My name is Cash Bauer, and this is my first blog post on AtTheMoney.com.  Maybe you’re one of the tens of tens who follow me on Twitter (@CashBauer).  Maybe you’ve seen me in the news—maybe you’ve driven by the outskirts of my extremely luxurious mansion and wondered how it all came to be.  Well, dear friend, I’m going to tell you.  But in order to build a trust and a rapport with you, I first have to let you know me.  Let you delve deep into my past.  Let you bask in my musk.

Many, many moons ago, in 2008, I was working as a car salesman at a used car lot.  I was married (to the second wife at the time) and led a normal, middle-class life in a normal, middle-class home.  Whenever I made a particularly satisfying commission, I hid my cash in an out of the way place for a rainy day.  I had friends that told me I was a fool.  “Cash!” they’d say.  “You need to invest your money!  Go down to the {local brokerage firm} and give your money to an expert!”

Well, I never gave my money to an expert to invest for me.  Instead, I watched the stock market plummet from afar.  And one lucky day, March 8, 2009, after a poor man’s camping trip to Arkansas with some hillbilly friends, I threw all of my cash in, in an all or nothing move.  It was a few days after the whole thing had hit rock bottom.

I did quick research.  The charts, the graphs, the numbers…they all didn’t mean a whole lot to me.  Besides, what good did studying those foreign documents do?  The experts had poured over their numbers for years and couldn’t predict the worst crash in my lifetime- why should I follow their failed lead?  The only thing I knew about the stock market was to invest in what I knew.  That’s what I did.

I’m not going to hem and haw over every single move I made.  But I’ll let you know that I bought Las Vegas Sands $LVS for $2.22 a share and today it trades in the $57-$59 range (a bargain, as it’s headed past $60, but that’s another blog).  My money multiplied over and over.  I sold off chunks of my investment and went with other things I knew.  Home Depot $HD.  Apple $AAPL.  Wal-Mart $WMT.  I put together a vast portfolio of risky stocks and stalwart giants.

If you want to read about the price to earnings ratios and earnings per share, there are plenty of resources out there for you, both professional and idiotic (idiotic being anything on the Motley Fool).  Note that as we move forward, I take all of those things into account.  I study.  I interview.  I ruminate.  But where I’m different (and why I’m rich out the wazzoo) is because I do the legwork out here in America.  Yes, Jimmy Cramer (@jimcramer) can interview the CEO of Sears $SHLD…but when’s the last time old Jimmy boy and his wacky bag of fun and hilarious (…) tricks actually stepped into Sears before he made his recommendations?  Did he pay attention to in-store details?  Did he watch the foot traffic?  Talk to employees?  Compare prices?  Note the locations?  Ask the general public their thoughts?  The answer is…nope.

Every investor has their strategy, fellow Cash-ist!  I welcome you to follow me and let me share my insight with you so that we can get rich(er) together!  Welcome to my blog.

Follow me on Twitter (@CashBauer) for real-time updates and thoughts!