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Where did you investors learn the ropes?
Steel_2
Posts: 1,649 Forumite
I want to learn more about investing so in the a couple of years I can begin building a retirement pot.
How did you all gather the knowledge you needed before you invested? Books? magazines? Newspaper commentary? Online courses? Or are you trained in finance and work that area? Do you keep a close eye on what investors like Warren Buffet do?
How did you all gather the knowledge you needed before you invested? Books? magazines? Newspaper commentary? Online courses? Or are you trained in finance and work that area? Do you keep a close eye on what investors like Warren Buffet do?
"carpe that diem"
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supply and demand, understand why the seller sells and the buyer buys. All of your sources listed can be read but really you must infer the most important points as every single 'fact' needs to be read twice for each side of the deal
I read the finance pages since the eighties but didnt learn much, its easier online now. Start by reading all the links given by google and so on. Whatever interests you most is best or has most relevance to your own interests since you wont ever know everything0 -
The book Fundology written by
John Chatfield Roberts of Jupiter Investments is a good place to start.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fundology-Secrets-Successful-Fund-Investing/dp/18975977700 -
Do you keep a close eye on what investors like Warren Buffet do?
Be careful when looking abroad. Warren Buffet invests in a certain way for himself but tells novices to invest in a different way to that. (also his advice is focused on the US market which is very different in mentality and taxation to the UK).
Knowledge is a good thing but a little knowledge can be a bad thing. You dont want to end up being the typical Daily Mail reader
If you are going to get into it then dont just nibble at edges. You are going to need to know what type of investment instrument you are going to use, what sort of investment strategy, what tax wrappers and what level of servicing you are going to give it.
Too many people start off with the best intentions but get bored with it or get caught up with fashion investing and investing above their risk profile as they get carried away during a good period only to lose a fortune when it goes negative (and it will go negative).I am an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA). The comments I make are just my opinion and are for discussion purposes only. They are not financial advice and you should not treat them as such. If you feel an area discussed may be relevant to you, then please seek advice from an Independent Financial Adviser local to you.0 -
I learnt most of things from here and googling.
Does help if the people that are helping know what they are talking about and make it easy to understand! And some of the annoying posters stop hassling you! No names mentioned of course.....0 -
Reading is essential - I found the internet forums more useful than books/mags in giving an understanding of the practical issues.
However nothing beats actually taking control of some of your finances and investing for real. I started in a relatively small way by placing a few £Ks in an online unit trust ISA and an online share dealing account. Dabbling and fashion investing are rightly condemned - experiencing the pitfalls is far more educational than merely reading about them.
As my confidence increased I invested further funds. After a while the amount invested made an understanding of risk and asset allocation essential - more learning, but learning based on experience.
In parallel, if you have significant spare income, or spare cash wasting its time in a low interest account, I believe it is worth seeing an IFA and getting help setting up a broadly based and relatively low risk portfolio of unit trusts and other collective investments.0 -
Fundology is an interesting read. For more general economics and business background try the Financial Times Saturday edition. Some reading of the Monday edition with the fund management business supplement it includes might be of interest as well.0
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courses run by the owner of a real time TA programme that I used to use also courses run by jeremy du plessis. You can`t better hands on experience but start by reading all the main books and the ft and as many mags as you can stomach, then start small and prepare to get burnt, I always called it `learning fees` and that is what they were as I always learnt from mistakes. Bit by bit it adds up so that your own `gut feeling` develops
secret is never but never be a follower or a sheep. Eventually you learn to trust yourself and definitely not to trust fund managers and the like and one day you will find that you consistently do head and shoulders better than so called `experts`
However the learning process is not free and the main thing is always to preserve your pot so that you can trade or invest another day
re me, well I am just a grey haired granny now but have always had an interest in finances and learning all this stuff was a pleasure, so much so that it was bedtime reading for me. I started to realise my dream only when our 3 children had grown up and I had more time0 -
I want to learn more about investing so in the a couple of years I can begin building a retirement pot.
How did you all gather the knowledge you needed before you invested? Books? magazines? Newspaper commentary? Online courses? Or are you trained in finance and work that area? Do you keep a close eye on what investors like Warren Buffet do?
I've only started out recently, and so far have read a few books and been buying investing magazines each week.
Useful books:
The Naked Trader is a good starting point from zero knowledge (has also got a blog with useful odds and ends)
Most books by Alvin Hall - I've read a couple and he explains things in a way I can understand
The Zulu Principle once you've got to grips with some of the terms
I also find reading the Investor's Chronicle (weekly magazine) helps, as do articles on websites like motley fool, iii, FT.
I have also set up an S&S ISA with iii and have started with small sums of money. Experiencing the practical realities alongside reading books has been invaluable. I've gone through lots of what the books describe - like the temptation to invest on tips, not doing enough research, and feeling like I might be missing the boat when something I want to buy starts rising.
I own shares in two companies now, and have another 8-10 on a watch list. I've been watching their share prices for a few months now, and by looking closely at just a handful of companies, learnt a good deal about what affects share price and what doesn't.
For example:
William Hill is on my watch list. The share price dropped when Ladbrokes announced a rights issue because it was struggling.
The price on William Hill keeps dropping down to what is called a support price of c160p and then rising again. If I buy William Hill shares in the next few months, I will look for one of the periods when it drops towards that support price.
I own shares in Spice. They issued a positive trading statement earlier this week, and the share price dropped. I've yet to figure out why that happened!
I've got a plan so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel.0 -
Do you keep a close eye on what investors like Warren Buffet do?
Never.
One useful attibute is scepticism. When someone such as a fund-manager tells Daily Mail readers it's a great time to buy, ask yourself why he might do that. When someone makes it widely known that he's investing in gold or whatever, again ask why. When some investment mag confidently tells you what to invest in, ask yourself why the journo still has to write for a living.
Generally speaking, most people won't be out there telling others how to get rich by investing if they could get seriously rich by investing themselves. Sift through what they say rather than take it as gospel.0 -
I'm self taught. I've had successes and I've made some mistakes that I've learnt from.
When my children were in their early teens, they each had a (very) small pot of money and wanted to 'make money' (hah! oh, the innocence of youth!) Instead of plunging in with recommendations gleaned from websites and newspapers, they set up a 'virtual portfolio' and made virtual investments, which they've watched and learnt from. They saw huge gains followed by (what appeared to be) catastrophic losses followed by slow recovery, then gains, then losses ....... you get the picture. It was a bumpy ride, where they had to keep their nerve or make adjustments.
They are now in their early twenties and have their own self select ISAs - it's still bumpy but at least they know how and where to find information, how to double and triple check it, when to stick and when to 'twist'.0
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