Complete Newbie with a number of questions

[toast2success]

Hi all,

I have been dropping in from time to time and thought I'd join up. I couldn't see a intro section so I'll get that out of the way by putting my goals out there:

I want to invest for 3 main reasons:

1) I have hit an age where a number of friends are buying or have bought houses and I am still the one paying off debt from credit cards etc (yep I like to learn the hard way at times ) I need to sort my @#% out and get my finances sorted. NO EXCUSES!!
2) I want to be able to have a supplementary/passive income that I dont need to work for , thus providing me more time to the things I want to do
3) I want to retire before 'the retirement age' (I am close'ish to half way to 'the age')

So where do I stand? well with more debt than anything and no assets....but 2012 is a new year and I'm ready to rip into it.

Onto the whole share thing....

I've been on the sidelines long enough I feel and now want to get in amongst it all. I do not have a clouded mind and am fully aware of the risks at hand.

I have ready Martin Hawes 'Shares' book a number of times in the past few weeks and am also reading Buffetology.

I have opened a share trading account and also started reading up on analysis (seems quite intense but no doubt worth it)

So I guess I'm going to need to take more of an aggressive stance given my age and goals.

I'll limit my questions as I imagine I will have many in the near future.

so question #1....

If you could give a beginner one piece of advise what would it be ?

[fungus pudding]

Hi all,

I have been dropping in from time to time and thought I'd join up. I couldn't see a intro section so I'll get that out of the way by putting my goals out there:

I want to invest for 3 main reasons:

1) I have hit an age where a number of friends are buying or have bought houses and I am still the one paying off debt from credit cards etc (yep I like to learn the hard way at times ) I need to sort my @#% out and get my finances sorted. NO EXCUSES!!
2) I want to be able to have a supplementary/passive income that I dont need to work for , thus providing me more time to the things I want to do
3) I want to retire before 'the retirement age' (I am close'ish to half way to 'the age')

So where do I stand? well with more debt than anything and no assets....but 2012 is a new year and I'm ready to rip into it.

Onto the whole share thing....

I've been on the sidelines long enough I feel and now want to get in amongst it all. I do not have a clouded mind and am fully aware of the risks at hand.

I have ready Martin Hawes 'Shares' book a number of times in the past few weeks and am also reading Buffetology.

I have opened a share trading account and also started reading up on analysis (seems quite intense but no doubt worth it)

So I guess I'm going to need to take more of an aggressive stance given my age and goals.

I'll limit my questions as I imagine I will have many in the near future.

so question #1....

If you could give a beginner one piece of advise what would it be ?

No 1. Learn to live beneath your means.

[toast2success]

No 1. Learn to live beneath your means.

Im onto that one (after a loooong time). Been doing it for the past couple of months, pretty grim but it's my fault so I accept the consequences

[Halebop]

Welcome to the forum t2s.

I suspect we won't be in a rewarding market for a while but for someone looking to accumulate there is plenty of value about for the patient. Your new found 'accumulator' status should be rewarded.

Congratulations on the choice of spending less than you earn. It hurts at first but the pain soon fades, particularly as you see you balance sheet grow.

There are a lot of tools/methods/philosophies investors use to make their investment decisions (just start a thread on fundamental vs technical analysis if you want an education in dogma). My advice: Whatever approach you take, trust the tools and then back yourself.

Good luck!

[toast2success]

Thanks for the response Halebop..nice little insight there... 'I suspect we won't be in a rewarding market for a while but for someone looking to accumulate there is plenty of value about for the patient'.

[buns]

Before you even begin to consider investing you will want to read 10x the number of books (1.5 already by the sounds of it) you have. Or simply, boost your knowledge as much as you can to make more educated choices.

As it stands, the educated merely make money from the un educated in any market situation - get on the right side of that equation. One big thing is, the educated investors understand accounting backwards - that dosen't happen over night so you might want to start there. Some will say you don't need to, but they aren't really investing, more trading or gambling. Take your pick.

I wouldn't take much from that Hawes book, he is wealthy but his share investing methods are mostly irrational.

[Lizard]

Maybe. Or just start. Most of us "just started" back in the days when "fundamental research" meant looking up the white pages at the Post Office to find out the company address and then ringing them to ask for a copy of the Annual Report.

Things have changed a bit. Sometimes we forget how fast they've changed.

[lou]

No 1. Learn to live beneath your means.

I second that.

What I would suggest is automate your savings so when your pay comes your savings go out to a separate account.

If you wonder home much to save the more the better but that is often hard to justify and you would end up cheating and dip into your savings.

Since you don't have a mortgage yet work out how much a 95% mortgage would be including capital repayments then subtract your rent and the difference should be what you are putting away each week.

[CJ]

Pay off your credit card. No point thinkng of investing until while you are paying 20% interest - you wont be that good in your first year, if you ever get that good

[h2so4]

Im onto that one (after a loooong time). Been doing it for the past couple of months, pretty grim but it's my fault so I accept the consequences

Doesn't have to be grim dude. Put your spending habits into time frames. In other words ask yourself what would this money I'm saving compound to be worth in 20 or 30 years time? You might be surprised.

Spend to be happy but do it intelligently.