First time investor - help please

[newbie trader]

Yeah i did the maths, long term really isnt worth it:

a touch over 10K total right now

I need to keep 5K in the V2 account to keep it open

IF i was to put 1K into market, even if i wasn't only leaves me with 4-5 to put into Term Deposit.

Not even worth the hassle.

What would you regard as safe stocks?

IMO I would think putting 1k in wouldnt be worth the hassle. Trying to make profit after brokerage etc may become a headache, but again it is your money. Youre also spending time where you could be working or enjoying life pursuing something which may not work out or bring back small returns - all things you have to take into account (I read and invest as a hobby away from my social activites and study).

NT

 

[Julia]

I need to keep 5K in the V2 account to keep it open

Do you? I have less than that in a V2 a/c and there is no question of it not being kept open.

What would you regard as safe stocks?

Will try repeating Joe's advice to you from earlier in this thread:

Daniel, please note that it is not permitted for those here at ASF to offer you specific financial advice. Nobody here can advise you what stocks to buy or how to invest your savings. Only a licensed financial adviser can legally provide you with this kind of advice.

 

[jaydebono]

I think if you want to start small, its OK, but you have to view it as more of a learning experience then making money.

Its like you are paying to self-educate yourself, but you have to consider, would you learn more spending money on brokerage moving smaller amounts in & out of the market, or would you be better spending that money on books & educating yourself?

myself i am the type who learns by doing, so I did both, reading & investing.

i've got $50k aside to invest when I feel i want to be more serious, but I cashed some old leftover shares I was given when I worked for the bank which worked out to be 5k, i've split them up and done some seperate investments to try and put my learning so far in to practice.

Since january i'm up 20% so its been a good start but then it would be just as easy to drop 20%, not all my stocks are up but overall im up.

I try to categorize my investments as Long term, mid term & short term & do some research before purchasing into a stock.

as an example, i'm a customer of iinet and I follow there threads on a forum called whirlpool and they have been talking about releasing a new product for several years now, if they do it right it will be a massive product and help the company a great deal.
(For those who follow iinet I am referring to the impending IIPTV release.)

So when I purchased shares in January i bought some with iinet in anticipation of this product they have stated they will be releasing by the end of march (1 more day to go!!!), so im hopeful of a good increase in the stock value and then I can exit.

I Make sure before I do any purchases that I have a plan, if I dont have a plan I wont know when to exit, because when the price is going UP I wont want to sell because you want it to go up more, and when its going DOWN I wont want to sell because you want it to go back to where it was!

I always Try to write down a price Iwill sell at, and a price I will exit at.

Sell = Taking profit and ending the deal
Exit = Cutting your losses and getting out of the deal before you lose more

For longer term trades I try to not worry about the stock day to day too much, in a major crash I might exit early but if its a 10% drop i wont worry because I know this is a long term thing, IE I had a stock which I picked up and it dropped 23%, I decided not to sell because it was a short term(1 day - 2 months) drop on a long term investment and in my plan I had decided that I would only exit if it got to -35% (in the short term).

Good news is that the stock is now up 22% from where I got it, so its looking good! Of course it could drop down again... I will do a review at the end of financial year when they announce results etc and see how I feel about the company.

So anyway, the point I am making is, if you want to start small and feel it would be beneficial, make sure you do some research, make sure you are comfortable to lose the money if the market rolls that way, and be wary of tips from friends.

You always have choices, its up to you how you handle it!

 

[coffee_snob]

Jaydebono - you offer some fantastic advice. I myself cannot operate in life without plans. I am one of those really organised people with lists EVERYWHERE and a full diary of notes So even though I am not trading as yet, I have this part sorted.

 

[jaydebono]

Thanks coffee.

I think its great that you have planned it that way, if you have a strict plan on paper that you follow it will help to avoid poor emotion based decisions.

I used to play poker online and not letting your emotion make your decisions is a big part of it, so i think that will help me as a trader.

 

[newbie trader]

For longer term trades I try to not worry about the stock day to day too much, in a major crash I might exit early but if its a 10% drop i wont worry because I know this is a long term thing, IE I had a stock which I picked up and it dropped 23%, I decided not to sell because it was a short term(1 day - 2 months) drop on a long term investment and in my plan I had decided that I would only exit if it got to -35% (in the short term).

