An eye for investing

Every weekday morning, Robert Freedland, MD, watches CNBC and logs onto http://MarketWatch.com/ before heading out the door to the Mayo Clinic Health System, La Crosse, WI, where he sees patients.

Sharing advice

Surprisingly, the experience didn't sour Dr. Freedland on the stock market. Whenever he had spare cash-whether it was money earned from pulling the neighbor's weeds or his college loan-he would try his hand at investing.

"Investing has always been a hobby," he said, adding that he completed one year's worth of economics courses while attending Princeton University for his bachelor of arts degree. "But I don't claim to be a brilliant speculator."

While his financial skill may not match that of Warren Buffett, Dr. Freedland has developed an industry reputation. In 2003, he began writing a blog-Stock Picks Bob's Advice (http://bobsadviceforstocks.tripod.com/index.html)-that describes his investment strategies and personal experiences in the stock market. The blog caught the attention of Seeking Alpha, a stock market news and financial analysis Web site, and Yahoo!, which sometimes feature his strategies and company analysis in financial news stories.

"I never try to hype anything, just make intelligent observations about individual companies and why I bought or sold their stocks," said Dr. Freedland, who bases his investment decisions on extensive research, magazine articles in Fortune, Forbes, Investor's Daily, and Money, and comments made by TV analysts, such as Jim Cramer.