A lot of the value of seminars is motivational, which has value but not in a very logical way.

The “best” ones you walk away from thinking – wow I never knew that, I’m motivated etc. The people who feel they benefitted a lot, would probably feel that way to anything, and the people who don’t are naysayers who generally find everything useless. So…[Read more]

Education needs to be balanced with experience and the cost. I have 2 masters degrees and I think the second one was unnecessary. Well maybe it wasn’t. But they are worth less now than they used to be and cost more these days.

Back in the 80’s you could flash around an MAF or MBA and be guaranteed of a nice position. These days there are a lot of…[Read more]

wait a minute, you don’t need 10k for an overseas trip. When I wore a young lad I went on a 3 month overseas trip that cost me under 3k including the RTW airline ticket (ok that was a while ago), but really you don’t need to spend lots to have fun. Here are some tips
1. spend as little time in London as humanly possible
2. in cities with expensive…[Read more]

I own property in Sydney. I agree with you though, melbourne is a better investment at the moment. The median price differential cannot be justified. In the next 2-5 years when Docklands works itself through and outer melbourne reaches it’s geographical limits, prices will rise in line. Sydney is dying because of structural and planning problems.…[Read more]

I don’t think it is a dichotmous thing. People get into this all or nothing mindset that results in unbalanced decisions : all security or all slavery, all risk or all security, all independence or being completely dependent.

Life is about being able to deal with these conflicts, and being able to love and work well in a balanced and integrated…[Read more]

Derek, last time I looked newly completed/previously untenanted melbourne inner-city apartment market (CBD, Docklands, St Kilda Rd and Southbank) vacancy rate was 10%+. This has been fluctuating from 7-10%+ for the last 2 years.

The proportion of investors is from memory over 40%. There is still a lot of supply due for release until late 2005. In…[Read more]

michael, sometimes you lose (or don’t win), learn from that & get back on the horse. Things are always easier with retrospectoscope.

Sydney : here is what I think – the cabramatta/liverpool region is/was an industrial magnet as it used to be one of the cheapest places to get industrial property. My opinion is that this moved to the penrith area…[Read more]

I tried using all that last time, it just got me confused

I agree, property trusts don’t excite me (but I had to have a look anyway). I was wondering though why anyone would want to invest in brisbane appts when the average return and variance in returns is so crappers.

It looks like a cyclers market, goes nowhere for ages (ie underperforms inflation) and then goes ballistic in the last 3-4 years of the…[Read more]

if you have an estate that maybe contested, or if it is a reasonable size and you are over 65, other than using a the solicitor, consider asking them whether you should get an appraisal of your mental capacity.

If there is any chance of you or your loved one having dementia or the will being contested, then this is essential and must be done as…[Read more]

look, a young guy needs a fast shiny set of wheels, it is essential for his psychological wellbeing !

Last week, I had to upgrade my car & got a subaru impreza from pickles auction, I was impressed with the setup. Try the trading post but also check out the ex gov & lease auction houses, you can probably can get an ex gov small car (eg corolla)…[Read more]

‘4k credit card debt…’

What is that doing there ??

Michael, in terms of risk for the beginner it generally goes : cash, fixed deposits, mutual funds, individual shares, margin loans, options, derivatives.

Now if you are a beginner it is highly likely you will blow yourself up starting on options. You are competing against well capitalised, well informed and intelligent people (like wayne) and you…[Read more]

“But not even a world war (or supposed supply-demand fundamentals) can keep the market from being a bull market when conditions are bullish, or a bear market when conditions are bearish. And all a man needs to know to make money is to appraise conditions.”

According to Livermore, the single most important bit of information for any inv…[Read more]

There are in my experience 3 groups of retail option investor, people who are initially profitable or marginal eventually fall into these over a period of time. If you want to have a better likelihood of making a living in this field THEN DO NOT SPECULATE. Get a job working as a broker, quant or analyst for a trading firm or an office job or…[Read more]

this will sound like a wet blanket but I would not get involved in leveraged plays on the sharemarket (incl options) until I was profitable in nonleveraged investing and until I was well capitalised.

There are 3 retail investors in the options arena :
1. small speculators looking to make a fortune – they almost always blow out at some stage. The…[Read more]

I wouldn’t clasify myself as successful yet, and this is probably not going to be very inspiring as it has taken me about a decade to build up my equity.

At what age did you start investing in property?
24
What difficulties did you have in doing this?
i had to save for a deposit
Was your first property an IP or PPOR?
PPOR
How long did it take you…[Read more]

this is going to sound like a wet blanket. Here is what I would do :
1. make sure you talk to a financial advisor
2. cut out unnecessary expenditure, read something like charles givens book more wealth with less risk for tips on cutting expenditure without affecting your lifestyle too much.
3. brainstorm ideas : if you make a lot more income than…[Read more]

that’s the only time I’ve been chopped in/out in this cycle (90’s-now). I take the cost at the current time without a retrospectoscope. I thought there was more downside than upside before the GST. This changed after the GST and I was better off re-entering at a higher price with exit and entry costs than staying out. I guess what you gain from…[Read more]

actually I quite like the links. I have even used a few times. At worst, I find them funny when they are out of context.