Want to learn how to invest

R

reklamos

Registered User
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4
Hi everyone,
I'm new here but been reading this forum for some time.
I'm looking to start investing and I've never done this before.
I have good amount of saving accounts in various banks but at this time the rates are not great.
I have 10K that I want to invest as a starting point. The 10K is purely for investment and for me to learn how investment works. I'm not concerned even if I lose it all. I just want to see if investment is for me or should I pay someone to do this for me. :)
There are tons of info everywhere but I'm looking for advice/recommendation on good beginners articles/books or if someone went through this recently.

Thanks
 
You need to do a workshop introductory course with the likes of IIFT or equivalent.
A one day seminar will set you back about €300, and if you like what you hear, can then go on to do an 8 week course on investing in the markets.
It would be wise to set up a dummy account first to get a feel of the markets before risking €10k.
 
Seems to me you will be down about 10% before you even begin if you spend all that money on training. How about browsing a few relevant threads on this forum, look up some terms and definitions on Google and Investopedia, then give it a shot on your own. It's not rocket science (but it'll be as expensive as rocket science if you spend all your money on seminars).
 
LS400 said:
You need to do a workshop introductory course with the likes of IIFT or equivalent.
A one day seminar will set you back about €300, and if you like what you hear, can then go on to do an 8 week course on investing in the markets.
It would be wise to set up a dummy account first to get a feel of the markets before risking €10k.
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Poor advice! The OP wants to learn about investing not trading or speculating! OP have a look at some of these courses: https://www.futurelearn.com/search?utf8=✓&q=Investments.

Some books on my bookshelf that should be worth a read:

- The Intelligent Investor
- Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits
- Stocks For The Long Run
- Common Sense On Mutual Funds
- The Essays Of Warren Buffett: Lessons For Corporate America
- The Black Swan
- Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes and How to Correct Them
- Manias, Panics, and Crashes
- Where Are the Customers’ Yachts?
- A Random Walk Down Wall Street
- One Up on Wall Street
- Beating the Street
- Reminiscences of a Stock Operator
- Strategic Bond Investor
- Poor Charlie's Almanack
- The Misbehavior of Markets: A Fractal View of Financial Turbulence
- The Art of Asset Allocation: Principles and Investment Strategies for Any Market
- The Intelligent Asset Allocator: How to Build Your Portfolio to Maximize Returns and Minimize Risk
- The Little Book of Value Investing
- The Little Book of Common Sense Investing: The Only Way to Guarantee Your Fair Share of Stock Market Returns
 
dub_nerd said:
Seems to me you will be down about 10% before you even begin if you spend all that money on training. How about browsing a few relevant threads on this forum, look up some terms and definitions on Google and Investopedia, then give it a shot on your own. It's not rocket science (but it'll be as expensive as rocket science if you spend all your money on seminars).
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You will be down a lot more than 10% if you dont educate yourself with them pesky seminars
 
LS400 said:
You will be down a lot more than 10% if you dont educate yourself with them pesky seminars
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Why will he be down ? If you just open a cheap broker and buy shares in anything how likely are you to do worse than someone who has studied for years and attended seminars?
If he doesn't diversify he's going to have higher variance in his results but as equally likely to be up 10% as down 10%. You don't need to work out the value of each company on the stock market , the weight of money has done all this for you , you lose on commission and spread that's it . Similarly I don't need to work out what % chance Real Madrid are to win on Saturday Betfair has done it for me , between buying and selling its as close to fair value when your buy anything assuming it's liquid enough. There are always people who think they can't beat the markets but I would say they are few and far between.
 
So I have 10k to invest. I can buy Boi shares etc, (which is a bet in anyone's language) and hope the shares go up in value. Why else would you invest!! and as the op has said, he is not too concerned if he looses it all, which in my thinking, leads me to believe there's a little bit of a risk taker in his thinking. So, with that in mind, with the same 10k, he can invest a portion of that betting on the whether the share price of Ryanair etc will rise or fall.

In my opinion, there's not a world of a difference. It's just that one has a quicker result than the other.
 
reklamos said:
Hi everyone,
I'm new here but been reading this forum for some time.
I'm looking to start investing and I've never done this before.
I have good amount of saving accounts in various banks but at this time the rates are not great.
I have 10K that I want to invest as a starting point. The 10K is purely for investment and for me to learn how investment works. I'm not concerned even if I lose it all. I just want to see if investment is for me or should I pay someone to do this for me. :)
There are tons of info everywhere but I'm looking for advice/recommendation on good beginners articles/books or if someone went through this recently.

Thanks
Click to expand...
No doubt Brendan will delete my post, but taking the time to learn about investing is a sensible step. We are one of two companies in Ireland that offer such training.

www.gillenmarkets.com
 
I might disagree with you Rory, but that would not be a reason for deleting it.

We don't allow advertising, but as a long term useful poster, answering a specific question, we occasionally make exceptions.

Had I noticed this thread, I might well have made a reference to your site.

Brendan
 
Jim2007 said:
Some books on my bookshelf that should be worth a read:
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All of these are good but for a beginner I strongly suggest you read Rory Gillen's "3 Steps to Investment Success". [Note I've no connection with Mr Gillen and do not subscribe to his website, but I think this book is about the best you can get as an introduction to investment.]
 
