BEWARE INVESTMENT ADVICE: ALWAYS CONSIDER THE SOURCE

First and foremost, let me make this perfectly clear, when I write about my investments, it should NOT be considered investment advice.  If it gives you some ideas for your own investment portfolio, I still strongly urge that you do your own research and make sure an investment is right for you.  I'll be the first to admit that I've made a lot of mistakes along the way and I certainly don't feel qualified to hand out advice to anyone regarding investing their hard earned money.  I only write about my experiences with investing for informational purposes and to keep track of my own progress (or setbacks).

Case in point:  Several years back, I got an investment tip from my sister's boss.  The man and his wife owned several small businesses and seemed to be doing quite well for themselves.  So when my sister said her boss had bought a stake in Atlantic Energy Solutions (AESO) and was expecting to make a pile of money, I jumped at the chance to get in on the deal.  At the time it seemed like a good idea.  So I bought 1,000 shares which are currently worth a whopping ten cents total.  I should have written them off and removed them from my portfolio a long time ago but I left them there as a reminder to consider the source of investment advice.  Turns out the guy giving the advice had lost so much money investing in "hot stocks" that his wife had to return to work as a chiropractor.  Since I took the advice without doing my own research, I paid dearly with the loss of my hard earned money.  

Since then, I'm much more inclined to check Morningstar ratings or Seeking Alpha, then do additional research to see whether or not I believe a stock or fund will continue to grow earnings and raise dividends.  I much happier with my investment results now.  I get a lot of emails touting different stocks and funds and sometimes I check them out, if the story sounds good.  Usually they don't seem to be right for me, so I don't buy, but occasionally they lead me to something that is right for me, so it's not entirely a waste of time.  But the big lesson here is, don't take my word or anyone else's when it comes to paying out your hard earned cash on investments.  Always check them out very thoroughly before you buy.