What advice do you wish you had when you started investing?

gadgetmind

Bloomberg wrote: »

My prediction is that the rates have been held too low for too long and when they do finally start to rise the move will be sharp. Mortgage payers have had it too good for too long, bring on the double digit rates.

Finger crossed! Once/if they reach those heavy heights, I'll start rolling back from equities into bonds and look forward to the next dip. When there is again blood in the streets, I'll move back to equities and maybe even go property shopping, which is most unlike me.

At the moment, I'm holding four years "take home" as cash, the rest as equities, and very little in bonds.

ed123_2

...it's funny we always read on these sites of how clever people have been making a quick buck on the stock market whereas most of the people I have met have lost (and some quite a lot) money...

gadgetmind

ed123 wrote: »

...it's funny we always read on these sites of how clever people have been making a quick buck on the stock market whereas most of the people I have met have lost (and some quite a lot) money...

I have never tried to make a quick buck and I doubt I ever will. Stock market investing is all about "get rich slow" and you don't have to be clever, just disciplined, rational, and very, very patient.

Yes, I have had some losses, usually just the market cycles, but also some conviction plays that went wrong. However, those that played out the way I hoped have *massively* outweighed the latter, and the natural cycle of the markets has covered the former.

Nevertheless, I am at least seven years away from retirement, so perhaps I need to keep quiet for now and see how reality tracks plans for the next few years.

masonic

ed123 wrote: »

...it's funny we always read on these sites of how clever people have been making a quick buck on the stock market whereas most of the people I have met have lost (and some quite a lot) money...

I have the same experience. People I know all have horror stories. Then again, when I probe them for details, it tends to transpire that they put all their eggs in one basket, or invested in something way too risky. Either that or they sold at the bottom of a crash and are now bitter because they believe they were cheated since their investments mysteriously seemed to recover soon after they sold them.

mark55man

Bloomberg wrote: »

My prediction is that the rates have been held too low for too long and when they do finally start to rise the move will be sharp. Mortgage payers have had it too good for too long, bring on the double digit rates.

I agree with you. Unfortunately I thought that 2 years ago so have spent 2 years of my 10 year fix (4.99%) paying for my correct guess that inflation would come swarming, but my incorrect guess that the BoE would do something about it with interest rate rises.

currently I feel that increased interest rates would force crystallisation of the banks of all the losses they are sitting on for the 90% of householders since 2006 who have suffered house price erosion. Therefore I am afraid that only sustained economic growth will allow interest rates to rise and that is a long way away.

To the point where I am considering swalling the early redemption fee and going with a tracker for a bit - but I think I maybe am a year too late for that to make sense

Pachira

"the trend is your friend ... until it hits a bend"

and

"don't catch a falling knife"

ses6jwg

dont try to catch a falling knife is a great piece of advice.

jamesd

1. Get started.
2. You don't need to know everything on the first day and it's easier to learn with smaller amounts early on.
3. Diversify.

ed123 wrote: »

.......don't "invest" in the stock market put your money into savings accounts......the city boys don't put their money into the stock market, they put it into "high end" property...

Diversification. Their earnings are closely tied to the stock market performance and their profits within it so it makes sense to use something completely different as well. I avoid lots of direct investing in the type of business within which I work for this reason.