Confessions of a “Newbie” Investor
By Monika Ruoff, Sales and Marketing Manager, Trident, 14 Dec 2010, 4:39 PM
This is the story of my investing journey, from when I started working at Trident Press, in July 2003.
November 2005
When I started with Trident Press, I was new to the world of finance and investing. I did not have any experience with the stock market or how to invest and it opened a whole new world for me. My background was in sales, marketing and event management, mostly tourism based and so it was completely different arena of knowledge I found myself in.
I had to start at the beginning, like most of you, our loyal readers and educate myself. So I started to, first, by reading one book, and then another and another and so on. I then decided to get involved with some of the strategies and started taking advantage of the knowledge I had gained. I took some action and did some planning and started with some modest investments. Since that time I have read most of the books and followed the strategies to come up with my own very successful portfolio.
When I think back to how it all started, I think, it really was pretty easy. My thought was – “What is the most important key to financial freedom?” In my opinion – it’s education.
You don’t have to be an accountant or even a financial wiz if you get the right information and do something with it. Since I have been involved with Trident Press I have had to review a lot of our competitor’s products. I was surpirsied by how much dodgy, ineffective and downright inaccurate information there is out there. What I am really excited about at Trident Press and now our other divisions is the quality of the information that we produce and how little we charge our customers for it.
You see creating wealth, looking after yourself and your family’s interests is fundamental to getting ahead and having a happy life. Most people race off in a million directions without a plan or without doing their homework first. Many consequently waste hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars and end up precisely nowhere nearer their goal. They are then disillusioned with the whole thing and don’t do anything more. They just mutter under their breath a lot, whenever anyone mentions investing.
Whilst I have to suggest you to use Financial Advisors before you undertake any activities, I think it is important that you research them very carefully - Are they financially successful? if not - they won't be able to help you achieve anything. However, once you find a good one, do not rely on them to make all your decisions for you. If you have good information, you can make a plan for yourself and your future.
Remember, no-one is more passionate about their life and their family’s well-being and future prosperity than YOU. At the end of the day, someone you’re paying is not as involved and informed and as gung-ho as you about your personal circumstances. Think about it – they are just paid to do a job. OK, they are well paid to do their job, and they should be as involved as you are and good at it, but are they really? Can they be? They do not have an emotional attachment to it like you do. At the end of the day- it is not their life or their future. They just go home and get on with theirs.
So whilst you can rely on them to assist with research, checking facts and making the processes happen - legally, you might be best to educate yourself and create your own plan for the future.
The best book we have to get started on a plan is The Wealth Solution. It really does explain it all simply and tell you how to do it yourself. This book shows you exactly how to create a real change to your financial situation within 5 years. Step-by-step Lance Spicer walks you through what you need to do to become wealthy, using the exact methods that he has used. It fully explains what he does to produce the great results from the Trident Confidential newsletter subscription, again step by step, so you can emulate it. This is a perfect guide to enable you to formulate your personal financial goal plan.
Now, more importantly, we have the Trident Confidential newsletter program, which follows on from this book so you can take advantage of Lance’s skill set in picking great stocks and enjoying the returns by subscribing and following him, or you can learn to do it yourself by following the steps detailed in the book.
It is fundamental that YOU know how the stock market works, the risks you are taking with investments, the structures that you are setting up and how it all works. Remember there are also a lot of sharks out there whom are very willing to take a few of your hard-earned dollars off you, for being naive. If you know what is going on, then that can’t possibly happen.
If you are new to stock market investment, you may find it useful to also read The Australian Share Market Guide, as this very explicitly explains how the stock market works, all the terminology and what it means, how to track stocks, how Lance chooses his investments and why, and how you can make it all work for you.
The other problem you may come across is that advisors can often recommend things because they are getting a kick-back or a commission or because it will help them in some way. This can be a real problem. They might be trying to offload their stock, so they are trying to get the market to buy it. This was a good trick Rene Rivkin liked to employ. He would write about the stock to make the price go up, then offload his shares. He was probably selling whilst you were buying.
