# If you had to choose one thing?



## sherro (2 May 2011)

hello everyone,

I shudder writing this, as I am sure it has been written 1000 times or more and everyone is busy, however I have found that most forums out there serve the greater good, people actually DO like helping.

So, I am 36 and have, (largely thanks to a good relationship and two incomes) finally started to get ahead, get savings in the bank and start thinking about the future instead of month to month.

I am interested in buying shares as a medium to long term invester, putting maybe $1000 a month into a portfolio and watching and playing but not expecting a return for 10 - 20 years, which should give me plenty of time to work it all out.

Which brings me to my conundrum here.

I am at the entry and have walked into the world of buying shares, I know very little about the stock market. I registered in Etrade and read some of their tutorials about different types of investing and looked at enough forums to work out that actually you need to do some reading and learn about it, unless you want to pay someone else to do that for you.

Thing is, i want to learn, do it myself, have some fun and hopefulyl make some money.

I just dont really know where to start and am bamboozled by all the literature out there, there are idiots duides, dummies guides to online investing, rich dad poor dad, reports you can subscribe too, charts you can analyse.

I am not a deep routed mathematician type who can poor over charts, and I have a demanding job that wont let me spend hours looking at the stock market every day. Like going to the gym, everyone has to start somewhere, I just wondered if any of you guys could think back to when you were me, and if there was a path you followed to slowly develop your skill but get onto the stock market and star trading, what is it?

Not looking for a short cut here guys, happy to do my legwork but really keen for any general pointers which you found worked for you.

Thanks 

Sherro


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## Julia (2 May 2011)

Have you read through all the threads in the Beginners' Lounge?
There is, in particular, a very useful guide for beginners by Sir O.


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## skc (2 May 2011)

sherro said:


> hello everyone,
> 
> I shudder writing this, as I am sure it has been written 1000 times or more and everyone is busy, however I have found that most forums out there serve the greater good, people actually DO like helping.
> 
> ...




There are seveal threads under trading strategies/systems where people have talked in some detail what they do with the share market - have a look and see what appeals to you. You don't need to be very maths orientated to read charts, but you do need decent analysis skills to invest in stocks based on fundamentals.

One possible method is to sign up for a reputable newsletter or technical analysis subscritpion services. Many of them offer trials so you can see for free whether they make sense to you. This way you have someone to hold your hand a little bit, but the buy/sell decision is up to yourself.

For fundamental investing, Intelligent Investor, Lincoln etc may be worth a free trial.

For technical trading, ******************** is a reputable service. I used to be a subscriber and it taught me some very valuable things. Not sure they offer free trail though.

I am sure others will have other suggestions.

Good luck.


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## 6figures (2 May 2011)

you seem to be in a financially stable position, I was 19 I took $1500.00 and reasearched 3 different shares and put $500 a piece in... best way to learn is to do the real thing.. learning from your mistakes.. IMO.

others will say do your research, read books, do online courses etc but clearly your in no position to do so..


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## tothemax6 (2 May 2011)

I would recommend you read Roger Montgomery's 'Value-able'. Much less dry than Benjamin Grahams 'The Intelligent Investor', as has an Australian focus.
He covers all the basics of valuing companies. To his credit, Roger's stock picks have been very successful so far.

Another option that is popular, if you have a very long-term investment outlook and don't wish to commit much time, is to contribute a certain amount of money each money into an index fund. An index fund simply buys shares in a broad spectrum of Australian companies. I think ANZ has an 'online investment account' which does just this for you.


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## sherro (2 May 2011)

sound advice, thanks guys, and yes I plan to start trawling the stickys to get my head around some of the great posts, so thanks i really appreciate it, i will also look into the index fund and books mentioned.


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## skc (2 May 2011)

skc said:


> For fundamental investing, Intelligent Investor, Lincoln etc may be worth a free trial.
> 
> For technical trading, ******************** is a reputable service. I used to be a subscriber and it taught me some very valuable things. Not sure they offer free trail though.




Mods,

Was there a reason this was moderated? Have I missed some posting rule? If I could suggest Intelligent Investor why couldn't I suggest whatever it was that I said?

