Since the Global Financial Crisis, people have become very concerned about their retirement investment accounts and rightly so. These funds are usually heavily invested in the stock market and most suffered substantial falls in 2008/2009. Most have recovered some of the losses but are still well below their peaks from 4 years ago. In fact the overall market today is where it was almost 3 years ago and worse still, was at its current level almost 7 years ago.
That means a long term investor in an index fund has made no progress at all in 7 years while the current outlook is far from rosy. The market could easily begin another downtrend at any time. The picture is actually much worse because history shows investors typically buy near the tops and sell near the bottoms and that includes professional fund managers. They are subject to the “herding” phenomenon just like everybody else. Their long term results prove this is true.
The only solution is to arm yourself with the proper knowledge and take control of your investments yourself. Nobody cares about your future more than you do. The good news is this is remarkably simple and straight forward. Anyone with an interest in building personal wealth can learn how to do it in their spare time. The first thing you learn with Share Star is how to avoid losses when markets fall. That alone will put you miles in front of almost everybody else. All Share Star members had plenty of warning in 2007.
Hard work by itself cannot make you rich.
It will make you tired. You can’t get rich working in a job because of the limitations. You can only work so many hours and you can make only so many dollars per hour.
It’s just not reasonable to expect to get ahead significantly that way. In addition a job is not secure. You can lose a job at any time for a multitude of reasons over which you have no control. Continue reading →
It’s amazing how many people are unable to recognise a great opportunity and take advantage of it.
In my line of work I see this almost every day and have done so for years. We even have standard descriptive terms, in other words jargon for the different responses.
There’s the Cynic who is so locked into their daily grind they won’t even look. They miss all the opportunities and live a very dull life. One in ten is a Cynic. The other nine are Lookers. Continue reading →
We live in a “now” society. Everybody wants it now, whatever it is. Today I was reading about a new smart phone and the writer noted that she was not a “techie” and if anything took more than a few minutes to figure out how to make it work, she would immediately spit the dummy and toss it aside.
Whatever happened to patience? I expect her definition of “short term” is half an hour and “long term” is probably a week.
That’s going to cost her a fortune. Nothing worthwhile in life is that quick and easy. The principles of success in human endeavour have not changed in centuries. Continue reading →
When you can’t physically see progress it’s too easy to miss it and the opportunities it creates. For example we can all see a modern cell phone and the progress that’s been made in the last 20 years is obvious.
They were the size of a brick back then and you made phone calls with them. Fancy that! It’s the same with all physical objects that are subject to continual evolution at the hands of technological progress. Continue reading →
You only need to mention the share market at any Sunday afternoon bar-be-cue to be suddenly swamped with “expertise” from those within earshot.
It’s truly amazing. It seems everybody knows everything about shares or at least they think they do. As professionals we’re rather entertained by it all. There’s no other polite word to describe how we feel about the truck load of absolute rubbish that spews forth every time. Continue reading →
A recent newspaper report painted an interesting picture of the hopes and aspirations of Australians today. A survey of 1,300 people revealed what appears to be the end of “the great Australian dream”.
This, of course, is (or was) a big house on a large block of land in the suburbs and two children. The survey, conducted by a prominent retirement savings fund, says this is now slipping down the list of priorities and ranks equally with winning lotto and a good job. Continue reading →
Everybody wants a better quality of life and for most that means more security and peace of mind, more money, more time, better health, less stress and a sense of purpose, productivity and fulfilment.
Some people have money; lots of it, but that does not necessarily satisfy any of the other life goals listed here. However it’s the best place to start. If you have the money, then you have a far greater chance of achieving the others.
Most people spend the bulk of their available time earning a living, trading their time for money. Theirs is a life of limitation because time is limited (you can work only so many hours) as is income. Continue reading →
Robert Kiyosaki is undoubtedly the world’s leading author of books on the subject of building personal wealth. He says the path to financial freedom is financial — not traditional — education.
He points out that U.S. college student loans have eclipsed $1 trillion in debt—more than credit card debt—with students borrowing $117 billion in 2011. The average student loan debt burden now stands at $45,000 at graduation.
These numbers are leading experts to speculate that student loans may be the next bubble to burst. Continue reading →
In a recent post I said that today, there are more people becoming wealthy and they’re doing it faster than ever before. Yesterday I had a chat with a real estate agent who has been working that business full time for the last 12 years.
That period obviously includes the most recent property boom so he’s done well until the last year or so when property has all but stopped dead in its tracks. Continue reading →
One of the great business coaches, motivational speakers and modern day philosophers was the late Jim Rohn who once said, “Formal education will make you a living while self-education will make you a fortune.”
True words indeed and yet most people, in fact the vast majority choose to ignore them completely. Robert Kiyosaki, the leading author globally of books on the subject of building personal wealth has harped on this very point in every one of his best-selling books. Continue reading →
At a recent investment conference in Sydney 247 attendees were asked to download three short articles from the internet and read them during the lunch break. The next day they were asked who had NOT done this yet.
Wait for it …. 246 had not gotten around to it. 246! Can you believe that?
They came from all over, paid handsomely for their attendance and in many cases paid for travel and accommodation as well and yet 99% of them couldn’t do the simplest thing asked of them. Continue reading →
If you had another good income what would you do with the money? Each of us is different and each will find a use for it but the important question is what about you? Would you pay off debts?
That’s usually the first goal for most people and it’s probably the best one too. No debt means no financial stress or at least a lot less. Another good income would also take the pressure off your job situation. Most people live in fear of losing their job. Continue reading →
The last couple of articles have been about the often questionable quality of financial advice. How do you know if the advice you’re paying for is good or bad or just average?
It’s a good question and the same could be asked of any profession. The problem is very few people are sufficiently qualified to make such assessments and if they are they probably would not need the advice in the first place.
Most people seeking advice go with an adviser they like. It’s as simple as that. My personal experience as a professional adviser is that personal or people skills are as important and technical knowledge. Continue reading →
Yesterday we mentioned a study done in the USA that painted financial advisers in a pretty poor light. In today’s Australian national newspaper there is a report with this heading: “Most people can’t tell good advice from bad”.
The story goes on to say that even when the advice was bad, in most cases the recipients of the advice were completely satisfied. In other words they simply had no idea.
This is something we’ve been banging on about for years. Poor advice is actually another form of risk that most people cannot hope to manage. Continue reading →
