Tim Hale - Smarter Investing

marathonic

Cpu2007 wrote: »

What I understand from all this is that investment is for long term and trading is for short period.

What route would you guys suggest if someone doesn't want to invest in something (that will take years to build up) and neither he/she wants to do trading that will require working everyday ? is it there something in the middle,like short investments weekly/monthly?

I'm afraid it's a choice of:

• Cash ISA's and Savings Accounts for weeks/months;
• Stocks and Shares ISA's for years (although you may end up with a good return in months)

Cpu2007

marathonic wrote: »

I'm afraid it's a choice of:

• Cash ISA's and Savings Accounts for weeks/months;
• Stocks and Shares ISA's for years (although you may end up with a good return in months)

ISA account don't really give much profit, in order to see some profit you need to keep them there for a year at least.
I already have an ISA account with around £5k but looking to invest some other savings in something that could allow me profit in short terms.

I'm just looking at the options, I will read about them and if I feel comfortable then I'll proceed.
One of the things I've heard about is currency trading, I know it's done minute by minute,day by day but also heard that people do it over weeks?
I want to start small (where I can use for example £500, i know it's not much) and see how this goes up and down.

N1AK

brasso wrote: »

Trading will give you plenty of 'excitement' just like living in a crime-ridden neighbourhood might be considered exciting compared with somewhere quiet and safe.

The only real argument I can envisage for trading over 'investing' is that you won't go from moderate means to rich by investing. If you trade and get lucky you could turn £10k into £250k over a few years. The problem is that this is a similar argument to the lottery but with better odds and the risk of losing more.

marathonic

Cpu2007 wrote: »

One of the things I've heard about is currency trading, I know it's done minute by minute,day by day but also heard that people do it over weeks?

I want to start small (where I can use for example £500, i know it's not much) and see how this [STRIKE]goes up and[/STRIKE] down.

I've corected your post... a surefire way to lose money for a novice.

Long-term is the way to go. You'll realise that sooner or later - hopefully sooner!

N1AK

Cpu2007 wrote: »

One of the things I've heard about is currency trading, I know it's done minute by minute,day by day but also heard that people do it over weeks?
I want to start small (where I can use for example £500, i know it's not much) and see how this goes up and down.

I cannot see the point in trying to get into currency trading personally. Given the fees and comparatively minor variations I'd be amazed to see anyone doing this on a small scale make a notable amount of money.

Cpu2007

Fair enough

So let's say that long term is the way to go, waiting 5 years to see some profits it's a lot of time.

However, how much do you think a person should invest in long term investment to see some acceptable profit and what that profit would be in general(i know there's no actual way to answer this as there might be loss and profit depends on where the investment goes but I'd like to know from people here that have invested, how much they have invested and how much profit/loss they accumulated from it)

gadgetmind

Cpu2007 wrote: »

what that profit would be in general

Long-term (multi-decade) returns from a portfolio of equities are typically around 5% pa in real (inflation adjusted) terms. You can obviously beat this if you know exactly which sectors, territories and companies are going to perform best and only invest in those. This requires nothing more complicated than a crystal ball.

I'd like to know from people here that have invested, how much they have invested and how much profit/loss they accumulated from it)

I started seriously just after PEPs were launched and have tried to put spare cash into sheltered accounts every year since then. Over recent years, this has been enough to do full S&S ISAs each year with some left over.

I'm more than happy with the results but have only been tracking annual performance for the last few years. If you'd asked me in 2009, I'd have said I was behind that 5% but I'm now *way* above. Long-term, let's see.

Cpu2007

gadgetmind wrote: »

Long-term (multi-decade) returns from a portfolio of equities are typically around 5% pa in real (inflation adjusted) terms. You can obviously beat this if you know exactly which sectors, territories and companies are going to perform best and only invest in those. This requires nothing more complicated than a crystal ball.



I started seriously just after PEPs were launched and have tried to put spare cash into sheltered accounts every year since then. Over recent years, this has been enough to do full S&S ISAs each year with some left over.

I'm more than happy with the results but have only been tracking annual performance for the last few years. If you'd asked me in 2009, I'd have said I was behind that 5% but I'm now *way* above. Long-term, let's see.

"over recent year this has been enough to do full s&s ISA" can you clarify this? does it mean that the profit you accumulated allowed you to make more than 5k pa? if so, then that was more just just some spare cash ahah

marathonic

Cpu2007 wrote: »

"over recent year this has been enough to do full s&s ISA" can you clarify this? does it mean that the profit you accumulated allowed you to make more than 5k pa? if so, then that was more just just some spare cash ahah

I think they mean that they are now adding to their investments at a rate in excess of the maximum annual S&S ISA allowance (with the excess being outside the ISA).

IronWolf

Cpu2007 wrote: »

Fair enough

So let's say that long term is the way to go, waiting 5 years to see some profits it's a lot of time.

However, how much do you think a person should invest in long term investment to see some acceptable profit and what that profit would be in general(i know there's no actual way to answer this as there might be loss and profit depends on where the investment goes but I'd like to know from people here that have invested, how much they have invested and how much profit/loss they accumulated from it)

I invest for the long term, some of my more boring long term buys are WalMart and GSK, they returned about 22% p.a. and 15% p.a. respectively, but I only purchase/sell when valuations are low/high.

But investing for the long term doesnt mean you can't make short term gains though. I bought Supergroup as a long term investment, but it went up 76% in a few months so I sold it.

I aim for about 10% p.a. from equities, but always buy lower and sell higher so end up making more than 10% (IF I get my analysis right ) I've got my investments on my value investing blog