Not mad at all (since I don't have any affiliation with any of these names) just wondering why.


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## sammy84 (2 May 2011)

skc said:


> Mods,
> 
> Was there a reason this was moderated? Have I missed some posting rule? If I could suggest Intelligent Investor why couldn't I suggest whatever it was that I said?
> 
> Not mad at all (since I don't have any affiliation with any of these names) just wondering why.




I was wondering the same. Was it 'the chartist' you were talking about? Is this going to be moderated......?


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## skc (2 May 2011)

sammy84 said:


> I was wondering the same. Was it 'the chartist' you were talking about? Is this going to be moderated......?




Having a PM with a mod at the moment, but no big drama one way or the other.


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## Tyler Durden (2 May 2011)

Rich Dad Poor Dad will not give you any specifics on investing. It will give you some basics, it is good motivation for those who never really gave a crap about money. But I'd read it with a grain of salt.


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## So_Cynical (2 May 2011)

sherro said:


> I am at the entry and have walked into the world of buying shares, I know very little about the stock market. I registered in Etrade and read some of their tutorials about different types of investing and looked at enough forums to work out that actually you need to do some reading and learn about it, unless you want to pay someone else to do that for you.
> 
> Thing is, i want to learn, do it myself, have some fun and hopefulyl make some money.
> 
> I just dont really know where to start and am bamboozled by all the literature out there, there are idiots duides, dummies guides to online investing, rich dad poor dad, reports you can subscribe too, charts you can analyse.




I started out by wanting to invest in business that had exposure to the gold price and green energy, green energy because a carbon tax and thus a repricing of energy was inevitable and gold because i believed it was undervalued and making a big come back.

What do you believe are good businesses/industry's/sectors to put your money into?


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## Tyler Durden (2 May 2011)

So_Cynical said:


> What do you believe are good businesses/industry's/sectors to put your money into?




That's one of my tests when I select companies to invest in. I like to buy in companies that produce what I deem as necessities.


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## Logique (3 May 2011)

Sherro, your objectives aren't clear. 

Decide whether you want to become a share trader, or an investor who owns shares. If the latter, then a parcel of shares from a broker, or a managed fund would be better for you.

If the former, then start small, remember there's no silver bullet, and mistakes are the price of an education.


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## Tysonboss1 (5 May 2011)

Tyler Durden said:


> That's one of my tests when I select companies to invest in. I like to buy in companies that produce what I deem as necessities.




Yes, That is good. But remember obvious growth of an industry does not always translate into obvious growth in profits or obvious growth for all participants.

Their is also the risk that large broad based industry growth has already been factored into the price,  and should that growth in profits not eventuate or be delayed or be off a smaller than expected scale, not only will you not have the growth you were after but will see large losses as the speculative froth in the share price is blowen off.


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## kingcarmleo (6 May 2011)

Old cliche but read "The Intelligent Investor" by bejamin graham, it is a great learners guide to the stock market.


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## sherro (7 May 2011)

Logique said:


> Sherro, your objectives aren't clear.
> 
> Decide whether you want to become a share trader, or an investor who owns shares. If the latter, then a parcel of shares from a broker, or a managed fund would be better for you.
> 
> If the former, then start small, remember there's no silver bullet, and mistakes are the price of an education.




Thanks mate, I guess thats a really good point, firstly be super clear on your objectives, lol. I guess id love to be a share trader versus an investor, so i am more in control of my own destiny, but yep starting small, learning from mistakes seems clever and smart to me, thanks.


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## Julia (7 May 2011)

sherro said:


> I guess id love to be a share trader versus an investor, so i am more in control of my own destiny,



Hello sherro, can you say why you think being a trader versus an investor would give you more control over your own destiny?
Not agreeing or disagreeing, just interested in your philosophy here.


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## Knobby22 (8 May 2011)

The title reminds me of a joke.

This guy was asked what three things he would take out of the house if a bushfire was close, he ws a family man with identical twins.

He answered: 
"My passport"
"um...my bottle of Grange" 

"And um... one of the twins"  (lucky he had a spare).


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