Gerry Roy, 73
Occupation Retired.
The portfolio
BCE Inc., Brookfield Office Properties, Canadian Pacific Railway, Enbridge, Firm Capital Mortgage Investment, iShares DEX Long Term Bond ETF, Mainstreet Equity, Keyera, McDonald's, National Bank of Canada, Northwest Healthcare Properties REIT,
Progressive Waste Solutions.
The investor
Gerry Roy grew up very poor. His schooling ended with Grade 6, and by 13 he was working. In his early 20s, he lost a leg below the knee in a mining accident, but nothing slowed him down. His careers - before retiring at 47 - include working as a photographer, being a DJ and running a TV repair shop. Along the way, he and his wife put their four children through university.
Why he uses charts
Mr. Roy happily admits that with his limited education, reading stock research was a challenge, which is why he gravitated to charts. He likes to see a stock rising steadily, and staying above the 200-day moving average.
His sector approach
Mr. Roy notes that real estate has done well recently. He keeps tabs on the sectors through Globe Investor and other websites.
On the income side
For many years he bought a new five-year GIC every month. He eventually had one maturing each month. He also had the smarts when interest rates were sky-high in 1980 to take out a mortgage on his paid-off home and buy Canada Savings Bonds paying a whopping 19 per cent.
His approach
Mr. Roy looks at a stock's historical price chart. Then he follows it for a few weeks, paying particular attention to how it does on bad days. With today's turbulent economy he says it's a good sign if a company's stock price manages to be somewhat stable.
Best move
He bought McDonald's at $72 last year; it closed Friday at $100.35.
Worst move
Three years ago, Mr. Roy put some money into an emerging markets ETF. Then he had to go into the hospital for two weeks and couldn't get onto the Internet. By the time he returned home, his units had lost close to 10 per cent.
Advice
"You have to be disciplined, and have a map for where you want to go."
Special to The Globe and Mail
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