First started investing with a broker about 35yrs ago. I started full time investing about 25yrs ago after getting sick of all the dramas with running my business.
I took several losses and several wins in the early days, but it wasn't until I took full responsibility of doing in depth research that I got decent returns. Because I was with a broker, many times I was persuaded to go into a stock that I didn't fully understand, and that was a receipt for financial heartache.
It was with the coming of the internet and online broker Sanfords that I really started making my biggest gains. But my earlier investments into upcoming WPL and BHP that gave me the cash to play.
Its a full time daily job for me, and to be honest its not as easy as I had hoped for. I spend days reading company reports, newspapers,financial web sites, brokers reports etc when the fact is I would prefer to be having a beer.
Its very time consuming unless you don't mind making costly mistakes or have money to burn. I have one account that is purely my daily living account, the other three acc's are my various super accounts that are set-up for my retirement.
