The Benefits of a Trading Blog or Journal

As the year draws to a close I wanted to comment on the benefits I have received from running this blog over the last couple of months. I have found it an immensely rewarding experience and I am somewhat surprised at how easy it has been to keep coming up with new posts and information to share you with you all.

The first and most important benefit I have noticed is that having a public blog forces you to read and write about company announcements. Every time news comes out I make sure I read it in depth and consider its implications before I post an article. Yes, I am sure you already read company announcements, but writing about them takes your analysis to a whole different level.

Secondly, I have found the weekly updates to be very satisfying and help quantify my portfolios performance. A week goes so quick and sometimes it is hard to remember where the share price was a couple of days ago let alone 3 or 4 weeks back. By writing down the closing price each week I have become more “in tune” with each stocks performance and quantify what the impact of each announcement, market sentiment, etc has been.

Thirdly, it provides an important review tool. I have copious amounts of notes on all the stocks I have invested in and besides OBJ which I bought before starting this blog a lot of that information is shared on here. Instead of searching my computer it is sometimes easier for me to read through my old posts. Not only does this allow me to review information on each company but it provides an insight into what I was thinking at the time.

Finally, it has allowed me to connect with other traders and investors. I am normally on HotCopper, Aussie Stock Forums and ShareScene a number of times throughout the day, however, the blog has provided a different avenue of discussion. Some of my readers have posted stocks they would like me to check out, interesting links or just there comments. I appreciate all the feedback and it is good to know that people are taking the time to read by posts.

So if you are an investor or trader I would strongly recommend starting a blog. I think the fact that it is private creates a certain level of expectation which will ensure you keep posting and keep up to date on each of the stocks you own. If you start one let me know and I will share the link on my blog.