rush. Slow and steady, and all that.