A Newbie Guide to Investing

Anybody attended the Millionaire Investor course before? Its base on value investing and i thought it should be ok for newbie. I believe the course fee is not cheap.

For those newbie interested, u can either read books from library, attend free seminars from SGX or can try this.

http://www.millionaireinvestor.com/free-...siaone.htm

(25-02-2013, 11:14 PM)Bibi Wrote: Anybody attended the Millionaire Investor course before? Its base on value investing and i thought it should be ok for newbie. I believe the course fee is not cheap.

For those newbie interested, u can either read books from library, attend free seminars from SGX or can try this.

http://www.millionaireinvestor.com/free-...siaone.htm

I went for the free preview before. Quite a lot of sales and marketing talk (naturally), though the emphasis was indeed on value investing, sustainable yield and long-term focus. Kudos to them at least for that.

But I do have some issues with them advertising amazing returns on their websites, as testimonials from participants. Most of these returns were a result of investing in mid-2009 when everyone knows a sharp rebound occurred. In the current environment, it gets tougher to find bargains.

It's OK to pay for this course if you feel you cannot learn through books and the Internet. There could be hidden value-added.

But for myself personally, I will not pay about $3,500 for this 3-day course.

(25-02-2013, 11:23 PM)Musicwhiz Wrote:

(25-02-2013, 11:14 PM)Bibi Wrote: Anybody attended the Millionaire Investor course before? Its base on value investing and i thought it should be ok for newbie. I believe the course fee is not cheap.

For those newbie interested, u can either read books from library, attend free seminars from SGX or can try this.

http://www.millionaireinvestor.com/free-...siaone.htm

I went for the free preview before. Quite a lot of sales and marketing talk (naturally), though the emphasis was indeed on value investing, sustainable yield and long-term focus. Kudos to them at least for that.

But I do have some issues with them advertising amazing returns on their websites, as testimonials from participants. Most of these returns were a result of investing in mid-2009 when everyone knows a sharp rebound occurred. In the current environment, it gets tougher to find bargains.

It's OK to pay for this course if you feel you cannot learn through books and the Internet. There could be hidden value-added.

But for myself personally, I will not pay about $3,500 for this 3-day course.

My only problem with them is why they call it Millionaire Investor? It gives an impression can easily earn millions. I thought value investing is a slow steady process so this title doesnt really suit. Maybe they started with half a million of investible $.

The title is rather gimmicky, I admit.

Then again, what should they call themselves? Value Investor's Circle?

(25-02-2013, 11:23 PM)Musicwhiz Wrote: But I do have some issues with them advertising amazing returns on their websites, as testimonials from participants. Most of these returns were a result of investing in mid-2009 when everyone knows a sharp rebound occurred. In the current environment, it gets tougher to find bargains.
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But for myself personally, I will not pay about $3,500 for this 3-day course.

Had a quick look thro' their site. Looks like they're using 2012 success stories now (when STI was ~+20%). One story had a headline of making $400k using CPF but on closer examination, it was $40k.... one zero less...

Wow! $3500 for a 3-day course... I can guess who's easily making a million-$ from these courses...Guess who are the real Millionaire Investors??

Well, the link links to a page which is already somewhat misleading - it says "Give Us 2 Hours and Discover How to Invest in the Right Stocks with Huge Growth Potential... Even If You're a Total Beginner and Never Seen a Stock Chart Before in Your Life!" The part in bold is misleading as companies with good growth potential may not always be the best investments as the market price may have factored in the optimistic expectations - so it becomes a valuation call. Also, many times growth itself does not pan out - many companies with growth potential end up fizzling out or not meeting expectations, which is when you see EPS drastically cut and the multiples falling as well, resulting in a crashing share price.

They also should NOT use examples of XX% gain in just 7 months, while touting value investing as a long-term strategy. You should show how the share price of a good business tracks its profits and cash flow generation capability instead, and use a time horizon of 4-5 years.

I could go on, but I'll stop here.

Value investing was never meant to look "sexy" or "glamorous", but somehow they seem to convey that impression. It is a prudent method for people with low expectations, in my opinion (I always fear the worst for my companies hahaha).

(25-02-2013, 11:42 PM)KopiKat Wrote:

(25-02-2013, 11:23 PM)Musicwhiz Wrote: But I do have some issues with them advertising amazing returns on their websites, as testimonials from participants. Most of these returns were a result of investing in mid-2009 when everyone knows a sharp rebound occurred. In the current environment, it gets tougher to find bargains.
.
.
But for myself personally, I will not pay about $3,500 for this 3-day course.

Had a quick look thro' their site. Looks like they're using 2012 success stories now (when STI was ~+20%). One story had a headline of making $400k using CPF but on closer examination, it was $40k.... one zero less...

Wow! $3500 for a 3-day course... I can guess who's easily making a million-$ from these courses...Guess who are the real Millionaire Investors??

Actually different people have different ways of absorbing knowledge.
Some may be able to self-study, apply and then with the results, self-feedback to onself what had went wrong and rectify. This process if able to repeat continously, is definitely the cheapest way.

Some others I realised, learned more from other people knowledge that are passed on to them. Of course, the learners also absorbed the deficency of the instructors' knowledge. Therefore, the learners must apply the knowledge acquired through seminars themselves, and be able to differentiate the deficiency and reapply differently.
The problem is many after learning from their instructors, seem to be very rigid, unable to be flexible enough to apply it to suit oneself style.

All in all, everyone has his/her own investing or trading style. Noone is fixed in the same mould. Person A and B can have different psychological make-up. A can trade well, because he has a very strict discipline of cutting loss while B can invest well, because he is good in detecting financial shenanigans. Likewise, A could be impatient, thus trading might be better for him while B as investors have patience.

Actually current environment is pretty good for investing, because the tide is high, so as the say goes, every boat is rising. Everyone can be Warren Buffett for now, esp those investing in small caps.. Woo.. they will think they are better than WB.

As long as markets continue to rise, everyone will implicitly believe they are successful investors. Like they say, a rising tide lifts all boats.

Such courses always have people sharing success stories. We never hear about those who failed. (isnt it like every weekend someone will sure strike 4D?)

A person who's keen to learn value investing should just seek out the most famous disciple of benjamin graham and read up as much about him as much as possible.

(26-02-2013, 12:56 AM)safetyfirst Wrote: Such courses always have people sharing success stories. We never hear about those who failed. (isnt it like every weekend someone will sure strike 4D?)

A person who's keen to learn value investing should just seek out the most famous disciple of benjamin graham and read up as much about him as much as possible.

hi safetyfirst n newbies,
i couldn't agree more with u. i started my success in investment after reading up immensely on the various gurus(see my previous posts). but reading up n knowing all abt them is not enough. u are different from them situationally. u need to formulate what is appropiate for urself in ur own percular situation today.