Hi everyone,

I am new to share trading and would really appreciate input from some of the knowledgeable members on here. I have been trying to develop a long term plan on how to grow my capital at the fastest possible rate. I would definitely appreciate critiques/ideas.

A little bit of background about myself: I am 23 years old and in my final year of a law and accounting degree. I have about $34,000 invested in Milford's PIE funds (in the income, global and dynamic funds) but would ideally like to learn how to effectively invest on my own. From the beginning of next year I will have a little over $1,000 a week to invest so really need to think seriously about the best way to go about this.

I have ordered One up on Wall Street and The Intelligent Investor and plan to read them as fast as possible although this will undoubtedly still take me a little while given study and work takes up the majority of my time. Is there any other books people recommend? They don't have to be share related - just anything good on making money generally.

My plan is to purchase an investment property at the end of this year using the equity in my managed funds as the deposit. I have spoken to the bank about this already and they will allow this although it essentially operates like a margin loan. I plan to fix 20 percent of the mortgage on a 3 year term and pay it off in case the value of my shares fluctuate and the bank forces me to sell and realise any losses. My surplus income would be invested into shares. Is this too much of a buffer? Would it be more prudent to set the majority of mortgage to interest only and invest the rest into shares? The alternative is to have a flexible mortgage and withdraw additional capital to invest, although these tend to be slightly higher interest rates.

I plan to continue this cycle indefinitely - i.e. purchasing a new investment property every 3 years, paying off 20 % and investing the rest in shares. Although the property market in NZ is currently overvalued so perhaps I should hold back on property for a little while?

Is it possible to consistently get greater returns investing on your own than using a managed fund given that fund managers are experts and invest full time? I do get the feeling that fund managers may take less risks to avoid 'rocking the boat' so to speak. Managed funds (provided it's a PIE) also provide tax benefits that individual investors don't receive - lower marginal tax rate for high income brackets, capital gains are NEVER taxed etc.

I guess the only real downside to them are the fees which usually have a base of 1% pa + performance bonuses. Ideally in order to beat returns on managed funds it seems you would need at least $50k to invest? If you were to invest $5k in a share brokerage would cost $60 to buy and sell which is already 1.2%. I would not like to invest less than $10,000 in any one share to avoid brokerage cutting into my returns. To be adequately diversified I would need at least 5 different shares (although 8 would be preferable). Is this the approach that many of you take? Or do you invest smaller amounts and still achieve great returns?

I was thinking that I would probably be better off to use managed funds for the next 3 or so years until I build up my knowledge and capital. I think I should probably focus on just the NZX and ASX and leave global investments to managed funds? I have heard that it is best to have around 50% of your capital in global markets. Any advice/personal stories would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you all for your time.