Mr. Stares, 36, is president of Thunder Bay-based (BTC-TSX-VEN), a junior precious metals exploration and development company. He founded the company in 2003 and named it after his hometown of Benton, Nfld., just east of Gander. The company went public in the spring of 2005, raising $1.5-million.

The business is a complex one. Once they've staked out a property and have gotten good initial results, they often will do a deal with a larger company that will then carry out further exploration in return for giving Benton cash or shares.

Currently, its flagship property is the Bermuda project, just outside of Marathon, Ont., which contains platinum, palladium, gold, and copper. The Bermuda property's potential is why much of Mr. Stares' corporate investing these days is going into Benton shares. The property is adjacent to an area being developed by (MAR-TSX-VEN), and appears to share a deposit with Marathon.

To date, Marathon's property has a resource of 1.9 million ounces total precious metals, and has given Marathon a market capitalization of around $70-million at recent prices.

Given that he estimates Benton's property holds a third of the total deposit being developed by Marathon, Mr. Stares sees a strong upside for Benton shares. Benton is in the process of drilling, and he hopes to see the company issuing a steady stream of positive news from surface exploration followed by diamond drilling in the fall.

Though he dropped Kodiak (which, despite its disappointing results, he says has very good people), he's holding on to his shares in (EDG-TSX-VEN), which at a recent close of 21 cents has already doubled in value. He plans on staying invested in Endurance for a couple of years as he has respect for the company's exploration and project people, and likes the fact it has exploration projects across the country.

To balance all this higher-risk investing, Mr. Stares also has a conservative side. When he hooked up with a financial adviser some 10 years ago, Mr. Stares admits he had the right idea, but poor execution. He was over-weighted in guaranteed investment certificates. Worse, Mr. Stares had many different investments and accounts, many having been bought on the recommendation of various bank employees without much consideration of his overall portfolio.

"He didn't know why he had some accounts, and there was nobody quarterbacking the portfolio," says his financial adviser, Jed Ziegler. Mr. Ziegler now has him in a basket of Manulife guaranteed investment funds.

As life insurance products, GIFs offer some protection against creditors, a welcome bit of safety for Mr. Stares, given that he sits on the board of another small junior exploration company.

Mr. Ziegler has Mr. Stares' funds 60 per cent in stocks, and about 40 per cent in bonds, on the basis that Mr. Stares is still quite young and has time to ride out volatility in the markets. The major holdings include Trimark Select Growth, Fidelity Canadian Asset Allocation, and Mackenzie Dividend Growth Fund.

On the income side, an interesting pick is Elliot and Page's Monthly High Income Fund. While it not surprisingly holds a good deal of income trusts, the fund also holds a number of stocks as well as bonds.

Over the years, one of Mr. Stares' favourites has been (FNX-TSX), which is involved in exploration and development of nickel, copper and precious metal properties near Sudbury. Mr. Stares sold his position at $7 a share about a year ago, less than 12 months after paying just $1.45. The company had picked up a huge land position from Inco in Sudbury and started seeing great results just when the price of nickel was rising. "Everything fell into the right place for them," he says.

Tony Martin is the co-author of the book Investing For Canadians For Dummies, published by CDG. Interested in being profiled in Me and My Money?

Portfolio: Stocks: Rainy River Resources, Rampart Ventures, ValGold Resources, Benton Resources, Endurance Gold, Rochester Resources, International PBX Ventures, Wolfden, Sabina Silver. Funds: Trimark Select Growth, Fidelity Canadian Asset Allocation, Mackenzie Dividend Growth Fund, Elliot and Page Monthly High Income.

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