Yes, it takes work to understand it, and even a little bit of hard work. You will have to make time to do it, but isn’t your security and provision for your family worth it? Won’t that give you peace of mind in the future if you know you have done that? With the Trident Confidential subscription, you really only need an hour a week. That’s not much to secure a chance in your finances, is it?
The trick to education is getting the best one you can. You see not all information is worth it. You want to find someone whom actually knows what they are talking about. You want to get information from someone who has made their money from trading, rather than selling seminars or books about their dad. After seeing all the material I have had to read and comparing it to what we do here at Trident , I know I have found the best stuff available in the market at the best price.
Find the best information you can and buy it. Do not try to scrimp on information or even try to get away with free information and think you can work with it in patch form. You need to get the best there is and when you find a good source, get all there is. Why would you not spend $60 on a book or even $1000 on books or research reports or a good investing subscription etc when you are talking about investing in shares worth 1000’s of dollars maybe even 100’s of 1000’s of dollars? Why would you not make the initial investment in good, quality information to make sure that you are not throwing all your money away? That just doesn’t make sense.
I do see it a lot. People don’t want to buy the latest edition and pay another $60 for up to date information. They think they can use stuff that is 2-3 years out of date and 3 reprints behind and “it’ll be alright…it is just as good, probably all the same stuff anyway.” Wait a minute! What are they thinking? Why would you not spend the $60 or whatever it is to make sure that you are as up to date with the current situation as you can be, particularly when you are talking about investing thousands of dollars?
Don’t scrimp on money you spend on your investing education - that will be the biggest mistake you ever make. Unless you are willing to gamble it all away, and I say gamble rather than invest because without the right information, that is what you are doing.
The next most important step is to read it and make sense of it. So that means not just flicking through it and then going to your advisor and saying “what does all that mean?” One, you’ll never get any smarter, and two, it will cost you thousands in consultation fees for him/her to explain it all to you. If you have bothered to spend the money on education, then read it, know it, understand it. You will probably have to read it at least 3 times, then you can make notes and start to form a plan for your goals.
If you are a beginner, with your current level of investing knowledge you may not feel confident to take advantage of any of the investment opportunities presented in Trident Confidential, however, it really is quite simple, as you will find after reading through the User’s Guide you get the second you join. It really is like having someone holding your hand and telling you how to do it. If you follow through step by step, you really should not have any problems at all. We have many beginner investors – about 60-70% of our subscribers, who are now managing their own Super Funds and doing a lot better than when it was in the hands of someone else.
If you are new to investing, start small. Pick one stock and invest just a small amount until you feel comfortable with the process. Stick strictly to the Trading Rules and read the Asset Allocation section in the User’s Guide thoroughly, and you should have no problems. Basically that is all you really have to do. Once, you start collecting profits you can expand your portfolio by buying more and different shares and on you go.
For many people these concepts may be new. It is important to be realistic and realise that you may not understand it all immediately. Learning to successfully invest and be wealthy is like learning any new skill, it takes time and practice, so it is important that you follow the advice of the person who has done it for years and years and stick to the rules. This is so you do not make the same mistakes all newbies make and lose your shirt first time out – that is what the rules are designed to do, protect your capital, so use them.
Investing in Trident’s information is one of the smartest investment decisions you will ever make because it works! I have proven that to myself. We offer quality and strategies that are completely legal.
We have been in business since 1994 – a pretty long time for an investment information company. None of our early competitors still are. We have sent books and subscriptions to over 140 countries and have sold over 1,000,000 books and publications. We stand behind our information 100%. Our information is written by Lance Spicer, an internationally-acclaimed, Australian accountant. He is probably one of the most knowledgeable and ethical guys that you are ever likely to come across.
Our products offer you powerful and practical guidance, which coaches you through solid techniques to greater prosperity. As learning is the highest form of leverage, your investment in yourself will pay the highest dividends. We congratulate you for making your financial education a priority and for choosing such a reliable and factual source for your information.
Suggested Titles to Get You Started:
The Wealth Solution
The Australian Share Market Guide
The Tax Solution
Go to Trident Press to buy.
