Me & My Money Series (Sunday Times)

[d.o.g.]

Forex is one area in finance that really scales like crazy because of the huge liquidity which permits very large volumes to be traded. So if someone is a successful forex trader, the only stopping him from quickly becoming a multi-millionaire (if not a billionaire) is his own risk appetite.

Soros made US$1 bn overnight when the pound devalued. Last time I checked, he hasn't set up a forex trading academy yet. Instead, he's spending his time and money promoting his "open society" ideas.

This chap hasn't even made SGD 1 mn over 5 years and he's set up a trading academy already (which has made him over SGD 1 mn in 2 years). He seems to exemplify the snide remark that "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach".

Certainly he's financially successful, but I wouldn't go anywhere near his "trading academy" - unless he's selling a stake in it!

[Big Toe]

Forex academy. Share trading academy. Property investment academy. Good parenting academy. Life academy....
Seems like everyone gotten really successful and got something to share.

Personally I have spent close to 15 years investing/reading/learning the stock market and still haven't
really figured out a good strategy. Debugging/fine tuning/realignment of my investment strategies take years
and plenty of money. But I guess that's the best way to learn. Not from some academy.

Here's something I will share from the many years. Most businesses are not made to last. For a period of time they will look great, following that is a decline and they seldom will turn around.

Of the few business that is made to last,

1.some of them will screw up big time and go bust.
2.some will sell off their most sustainable/profitable divisions and set up something totally unrelated and fail.
3.most of them will have executives that are only keen in squandering the money away and making themselves rich.

[etan]

Forex academy. Share trading academy. Property investment academy. Good parenting academy. Life academy....
Seems like everyone gotten really successful and got something to share.

Personally I have spent close to 15 years investing/reading/learning the stock market and still haven't
really figured out a good strategy. Debugging/fine tuning/realignment of my investment strategies take years
and plenty of money. But I guess that's the best way to learn. Not from some academy.

Here's something I will share from the many years. Most businesses are not made to last. For a period of time they will look great, following that is a decline and they seldom will turn around.

Of the few business that is made to last,

1.some of them will screw up big time and go bust.
2.some will sell off their most sustainable/profitable divisions and set up something totally unrelated and fail.
3.most of them will have executives that are only keen in squandering the money away and making themselves rich.

Big Toe, You have spoken my mind in some ways!

Every time I look at the stock market, I try to figure out (or day dream) - how can I make it (a little) big one day...

Till today, of the many counters I have invested so far, only 1 can make it - and it's Wilmar. So it's only 1 out of so many counters, I am still losing money!

[KopiKat]

Forex academy. Share trading academy. Property investment academy. Good parenting academy. Life academy....
Seems like everyone gotten really successful and got something to share.

Personally I have spent close to 15 years investing/reading/learning the stock market and still haven't
really figured out a good strategy. Debugging/fine tuning/realignment of my investment strategies take years
and plenty of money. But I guess that's the best way to learn. Not from some academy.

Here's something I will share from the many years. Most businesses are not made to last. For a period of time they will look great, following that is a decline and they seldom will turn around.

Of the few business that is made to last,

1.some of them will screw up big time and go bust.
2.some will sell off their most sustainable/profitable divisions and set up something totally unrelated and fail.
3.most of them will have executives that are only keen in squandering the money away and making themselves rich.

Big Toe, You have spoken my mind in some ways!

Every time I look at the stock market, I try to figure out (or day dream) - how can I make it (a little) big one day...

Till today, of the many counters I have invested so far, only 1 can make it - and it's Wilmar. So it's only 1 out of so many counters, I am still losing money!

etan,

What Big Toe is trying to say is that Investing (or Trading or even Parenting) is not something that can be learnt over a 1-5 days course despite the many claims by these Academies.

For most people, it takes many years of continuous learning and hands-on experience to perhaps even get just half-way to a consistent and workable approach that suits one's character and temperament. As you learn from your mistakes and finetune your methods, you'll find the returns and consistency improving slowly over time

So, don't be tempted by the promises of 'Short-Cuts' to success or easy wealth by these Academies. Neither be disheartened by your own failures. What's important is to stop day-dreaming, learn from your mistakes and start learning...

Some of the free resources that I'd found most useful for myself during my learning journey are,

1) investopedia.com : Can learn about usefulness of Financial Ratios and Analysis. Also many tutorials and articles

2) Easy to read books on Warren Buffett approach. Authors : Janet Lowe / Mary Buffett / Robert Hagstrom

3) ValueBuddies - Many gurus here who share their analysis or helps to point out negatives about your stocks (if you post to ask or share your own analysis)

Today, I'm a lot richer in both investment knowledge and $$, mainly because I finally took that 1st tiny step to learn (after day dreaming for more than a decade) sometime in 2005. I was lucky I stumbled on this community @ Wallstraits at about the same time and learnt from some of the gurus then that it's not impossible to consistently make $$ from Stocks Investments. Always remember, in Stocks Investing, the majority don't make $$. So, ya, don't follow the herd (majority)!

