Introduction

Hello all,
I guess first things first and that's the introduction. My name is Alan Lee and I live in London, UK. I have a passion for self development and finance. Though, I've no financial qualifications and do not work in the finance sector.. I like to read financial articles, media etc. I actually work in the IT field and enjoy what I do there but this isn't a blog to talk about that.
The purpose of this blog is to document and diarise my pursuit through making (losing.. hopefully not) money though alternative means.. I am interested in progressive gambling, financial trading, property etc. I'm not a gambler at heart though, I'll only engage in something if I feel that I have a strategy, an edge over a pure guess. However, in my field of pursuits there will always be times when I lose.. I just need to ensure that I win more than I lose.
Times and opportunities are always changing, I hope to find like minded people through this blog.. exchange ideas, concepts etc. If you like what you read, please drop me a note!!

Anyway, here's a summary of what I'm doing and have done:

• Financial trading : I started looking at stocks and shares after I bought Lastminute.com stocks. They were over subscribed and everyone just got a small amount. This was around 2001. The stocks plummetted, I'm glad that my exposure was small. I also bought into Marconi shares and watched them go from low to lower to practically disappearing. Anyway, I found the markets fascinating and have dabbled in stocks & shares, CFDs, spreadbetting, forex, options etc. I lost for 4 years.. not much as I never went in big.. just dabble here and there. I now just spreadbet the Forex market and indices.. my account has gained over 30% in 2 months.
• Gambling. I thought I had found a strategy for playing casino (roulette in particular) after reading a book. Anyway, I put in £200 and I managed to bring it up to £1600 or so in a week through scaling in and out of positions and being conservative. However, I got greedy and arrogant and I lost all but my initial deposit in one day.. I haven't been able to emulate that success again though.. I have won again but in much smaller amounts.. perhaps it was just luck
• Property. Everyone is interested in property currently and it's not easy to get in and out. I have bought a flat and it's gone up in value (but so has everyone elses) but that's all the work I've done. I read the press and books and I may consider trying to get a cheap property and doing it up but so far, all gas!!

Ok, that's it.. hope you enjoy it..

Alan (aka Lengoo)