Advice For Beginner Getting Into Stock Market

[eslteacher]

I am currently teaching English in Thailand and am very interested in getting involved in the stock market. I have read through a few threads in this forum that have provided some very useful information but for the most part I dont even know how to get started. How much money do I have to put in, what kind of stocks should I invest in, where should I go? etc...

I am just wondering if you guys have any advice and if so, do you have any useful resources that you use?

Obviously it would be great to make as much money as possible as quickly as possible but I know thats not a realistic goal. Very few people are able to do that. Its more a long-term goal, multi-year plan for me.

Im so glad I stumbled across this site. Tons of great info on this site.

Thanks

Mike

[Artamus]

First up, it's best to drop the idea that you are going to make a lot of money fast. You might, but without experience the chances of loosing a lot of money are much much much greater, and most poeple end up losing.

The best way to start is to read - A LOT.

There a huge amount of material out there on the web. A good starting point, where I first started looking many moons ago is www.fool.co.uk (if you are a Brit), but there's an American equivalent site as well. There's a lot of experienced people comment/discussing on boards, and there's a series of articles for absolute beginner's here:

http://www.fool.co.uk/10steps/step1.aspx

Don't get sucked in to buying any subscriptions or the like until you have read an aweful lot.

A couple of the memorable things I have learned over the years are:

- investing is a zero sum gain (for every buyer there's a seller). So for every share you buy, someone thinks it's good to sell.

- Never invest money you need in the shorter term, and do not invest more than you can afford to lose.

- The value of your investments WILL go down over the short term - you can never know the low point of anything.

Good luck

[chiangmaibruce]

Mike

I'm assuming you mean investing in the Thai stockmarket (?)

I would start at the beginning rather than going straight into the fine details of which shares to buy, which broker to use, etc. Try to get a handle on broader issues like asset classes, risk, diversification, and so on - via time spent doing some general reading.

Not sure where you are in Thailand, but if in BKK check out some of the bigger bookshops and try to find & flick through the book "Your Investment Guide to Thailand" by Silkworm Books. If you're out in the country then there is some brief info at www.silkwormbooks.com/catalog/info/investment-guide-thailand

Take your time & don't rush in & regret it later. Cheers

[loong]

Are you thinking of investing in the stockmarket in Thailand or other countries?

Warning!

There are a lot of online resources to educate you. There are also many scams. Once you sign up to some newsletters you will probably start to receive spam.

Usually they are scams making sll sorts of ridiculous claims that the gullible fall for.

I get emails from a person called Jason Kelly. I continue to allow them as I find them somewhat amusing. He is a pump and dump promoter. That is he gets paid to push a company with low liquidity. He and others buy into the stock and the price rises because of the sudden buying volume. He then releases the news that this company is going to sklrocket. The unsuspecting clients jump on board and push the price up a bit more. The scammers then liquidate their holdings while buying interest from the clients maintains the price. The price then returns to the level before the scam as the duped sell at a loss.

The last email from Jason Kelly was about Big Bear Mining Corp. The day it was released as a fantastic stock pick it opened at around $1.26 and it has dropped to as low as $0.26 I think. Some victims of this scam may have lost 80% of their "investment"

If you want to learn about trading, try paper trading first, open a demo account. It will probably take you 2 years to learn how to approach trading successfully, but maybe 10 years. Most new traders make devastating losses.

One of the keys to success is to be able to cut losing positions and ride the winners to bigger gains

Most new traders do exactly the opposite and cut winning positions and let losing positions ride. Often adding to the losing positions.

If you are not prepared to put in the effort to educate yourself. If you are unable to cope with the emotions of losing. You will not be successful.

If you think that it's an easy way to make money, think again. It is not!

[eslteacher]

Great information guys. I am interested in Thai stocks. Is that what you'd recommend?

And im located in a small town about 1.5hrs outside of Bangkok. So getting to Bangkok is quite easy and affordable. I usually make 1-2 trips to Bangkok throughout the month.

[Artamus]

Great information guys. I am interested in Thai stocks. Is that what you'd recommend?

And im located in a small town about 1.5hrs outside of Bangkok. So getting to Bangkok is quite easy and affordable. I usually make 1-2 trips to Bangkok throughout the month.

Nobody is, or should, recommend what you do. that would be giving investment advise! You should read, take your time and make your own decisions. Personally I wouldn't touch the Thai stock market, but there's many others who would.

[personchester]

e

Great information guys. I am interested in Thai stocks. Is that what you'd recommend?

And im located in a small town about 1.5hrs outside of Bangkok. So getting to Bangkok is quite easy and affordable. I usually make 1-2 trips to Bangkok throughout the month.