[brattzz]

how about, if emotions are not an issue,

1) Buy low, sell high
2) Buy Blue Chips only.

[Bibi]

Every time I look at the stock market, I try to figure out (or day dream) - how can I make it (a little) big one day...

Till today, of the many counters I have invested so far, only 1 can make it - and it's Wilmar. So it's only 1 out of so many counters, I am still losing money!

You really want to earn money from stocks? Buy a few blue chips when the Straits Times newspaper declare Spore in recession. U want to loss money also difficult when the economy recovers.

[weijian]

You really want to earn money from stocks? Buy a few blue chips when the Straits Times newspaper declare Spore in recession. U want to loss money also difficult when the economy recovers.

The stock market is a leading indicator of economic conditions. By the time ST or official statistics declare a 'recession', it may be too late sometimes.

[etan]

Every time I look at the stock market, I try to figure out (or day dream) - how can I make it (a little) big one day...

Till today, of the many counters I have invested so far, only 1 can make it - and it's Wilmar. So it's only 1 out of so many counters, I am still losing money!

You really want to earn money from stocks? Buy a few blue chips when the Straits Times newspaper declare Spore in recession. U want to loss money also difficult when the economy recovers.

BiBi,

Borrow the words from SMOL… (Jared, hope you dun mind… you have the exact phrasing which I wanted to say…)

Our SMOL best sums up an investor’s journey through the (initial?) years…

http://singaporemanofleisure.blogspot.co...chive.html

“For fellow veterans, I think we've all been through our early low conviction days. This month say long term investing is the way to go, only to switch to contra trading the next month, then join IPO staging, then switch to dividend investing, punting small caps to S-chips, and now singing Blue-chips are the best! Why? Business Times say so what!”

Ya, I have been through this, and am still finding my way around…

It’s like going round and round, and yet, still cannot ‘graduate’. Maybe I got less grey matter… or maybe I didn't learn from my mistakes, or did not stay focus or something else...

But of course there are successful ones out there…

And nobody can deny that VB is indeed a very good forum to learn about value investments! Hope it can stay like this for many years to come!

A big TQ to all the valuebuddies, and also the hardwork of the moderators!

[Jared Seah]

etan,

Your're very much welcomed!

Glad we can laugh at ourselves

I remember someone telling me that when we do jogging, if we can't have a conversation while doing so, we are pushing ourselves too hard!

A healthy sense of detachment helps with my emotions.

[Temperament]

Every time I look at the stock market, I try to figure out (or day dream) - how can I make it (a little) big one day...

Till today, of the many counters I have invested so far, only 1 can make it - and it's Wilmar. So it's only 1 out of so many counters, I am still losing money!

You really want to earn money from stocks? Buy a few blue chips when the Straits Times newspaper declare Spore in recession. U want to loss money also difficult when the economy recovers.

BiBi,

Borrow the words from SMOL… (Jared, hope you dun mind… you have the exact phrasing which I wanted to say…)

Our SMOL best sums up an investor’s journey through the (initial?) years…

http://singaporemanofleisure.blogspot.co...chive.html

“For fellow veterans, I think we've all been through our early low conviction days. This month say long term investing is the way to go, only to switch to contra trading the next month, then join IPO staging, then switch to dividend investing, punting small caps to S-chips, and now singing Blue-chips are the best! Why? Business Times say so what!”

Ya, I have been through this, and am still finding my way around…

It’s like going round and round, and yet, still cannot ‘graduate’. Maybe I got less grey matter… or maybe I didn't learn from my mistakes, or did not stay focus or something else...

But of course there are successful ones out there…

And nobody can deny that VB is indeed a very good forum to learn about value investments! Hope it can stay like this for many years to come!

A big TQ to all the valuebuddies, and also the hardwork of the moderators!

Always remember none can really predict what Mr. Market going to do next.
But after MR. Market shows he is in an extreme lousy mood (Mr. Market has a horrible crash into the Wall Street), you should know what to do. This is my main "philosophy of investing" i adopted since 24+years ago, besides many other principles. Yet, last year i thought i was "very smart"(actually stupid on hind-sight) trying to made some quick money from trading in "S-Chips". i lost about 30K to 40K+. But over-all i still made a little. Now i am in cocaine withdrawal mood from Mr. market as he keep on pushing to me.
Cheers!