New to investing

Hi , I have recently read up the book , value investing in growth companies by rusmin and victor chng , and learnt about how to read balance sheets , assessing company management , assessing business and how to valuate firms to purchase their stocks . Is this sufficient for me to begin investing ?
 
i would also like to learn about how to invest in etfs and reits. Could the seasoned veterans here please recommend comprehensive learning materials - books, videos , to learn everything about how to asses and valuate these investment vehicles to begin investing in them. Thanks !
What would be the criteria to look out for when investing in REITs ?
 
I am really young , and have little capital , please advise on the type of investments i should be making. 
 
Thank you for your invaluable inputs !

hi slpypnda,
Welcome to VB.com.

For a start, i would recommend that you use the "search" button located near the top-right corner of your browser to search valuebuddies.com's treasure cove. VB.com is also separated into a few themes (as you shall see, in some of the links i posted below) that allows easier browsing of the end user's needs. As for your request of "advice", generally most of the VBs here are not qualified financial advisers and so if you need "advice", it has to come with a disclaimer.

Some threads that you can read up more that can answer some of the questions you posted:

Recommendations for books: https://www.valuebuddies.com/forum-11.html
REITS: https://www.valuebuddies.com/thread-422.html
ETFs: https://www.valuebuddies.com/forum-49.html

Moderator

Hi slpypnda,

1) People often say that they wishes they had started investing earlier, or younger. While youth allows for wealth to be compounded over a longer period of time, I think that it is more important to be mindful in choosing the right 'teachers'; lest your wealth be compounded negatively.

2) I have not read the book by the people you have mentioned, but I have read their blog on numerous occasions. There are many people with websites claiming they can teach you this and that, but so far, I have seen none with published information on their portfolio performance. Nobody will send their kids to learn to swim from someone who cannot, but when it comes to investment, people are willing to learn from those who have yet to prove themselves. In terms of the quality of their blogs, most, if not all, of their 'analyses' are no more than summaries of what you can find in Annual Reports. Perhaps they have kept whatever insights to themselves. In any case, I see little evidence of their ability to produce (sustained) results.

3) I no longer remember how I came across valuebuddies, but I'll tell you that this forum has been my tutor for the past 6 or so years. Most of the regulars here are very generous, but you must do your homework too. The threads in VB has more than enough information for you to read and learn for the next few years. Many things you read may not make sense to you at first, but as your knowledge and sensitivity to the numerous aspects of investing are heightened, you will eventually understand.

4) The Intelligent Investor, The Snowball by Alice Schroeder, and The Money Game by Adam Smith are books I recommend. Always go to the source of the teachings.

5) As a learner, how you choose what to invest in is more important what you actually invest in. Restrict yourself to buying no more than 1 stock per year. This will force you to spend plenty of time to not only look at many different stocks, but also to look at them deeply; which is what most of the folks here do. But most people do not have the discipline to do this. They treat stocks as Big Sweep, 4D, Toto slips; every week buy some random numbers and hope for the best.

Good luck!

Quote:I am really young , and have little capital , please advise on the type of investments i should be making.

The best investment is always yourself.
Most people achieve their financial goals through their careers or businesses.

Earning $5000 a month with an average annual increment of 5% vs earning $3000 a month with an average annual increment of 2% over 20 years makes a lot difference to your financial wealth being.

It is just doubly better if you turn out to be a good investor but it is not really necessary for a comfortable life.

The best investment should be in your own home because buying property is usually financed by 80% mortgage .

If parents can help you to find the deposit . the EC Condominion should be the one to dream about every night.

(01-10-2017, 11:10 PM)soros Wrote: The best investment should be in your own home because buying property is usually financed by 80% mortgage .

If parents can help you to find  the deposit . the EC Condominion should be the one to dream about  every night.

IMHO that is a pretty myopic view and not always correct. 

With an 80% mortagage, an investor is actually leveraged up 4x his deposit of 20%. Whilst over long term 20years, it would probably be pretty good investment and perform just as well as stocks do, over the short-medium term, this requires serviceability. It also cuts both ways, should interest rates suddenly increase for some unforseen case and property market which is quite high now tank 20-40% and investor lose that serviceability from job loss, things can get pretty bad. EC Condo has quite some ongoing upkeep costs as well.

Most beginner will not have the temperament for long term value investing(actually it is also this point that probably makes property a good starting point as it forces one to hold). Op would do well to just try out whatever investing methods/types. Best way is to get his feet wet by setting up a trading account with local house. Some local brokers also hold monthly free investors talks. 

Get fingers burned first and pay some "school fees"  to market first lol. I think most of us have had some good lessons from market, especially from GFC times if not AFC times 

Equity market is a good platform for learning, and the "school fees" is relatively controllable and manageable.

Setting limited accounts for a secondary going kids, is a very good practical for financial education. I am planning to do so, and the best result is the kid loses all due to her "greed". It is probably the least fee paid for similar experience.

If you have little capital, and baby step in equity investing, ETFs may be better suit you for now because of its cost and diversity. To acquire some basic knowledge, you can check out Sgx Academy, there are free courses available.

My 2 cents worth.

Investing in anything has basically one goal:

beating the interest rates on bank deposits and the inflation rate
over 1 year or more.

Anything less than 12 months may be too specualtive and similar
to gambling in the casinos.( unless your crystal ball is fail-proof)

And the money used should be spare, left over cash,
after deducting necessary expenses and savings.
Savings is the bedrock, without that its quicksand.

There is also the element of luck.
Not everything boils down to scientific analytics.
All the best though!

(02-10-2017, 12:15 PM)Porkbelly Wrote: My 2 cents worth.

Investing in anything has basically one goal:

beating the interest rates on bank deposits and the inflation rate
over 1 year or more.

Anything less than 12 months may be too specualtive and similar
to gambling in the casinos.( unless your crystal ball is fail-proof)

And the money used should be spare, left over cash,
after deducting necessary expenses and savings.
Savings is the bedrock, without that its quicksand.

There is also the element of luck.
Not everything boils down to scientific analytics.
All the best though!

Actually, I thought the goal should be beating some passive low cost ETF instrument like STI ETF.
Or you can find some pan asia benchmark if your active investing encompasses regional stocks.

The argument is that a passive cost averaging way of investing using ETFs is fairly passive, with minimal effort, so an active management approach must beat this handily to be worth the effort.
Using the interest rates is kinda setting the bar too low... at least in this current environment.