PMU said:
All of these are good but for a beginner I strongly suggest you read Rory Gillen's "3 Steps to Investment Success". [Note I've no connection with Mr Gillen and do not subscribe to his website, but I think this book is about the best you can get as an introduction to investment.]
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This book was debated previously on this forum and very much divided the jury. I found it extremely poor.

How you could rate it ahead of some of those classics mentioned by Jim genuinely puzzles me.
 
In my last job (circa 20 years ago) I was a member of an Investment Club. All you had to do is give £100.00 per week to our "Fund." Our "founding" member had an account with a well know stock-broker. He and two others were the people who decided where the money would be invested (or gambled). You could opt in or opt out in any week, but most of us stayed in for several years.

There could be 20 members at any one time, so therefore £2000.00 was available for use every week. The money was invested through the stock-broker every Monday or Tuesday and cashed in on Thursday. There were no "paper" transactions. The main guy running the club was astute and most weeks he hit a profit which was divvied out on the Friday - sometimes we lost. Depending on the occasion some of the investment money was gambled on GAA football matches in the local betting shop. Strangely, our profit margins here were often greater than the investment through the stock broker.

I am glad to say that overall, I made a few bob through the club. However, I did learn that the stock market was not a place where my little knowledge would reap a profit on my own investments. Investing for a living is not the place for the small-time wannabe investor however knowledgeable.
 
Brendan Burgess said:
I might disagree with you Rory, but that would not be a reason for deleting it.

We don't allow advertising, but as a long term useful poster, answering a specific question, we occasionally make exceptions.

Had I noticed this thread, I might well have made a reference to your site.

Brendan
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I'm flabbergasted Brendan.....training in all areas of life is surely the first step to self improvement. And I provide equal coverage of your beloved ETFs; I've been a fan from the start.

Now, I might even have to invite you to our next 1-day seminar (October) - on a complementary basis of course - to change that stone-age view of yours...would you be up for that?

Rory
 
Dan Murray said:
This book was debated previously on this forum and very much divided the jury. I found it extremely poor. How you could rate it ahead of some of those classics mentioned by Jim genuinely puzzles me.
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I can rate it more appropriate than most of the books previously mentioned as it is aimed at those beginning in investment. The OP asked for advice/recommendations on good beginners articles/books.

IMHO the best books on investment for beginners (and for everyone) are (1) 'Unconventional Success: A Fundamental Approach to Personal Investment' by David F Swensen; and (2) 'A Random Walk Down Wall Street: The Time-Tested Strategy for Successful Investing' by Burton Malkiel. Everyone should start with these. Mr Gillen's book has a similar approach to Mr Swensen's but has the advantage that it is not written from an American perspective. That's why I recommended it.

I find that those starting investing frequently ask questions like 'What are the 'hot' stocks/funds that will make me money?'. Now I've no idea what these are, but investment theory tell us, and I can confirm from person experience, that proven strategies based on asset allocation, risk assessment and duration, do work; will protect your capital; and will give you decent returns. The above books deal with this approach to investment.

The books mentioned by Jim2007 in post #4 are excellent but books that provide a good broad introduction to investment theory, particularly from an asset allocation perspective, should be the first port of call for beginners.
 
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Rory Gillen said:
I'm flabbergasted Brendan.....training in all areas of life is surely the first step to self improvement.
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Hi Rory

I don't think that either you or anyone else can pick winners. So I don't believe in the equity analysis which you do and which I understand you train people in. There are a few exceptional people who break the rule e.g. Warren Buffett.

I am not a fan of ETFs by the way.

I have a strong preference for picking a directly held portfolio of 10 blue chip shares. I pick these at diversified random.



Brendan
 
I don't believe in picking winners either , I think the main things you need to know are diversification, tax and ongoing fees . That's what I look at , I could be wrong , I have read Rory's newsletter just now I just had a look at the first Trust they recommend HG Capital, according to AIC website the ongoing charges are 2.25% per annum that wouldn't fit into my portfolio as the charges are too high. It's complicated figuring out exact charges from HG Capital website but it seems charges are based on NAV price not share price and its trading at a large discount so your paying higher than the stated 1.5% charge. So AIC is probably accurate at around 2.25%.

When I am looking at investment trusts I filter from lowest to highest charges and avoid anything over around 1%.
 
Fella said:
I don't believe in picking winners either....
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Ah, come on, Fella

Have you not read de book? It's all there.

Buy a pack of dogs. Put aside for a year. Examine de pack. Any dogs which are still dogs must be kept. Remove anything doing well. Replace those removed with new dogs. Rinse. Repeat.

A bit crude but nonetheless my recollection of the recipe as to how to beat de Footsie!
 
Dan Murray said:
Ah, come on, Fella

Have you not read de book? It's all there.

Buy a pack of dogs. Put aside for a year. Examine de pack. Any dogs which are still dogs must be kept. Remove anything doing well. Replace those removed with new dogs. Rinse. Repeat.

A bit crude but nonetheless my recollection of the recipe as to how to beat de Footsie!
Click to expand...


The other problem is proving your good at picking winners. I've gone through periods of finishing down over 200 bets at averaging over 5% edge per bet. Just like gambling even bad investments can out do good investments over a short period of time , a short period of time in investing is probably 5 years. I don't think I could ever prove beyond doubt that Rory or anyone else is better than I am at picking stocks. That's the reason I wouldn't pay for advice. I would possibly pay for tax advice though.

And no i've never read any books on investing.
 
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