Nobody is, or should, recommend what you do. that would be giving investment advise! You should read, take your time and make your own decisions. Personally I wouldn't touch the Thai stock market, but there's many others who would.

To do one's own personal stockmarket investment in any market is akin to a lottery, it was perhaps alright to do so in the 1950's and 1960's the stockmarket activities then were rather simple compared to today, the adage ... "sell in May and go away" predicted a correct market forecast during the sommer months with some rising again in the autumn and with respective magazines such as 'Investers Chronicle' one could make one's own effective stockmarket research.

Due to >IT< however, this has all changed, to do one's own stock selection is not advisable one has to find a reputable firm of financial advisers / fund managers /stock brockers etc (and there are many) to invest in the markets, for expats this should be offshore (for tax reasons) and one should not go for individual companies but rather for funds, or fund of funds in order to dilute any losses, like the recent losses of bank shares and other major companies, and like for instance now the tremendous market share loss of BP such losses would ruin an individual.

Going via a financial advisory firm would also result in getting up to 100% discount on brockerage fees that is to say up to 5.25% , moreover, one has access to the portfolio valuation on a daily basis via there website, plus bi-annual reports on the performance of the funds, thus one is always kept well informed.

To invest in the stockmarket one should select a sum that one is mentally prepared to lose, the mental issue is more important tham the actual money loss, it ruins peoples health, one has to bear this in mind, and give the investment a range of five to ten years and in in view of historic market performance the result will be positive.

[Pib]

After reading up/getting educated on the stock market ins and outs, also be sure to get a 4 leaf clover and rabbit's foot plus some Thai amulets as you'll need all the luck you can get in the stock market casino.

[eslteacher]

I might just stick with sports betting.

I really need to read up on this before I dive into this. Thanks for the resources, this is something im going to look into for the future. I need to educate myself about this.

[aussiebebe]

I'm finding this thread a good read, as I'm similarly clueless about investing and I've been looking around for information, maybe it can be helpful? I've met all sorts of foreigners in Bangkok claiming to be investing in stocks. A common one is 'day-trading' in Forex, which I never get; it's just gambling surely? and if someone had a 'system' they'd be using it exclusively. I mean the ultimate example has to be George Soros who bet against sterling and netted billions.

A good article to read, for a real beginner, which I found helpful, would be this one MSN Money - Investing 101: Buy your first stock or fund

I read somewhere, in a Warren Buffet interview, that if inflation is accounted for, stocks are worth the same now as 50 years ago; Buffet himself acknowledged this back in the '70s. Buying stocks for long-term gain is outlined on the Motley Fool website http://www.fool.com/investing/dividends-income/2010/02/19/5-dividend-stocks-for-the-next-50-years.aspx

But the OP is working in Thailand. My reading of the beginners investment situation in Thailand is that foreigners can buy long-term mutal funds from most Thai banks. Read www.bangkokbank.com for example, you buy funds and the fund manager invests them on your (and every other fund holder's) behalf. That's my advice for a beginner getting into the stock market. There may be certain periods you need to hold the funds for. As the OP is working, when he files his personal income tax form, 15% of his gross income can be spent on long-term funds and he'll get a tax allowance on this, so he'll recieve a tax-refund cheque from the revenue office.

[squashjunkie]

Hi Mike,

I suggest you stick to the keep it simple policy. Like others have advised you previously you really should do some research on what is available for discount brokerages here in Thailand if you want to invest here. Personally, I think you would be better off using a discount brokerage in your home country and do everything online which is fairly easy to do.

I see no need for a beginner investor with limited funds to invest to look up full service brokerage firm. Odds are unless you have a lot of money to invest they won't really be interested. Besides trying to find an honest broker who is actually interested in ensuring his/her clients get the best advice is like finding a needle in a haystack. If you look closely most of these financial advisers make a ton of money, live in big houses and spend money like it grows on trees. In their line of business they make money every day whether the market goes up or down. Ultimately there are few investors that have made money over the past 10 years regardless of having a broker/planner/adviser or did it themselves. If you took notice of the financial market meltdown during 2008 until early 2009 a lot of could be attributed to the financial institutions greed. They are like used car salesmen and will sell you anything just to make a buck. The stock analysts often work for the same firm who's stock brokers take advice from. Everyone works together to paint a pretty picture so you will invest your money. If you can find me an honest investment banker I will be impressed!!

