How to start investing

Stillie

Stillie

Expert Member
Joined
Dec 10, 2009
Messages
3,221
Reaction score
310
Location
Cape Town
Good day all,

I would like to start investing some of my spare change. I have read a couple books on finances and managing it. Like the Rich Dad Poor Dad series, as well as Manage your money like a F*cking Grown up. Both great books!

After reading all of these they basically focus on making your money work for you rather than the other way around.

Now I dont have the money rolling out the pockets, but i have a couple grand that i want to invest. I was looking at stocks or bonds but i have no clue on where to start?

Is it advisable to do this on your own or to get someone to do it for me?

If i should do it by my self where can i go to get started?

TIA
Stillie
 

Investment Advice

Morning Folks, No subject matter has ever brought out so many different opinions, not even politics...... If I had inherited a large sum of money (say a Million) what would be the best thing to do long term? Advice so far: From the bank - pay in to reduce your house bond From my Broker -...
mybroadband.co.za mybroadband.co.za

Where should I invest excess cash? Advice needed please.

Hello everyone! As a newbie into investments, I have been doing some research on this lately. I am not sure how to go about making my first investment and I would really appreciate some advice. After taking out my 6-month reserve/emergency fund, I have an excess of 150k in cash, which is not...
mybroadband.co.za mybroadband.co.za

Many threads on the topic already...
 
As BSB has said - there are many threads already, but the impression I get is that a lot of people struggle with the getting started part due to fear of doing it wrong or losing everything.

So, if you want a short, quick answer to encourage you over that first step to at least start, then my advice, not knowing anything about your current investment situation, is to open an account with Easy Equities and play around with the demo account.

At the same time, put the money that you have (up to max R36,000) into a Tax Free Saving Account with Easy Equites and buy one of the well known ETF's (Ashburton 1200, Satrix MSCI World, Signia ITRIX MSCI World).

Do it yourself - you will learn more and save on advice fees in an industry that is full of advisors that will give bad advice and charge too much.

The benefit of doing it this way, is that you can always change from Easy Equities if you decide it is not the platform you want to use in future. It will give you a good introduction into share trading. And it is not like you are risking your life's savings.

Hope this gives you the encouragement you need :)
 
Thanks guys,

I have put a small amount into Easy Equities and just bought some stocks with some various companies. Also put a couple grand into TymeBank and just put that into a goal save to earn some interest on there. Once i get comfortable with EE i will put more cash into it. Its pretty exciting though!

#FreeMoney :) :D #FinancialFreedom
 
Try the 10 cent challenge at first
I heard this on the radio this morning and thought it was a brilliant idea for most people to start saving.
It will also teach you to save every single day

www.businessinsider.co.za

Business Insider - Latest News in Tech, Markets, Economy & Innovation

Business Insider tells the global tech, finance, stock market, media, economy, lifestyle, real estate, AI and innovative stories you want to know.
www.businessinsider.co.za www.businessinsider.co.za
 
Papa Smurf said:
Try the 10 cent challenge at first
I heard this on the radio this morning and thought it was a brilliant idea for most people to start saving.
It will also teach you to save every single day

www.businessinsider.co.za

Business Insider - Latest News in Tech, Markets, Economy & Innovation

Business Insider tells the global tech, finance, stock market, media, economy, lifestyle, real estate, AI and innovative stories you want to know.
www.businessinsider.co.za www.businessinsider.co.za
Click to expand...
sjoe! Thats REALLY cool, catch up can be pricy though but worth it i think!
 
Stillie said:
sjoe! Thats REALLY cool, catch up can be pricy though but worth it i think!
Click to expand...
you're only adding 10 cents each day more
so on day 365 after a year, you are now adding R36.50 for the day.

It can be done :thumbsup:
 
Stillie said:
Is it advisable to do this on your own or to get someone to do it for me?

If i should do it by my self where can i go to get started?
Click to expand...
Look at it this way, you are either spending time doing your own research on what and how to invest in things, or you are paying an arguably high management fee for someone to do this for you - and even so, I got the impression that a financial adviser doesn't completely have your own interests at heart. I mean, they gotta make money too.

What has helped me is https://justonelap.com/ and their podcast, as well as Easy Equities as they are quite reasonable when it comes to transaction costs. It's still very much a learning process for me, and I started quite late.
 
Papa Smurf said:
Try the 10 cent challenge at first
I heard this on the radio this morning and thought it was a brilliant idea for most people to start saving.
It will also teach you to save every single day

www.businessinsider.co.za

Business Insider - Latest News in Tech, Markets, Economy & Innovation

Business Insider tells the global tech, finance, stock market, media, economy, lifestyle, real estate, AI and innovative stories you want to know.
www.businessinsider.co.za www.businessinsider.co.za
Click to expand...

That is how TymeBank works in short :)

It is added daily, paid out monthly (interest on interest)
 
mr_norris said:
I was excited when I saw I could get an extra 1%, until I saw that you need to switch your salary to do it. 1% isn't enough to get me off the ebucks train. *sad trombone noises*
Click to expand...

I agree! The baby is far from out nappies still
 
@PhreakBoy said pretty much what I would have - start with a TFSA, and a very broadly diversified offshore ETF.


The only other thing I can suggest is, learn, learn, learn. Major thing to learn is how to filter out the short-term noise and think in the kind of time-lines that you are investing for, typically retirement. If you're young, this could be 20, 30, 40 years.
 
Stillie said:
Thanks guys,

I have put a small amount into Easy Equities and just bought some stocks with some various companies. Also put a couple grand into TymeBank and just put that into a goal save to earn some interest on there. Once i get comfortable with EE i will put more cash into it. Its pretty exciting though!

#FreeMoney :) :D #FinancialFreedom
Click to expand...

I wanted to take a screenshot of my EE equities to show you why you should NOT just buy some stocks.
I screwed around a bit with some speculative, flavour of the month purchases I read about in investing threads etc. Then I got tired of losing money and decided to buy something solid, so I bought some Steinhoff. :confused:

Luckily I think I only lost around R2k over the course of a year screwing around like that. When using real money, buy ETFs or do a LOT of proper research.
 
you are too late, watch Mike Maloney's series, "the hidden secrets of money" and then start buying gold and silver
 
Some great threads on ETFs here as well as some good tips in terms of debt management and the importance of an emergency fund (do that first).

platinumwealth.co.za
 
Last edited:
saturnz said:
you are too late, watch Mike Maloney's series, "the hidden secrets of money" and then start buying gold and silver
Click to expand...

Too late for what? Stocks perform better than gold. I would only buy gold to hedge my portfolio.

@OP, just buy a S&P500 tracker. That is probably the easiest and safest investment for the vast majority of people. 10% historical return and fees as low as 0.04%.
 
Crankshaft said:
Too late for what? Stocks perform better than gold. I would only buy gold to hedge my portfolio.

@OP, just buy a S&P500 tracker. That is probably the easiest and safest investment for the vast majority of people. 10% historical return and fees as low as 0.04%.
Click to expand...


Are you not aware of the rate at which fiat currency is being printed around the world?

Hedging is exactly what should be done now.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X