Why was 35% your exit point? Any significance? I know someone I think he mucks around with his super and maybe other savings not too sure. But he has never exited out of a share on a loss, hes had 100% win, its rather amazing.

NT

 

[skyQuake]

Why was 35% your exit point? Any significance? I know someone I think he mucks around with his super and maybe other savings not too sure. But he has never exited out of a share on a loss, hes had 100% win, its rather amazing.

NT

Looks like some solid averaging. Sure hes never sold a loss but he could be holding telstra from $10.
The dangers of averaging...

 

[Trembling Hand]

I used to play poker online and not letting your emotion make your decisions is a big part of it, so i think that will help me as a trader.

No it wont. If you're lacking skills or your plan has not got positive expectancy and applied to the right market no amount of emotional control will stop you losing money.

Loss of emotional control is a symptom rather than a cause. Mostly.

 

[DJG]

Jaydebono - Thanks for that, huge help

Yeah, i don't expect to turn my 1k into 5k in a week.

I am doing paper trading right now, i will do it for a while and see how i go, keeping track of every transaction, profits, everything.
Being as realistic as possible

I have brought Investing Online For Dummies, i realise there is plenty of books on share's but i want to try focus on just the ASX because, what's the point on getting something with wall stock when there using wall stock examples and everything.
So then it was a bit harder to find some just on ASX, ill buy some more once i finish this one.

I do however want to try and get into Comsec before that deal finishes, it will help me a hell of a lot, hopefully i can try go good while i don't have to pay brokerage, so it can cover for it after 12 trades.

I need to go get myself a tax file number today

I was thinking, going with dividends but really it isn't worth it with only 1K

So far i am going pretty shat in my paper trading, but i've been in it for less than 24 hours, i got hope.

I have foxtel so i can watch business channel whenever, it is interesting watching it.

Does anybody know of any real good blogs that get info daily, any real good websites or anything.

Thanks

Dan

 

[Trembling Hand]

Does anybody know of any real good blogs that get info daily, any real good websites or anything.

This one. Have a look through the individual stock threads. Some good info on companies in there. Just don't fall for believing anyone else's opinion. Help it guide your own research.

 

[enigmatic]

This is in no way advice however while you are deciding to invest or not something like Bankwest Smart eSaver would be a good idea I'm sure other banks have similar accounts
doesn't matter how long you have your money in you get a min of 4% and 5.65% if you don't make withdrawals i also believe there is no min amount required.

 

[Space Invader101]

Dangaff, your style of investing $1000k and adding $50 amounts sounds more suitable for managed fund investing. You may want to consider looking up books or information online on the topic before deciding whether they're right for you.

You can look up brokers on the ASX website: http://www.asx.com.au/resources/brokers/index.htm

 

[WaveSurfer]

There are term deposits for 3 and 6 months available if you don't mind locking your money away. There are also those online accounts which offer a lower interest rate (around 4.25% at the moment) if you want to have your money on call.

This netSaver is one of the best I've found so far

http://www.ubank.com.au/

5.85% with a bonus 0.1% if you throw $100 in each month. They're also offering 6.11% on a 6 month term deposit. It's a division of NAB too.

 

[jaydebono]

No it wont. If you're lacking skills or your plan has not got positive expectancy and applied to the right market no amount of emotional control will stop you losing money.

Loss of emotional control is a symptom rather than a cause. Mostly.

Thanks for the tip, it depends on your skill level.

In lower level poker i'd say its generally the cause rather then the symptom, and in higher level poker its the symptom.

Undecided on trading so far, havent really felt the emotional feeling with trading, the same way I have with Poker.

I'll decide once i'm an experienced trader, so ill dig up this thread in 10 years and share my thoughts

 

[jaydebono]

Why was 35% your exit point? Any significance? I know someone I think he mucks around with his super and maybe other savings not too sure. But he has never exited out of a share on a loss, hes had 100% win, its rather amazing.

NT

For me, it's a decision I make at the time of executing a purchase, I decide in my plan if its short/medium/long term, what my exit points are, everything.

For that particular trade and my assessment of the stock I felt 35% was an amount i was willing to hold out for and see a return, but no more.

I just got lucky it dipped the right amount, but not too much to cause me to execute my exit, you need a bit of luck in this game.