My financial goal, an assesment and some questions..

[toast2success]

Or you could have 2-3+ hours a night for more enjoying relaxing activities and live a real life i.e. talk to your wife, watch crap tv, eat takeaways, drink beers, throw money at your kids and/or holidays

I've tried some of these things and don't care much for them ...crap t.v , takeaways (I'm a sucker for a Tulsi pie though drinking beers...

Do you see any posts on this board from people who attempted this and lost a lot if not it all? On average most attempting these kinds of returns would end up down that route.

Thanks, I hadn't actually thought to seek these kind of posts out, I'll get on to that.

Invest in yourself, and your career. It’s a much safer and worthwhile investment which provides the capital to underpin any other investment.

Cool, I'm onto this one, I'm currently studying part-time as I work full time, though within the next 1.5yrs I intend on studying full time

You need to keep in mind the real meaning of wealth, I know some $15 an hr slave type workers who are more wealthy than multi-millionaires. Extra money means nothing to them as what they want in life is very little, whilst the millionaires can’t stop wanting more.

this is a great and valid point, and one I have given considerable thought. I realise how we view wealth is an individual thing. Money itself isn't such an interesting thing, after all its just coloured paper or just little round metal type objects....but to me the life it'd allow me to live is of more interest.....and I'll admit I'm not much of a 'wants' person but I do have a burning desire for one 'toy'

[toast2success]

Hi Aaron, I would usually spend two to three hours a night reading ASX announcements and doing other research and corresponding with company management.

On this topic , how much time on average would you guys invest in analyzing a stock before yaying or naying it ?

[CJ]

KW - well down. How much savings have you put in and how much is from investment returns.

[Aaron]

I do bugger all research - I know what I'm looking for and simple stock screening tools provide it. Comsec provides the financial analysis for me. I take the value approach (a la Ben Graham, Intelligent Investing) and always reinvest my dividends and all excess cash I have on hand. I live simply and dont spend a lot - except on things I really enjoy like top restaurants and overseas holidays.

KW if you don't mind my asking, What are you looking for when you are selecting companies to invest in? I am guessing you are looking for companies selling at a discount to their book value providing a decent dividend.

[fungus pudding]

Ah ha i've been thinking of getting an ipad and wondered what the were like for research?

They are just like any other low powered, slow computer, but without the redeeming feature of a decent keyboard.

[BIRMANBOY]

An interesting series of posts...one thing I noticed was that the success stories seem to slide over the fact that in order to make the successfull outcomes possible....there was a singular ability to do the following:
(a) make debt go away first
(b) reliance on an "above average" income stream to finance the investing and also cover living expenses
(c) ability to keep up the flow of funds to pay for more share positions
therefore I would hazard a guess that the single most important factor in building your million plus portfolio is ....pause for dramatic effect.....a well paying job...Jees who would have thought. Maybe these "young" punters should be pumping their extra funds into improving their education/skills/training FIRST before ploughing every last cent into trying for the "fastest" way. I would hazard a guess that One in a thousand gets rich fast but many more get rich slow by getting a good job, saving, cutting expenses and not taking any big risks. Certainly not as "sexy" as the breathless excitement of hearing about someones countless "multi baggers" but may be eminently more achievable for us mortal plonkers.

[Aaron]

Thanks KW sounds easier than Steve Fleming's approach and probably less scary although obviously the pay off is much bigger when it goes well for Steve.

[BIRMANBOY]

Ok, just out of curiosity what do you consider a "a well paid job"? In your post earlier you say ..
"My first 5 year plan was $250k in assets - from a negative position (having had bank, credit card and student loan debt). Took one year to pay off all the debt, then another 4 years to hit the $250k in shares derived from putting all money saved straight into the share market.." So by my understanding you went from $0 to 250,000 in 4 years...by putting all money saved....I'm curious how can you consider that as being funded by a normal pay? Lets be generous and assume 20% gain compounding every year with annual 40,000 funding..this comes out to approx 250,000. So being able to put 40,000 in per year after expenses and living makes your income "above average" (80,000?) to me and most people I would imagine. I'm happy for you but am I missing something? If thats right then its a usefull benchmark for others to say well if I can do this and also achieve a compounding 20% then I can do it too. Big ask in my humble opinion but I'm JOe NO-Risk

Agreed. But not necessarily an above normal well paying job. I took the Rich Dad Poor Dad advice to heart - which is first cut debt completely, be considered about what you spend money on (needs not wants), pay yourself first (ie. put as much away in savings first up then live off the budgeted amount you have left), decide what kind of investor you want to be (business, stock market, property etc), educate yourself in that area, then invest. The power of a constant supply of money into an investment plus compounding takes care of the rest.

The first bit is the most important -as once you focus on cutting your debt and paying it off as fast as possible, once its paid off those regular payments then goes straight into your savings, and you don't even miss it.

$30,000 in cash injections over 7 years does not require a well paid job, just self discipline. To turn it into $123,000 - that requires education.

[Sideshow Bob]

No, in that respect its more the Buffett twist on Graham - which is not looking for fair companies at cheap prices, but great companies at fair prices. I stock screen on the following - must pay a dividend, have a low-average P/E ratio (under 15), and must have ROE and ROC greater than 10%. Then I look for 3 years of increasing earnings and dividends. Bonus points if there is little or no debt, strong cashflows, and healthy margins. All this information can be obtained from Comsec. Then I cross to a technical analysis - the stock must not be in a downtrend. Three companies that I recently bought that met this criteria are SIV, CDD and FXL. Shares I own that meet this criteria is AMM, MTU, LGD, IIN.

Its really so simple any idiot could do it. Its when you try to be smarter than the average bear by straying from the rules that you end up losing a lot of money - you have to remind yourself that slow and steady wins the race, and there really are not 10 baggers around every corner :-)

Enjoy your posts KW, and thanks for sharing.

Criteria is very similar to Jim Slater/Zulu Principle.

[toast2success]

at a quick guess I'd say the average hourly rate is $20 give or take..?? making a 40 hr week $800 gross?? Again, only a guess.