About Me

---

We’ll, this is the section where I try and make myself sound interesting - which is a bigger challenge than investing itself.

I‘m a 40 something, married to a wonderful wife with 2 beautiful kids. I support Derby County (so clearly have a level of resilience needed for investing) and enjoy fishing, tennis (which I've just started) and playing with my kids. I‘m also an FA Level 1 football coach and co-manage my sons football team - which helps with my patience but is also one of the most rewarding things I do.

As you’ll tell by the website name, I love films - I‘m a huge fan of Star Wars and James Bond as well as The Big Short (a great watch for investors) and  I also love Oasis and dance music.

I really enjoy working and am lucky enough to work for an innovative fintech business where I get the opportunity to be myself, work as part of a great team and see my hard work come to fruition.

My interest in shares investing started about 8 years ago when a colleague gave me The Naked Trader by Robbie Burns - an awesome book and one I’ve re-read on a number of occasions. I tried investing but have to admit that I was terrible, despite my best efforts. I picked shares at random and any money I made was purely down to luck and the money I lost was down to naivety - I’d buy shares even as the price dropped and having lost £2k on a share called Quindell, it was time to take a break.

This summer, I decided that I wanted to get back into investing. I was frustrated with the crappy interest I was getting on my savings and my SIPP (proceeds from my first ever job) that I’d invested in funds was performing badly so I thought I’d take control. I re-read The Naked Trader and bought Trade Like a Shark (also by Robbie Burns). They both inspired me. 

Since then I’ve begun investing and this blog details my journey as I try to improve the returns - I’ve got to think I can improve on the 7p per month interest and I’m willing to take the risk. Part of the reason for writing is to improve my investing - I figured that if I have to write about it, it will help with my thought process and make me think harder about my investments.  

Why The Jedi Investor?

As a huge Star Wars fan, it was easy to choose the name. However, it was the qualities of a Jedi that I thought would help me to be a better investor: patience, not to react with anger (that's the path to the dark side), believe in myself, be disciplined, have a long term horizon and not being afraid to learn along the way. If I can develop my investing and show Jedi qualities, I'm confident about being successful. 

To quote Yoda (which I'll often do) -  'Much to learn you still have my old Padawan. This is just the beginning.'

Thank you for reading - I hope you enjoy hearing about my experiences.