If you buy any Trident books and then decide you want to join Trident Confidential, if you contact us within 30 days of your original purchase we will discount that cost off the cost of the subscription. So, in effect, you get them free!
Remember, if you sign up for Trident Confidential, you automatically get the whole library of Lance Spicer’s books (41) included in PDFs free anyway – so you can learn as you go along and access them if you need to, but they are NOT required reading to make money from the newsletter program.
If you have any questions, please email me - Monika Ruoff at Trident - anytime
Email: monika@tridentpress.com.au
Follow Up – How is it going in 2008?
Well, I can’t believe the learning curve! It has been huge! I can see how much more information we have produced since I first wrote that article and how much better we are at communicating it to our subscribers.
When I started we were just books – now we have the Trident Confidential stock market newsletter.
Our Trident Confidential service is second to none. Our leading competitor is making half the returns and charging US $5000 a year just for their newsletter – no free Education Library to go with it either!!
We have been able to keep our subscribers fully informed through the worse market in 30 years by regular Flash Alerts and now release a newsletter every 6 weeks.
As for myself, my portfolio is earning a healthy 63% pa, so I am very happy. I keep reading the information, just like you, and keep to the rules and keep making money. How good is that!
Follow Up – How about 2009?
Now, things are really much better – market-wise. The economy is still having issues but we are returning 113% for the portfolio as of December 2009, which I think is impressing subscribers’ (as it should be – that is a phenomenal return!). The newsletter is now weekly and in a much-improved format, which I think makes it so much easier to stay on top of the developments in a much shorter amount of time.
We also have an exclusive arrangement with our broker, which is helping many more people get involved offering discount trades and the online platforms, which are really easy to use.
I am happy that we continue to make improvements and that we are totally customer focused. The feedback we are receiving on a daily basis shows we are doing the right thing, so that provides a huge amount of job satisfaction.
The number one piece of feedback I receive is from beginner’s who, for whatever reason, do not start out following the rules and our investment strategy, but when they finally realize their mistake and they begin to apply it, very quickly they see it’s value and start to make good money from their portfolio. This is when they become really happy and satisfied with what they are doing.
Legislation is coming into effect that will eliminate financial advisors from receiving commissions. This will rationalise and regulate the industry tremendously and give a much better service to people.
Follow Up – June 2010
I personally am getting 56% from my portfolio, so I am ecstatic about that. Hearing from members’ that they are also getting great returns and find the information so valuable is a real buzz.
Whilst uncertainty is still creating volatility in the market, our systems are ensuring our returns are holding. After going through and surviving the volatility of the GFC in 2008, I am nothing but confident we can be assured of further great returns by sticking to our strategies.
Follow Up – Dec 2010
The year finished out at 78% for the portfolio and our customer feedback through email testimonials has been great. Re-subscription rates are very consistent – another sign people are happy.
We are particularly pleased to have finally launched our own retail managed fund - The Trident Global Growth Fund and it is proving very popular and already in profit. If you want to diversify funds into a vehicle managed for you personally by Lance Spicer himself you can find out more at www.tridentinvestment.com.au
Coming into 2011, we will see the volatility reduce as the market stabilizes on the back of a US recovery. It should be a great year for the stock market.
Follow Up - April 2011
Volatility is still abounding, after natural disasters - floods, earthquakes in NZ and Japan and crisis in Libya, though the US is showing the signs of strong recovery. Australia is lagging due to uncertainlty over the Carbon Tax, Mining taxes etc and the very high dollar. The portfolio is still out-performng the US and Aus market with more to come.
We have a new website, which is providing all sorts of improved functionality for our members, and better and more information for all.
Happy Investing!
Best wishes, Monika Ruoff
Monika Ruoff, MBA
Sales and Marketing Manager
Trident
Ph: 02 9544 5135
www.tridentpress.com.au – Trident Press Books by Lance Spicer
www.tridentconfidential.com – Stock Market Investment Newsletter – average returns 90%pa
www.tridentinvestment.com.au – Managed Fund – The Trident Global Growth Fund