Howdy unconscious, I started trading 3 years ago during the GFC and I did the following (a)took an introductary course to the stockmarket & trading @ Eagle Farm Tafe (8x wks x 2 hrs) given by an experienced stockbroker & ex teacher.($96) (b) bought the Dummies series of books ie: Share Investing for Dummies Trading for Dummies Options for Dummies (about $35 a book) (c)Read Understanding the Investment Clock by Rod North
(d) How to pick stocks like warren Buffett
(e) The Big Money by F R Kobrick
(f)What is Short Selling by Tom Taulli
(G) The Warren Buffett Way by R G Hagstrom
(H) 50 Economics Ideas by Edmond Conway.
(1) A weekly subscription to the AFR & the Weekend Australian.($24) (j) Subscription to Foxtel for Bloomberg & Sky Business. ($79 pm)
(k) ASX site & Google Finance will give you useful info (have a go at the ASX's next sharemarket game and see how you measure up... its free.
If you haven't got the time to do the study, reading and TV watching you are best not to put your money in the stockmarket. Just leave it in the bank and paper trade instead.
This reading and tafe course will take you through fundamental & technical analysis and provide you with a wealth of tips, warnings & traders secrets. it will also teach you how the market operates
Please remember that you will have to start small, do your own research so that you can sleep at night and be ready to accept loss (always set stoplosses).
Please remember that as a shareholder you own a bit of the company so if you cannot see how the company earns its money or understand its business model just leave it in the too hard basket
At present companies with good earnings and good earning prospects , little or no debt, in a good space with competent management are always worth looking at. Steer clear of the speccies until you know what you are doing. Most are money burners.
It is also best to pay a few extra bob to a trusted broker so that he can hold your hand and provide you with useful reports before you buy. And remember dont fall in love with a stock ; just go ahead and take a small profit and dont look back!
Just remember that it is all about risk/reward and some trades such as options are an zero sum game.
But remember, share trading can become an addiction and it can impinge on your social life, your TV viewing and sometimes friends will consider you boring because you continually harp on about the market, the economy and investments. You can also become addicted to money or worse, become a goldbug!