Depending on the amount of funds you have to invest will ultimately dictate where you should invest your funds. The smaller the amount you have to work with the more likely you will need to invest in mutual funds to properly diversify yourself. If you have a larger pool to work with then your best bet is to select large blue chip stocks that pay dividends. These blue chip stocks can come from a variety of countries. Obviously, the blue chip stocks from the developed nations offer long term track records but their growth potential is often much slower than blue chip stocks from emerging markets like China, India, Brazil to name a few. In most case a lot of the blue chip stocks are multinational in scope so a company like Nestle would likely have less than half its revenues from any one market and has significant exposure to the emerging markets.

Good luck with your research!!

I think

e

Great information guys. I am interested in Thai stocks. Is that what you'd recommend?

And im located in a small town about 1.5hrs outside of Bangkok. So getting to Bangkok is quite easy and affordable. I usually make 1-2 trips to Bangkok throughout the month.

Nobody is, or should, recommend what you do. that would be giving investment advise! You should read, take your time and make your own decisions. Personally I wouldn't touch the Thai stock market, but there's many others who would.

To do one's own personal stockmarket investment in any market is akin to a lottery, it was perhaps alright to do so in the 1950's and 1960's the stockmarket activities then were rather simple compared to today, the adage ... "sell in May and go away" predicted a correct market forecast during the sommer months with some rising again in the autumn and with respective magazines such as 'Investers Chronicle' one could make one's own effective stockmarket research.

Due to >IT< however, this has all changed, to do one's own stock selection is not advisable one has to find a reputable firm of financial advisers / fund managers /stock brockers etc (and there are many) to invest in the markets, for expats this should be offshore (for tax reasons) and one should not go for individual companies but rather for funds, or fund of funds in order to dilute any losses, like the recent losses of bank shares and other major companies, and like for instance now the tremendous market share loss of BP such losses would ruin an individual.

Going via a financial advisory firm would also result in getting up to 100% discount on brockerage fees that is to say up to 5.25% , moreover, one has access to the portfolio valuation on a daily basis via there website, plus bi-annual reports on the performance of the funds, thus one is always kept well informed.

To invest in the stockmarket one should select a sum that one is mentally prepared to lose, the mental issue is more important tham the actual money loss, it ruins peoples health, one has to bear this in mind, and give the investment a range of five to ten years and in in view of historic market performance the result will be positive.

[Artamus]

Due to >IT< however, this has all changed, to do one's own stock selection is not advisable one has to find a reputable firm of financial advisers / fund managers /stock brockers etc (and there are many) to invest in the markets, for expats this should be offshore (for tax reasons) and one should not go for individual companies but rather for funds, or fund of funds in order to dilute any losses, like the recent losses of bank shares and other major companies, and like for instance now the tremendous market share loss of BP such losses would ruin an individual.

Going via a financial advisory firm would also result in getting up to 100% discount on brockerage fees that is to say up to 5.25% , moreover, one has access to the portfolio valuation on a daily basis via there website, plus bi-annual reports on the performance of the funds, thus one is always kept well informed.

I, and I would think a large number of other investors, would disagree strongly with this. The person who has the most interest in the well-being of your money is YOU. If you trust your decisions to some financial advisor, their decisions are biased to what makes THEM money. They do not have your long-term financial interests in their hearts. Why pay commissions and give up part of your monies to third parties for things you can well do yourself.

I'm not saying there's no place for financial advisors, as clearly a lot of people do not understand investing, but any educated person who wants to look after their own long-term interests is more than capable of doing so.

[ExpatJ]

Are you thinking of investing in the stockmarket in Thailand or other countries?

Warning!

There are a lot of online resources to educate you. There are also many scams. Once you sign up to some newsletters you will probably start to receive spam.

Usually they are scams making sll sorts of ridiculous claims that the gullible fall for.

I get emails from a person called Jason Kelly. I continue to allow them as I find them somewhat amusing. He is a pump and dump promoter. That is he gets paid to push a company with low liquidity. He and others buy into the stock and the price rises because of the sudden buying volume. He then releases the news that this company is going to sklrocket. The unsuspecting clients jump on board and push the price up a bit more. The scammers then liquidate their holdings while buying interest from the clients maintains the price. The price then returns to the level before the scam as the duped sell at a loss.

The last email from Jason Kelly was about Big Bear Mining Corp. The day it was released as a fantastic stock pick it opened at around $1.26 and it has dropped to as low as $0.26 I think. Some victims of this scam may have lost 80% of their "investment"

To the OP- i recommned The Neatest Little Guide to Stock Market Investing by Jason Kelly. Kelly is referred to in the post above- i dont know of or follow his email posts but his book lays out the basic of stock market trading clearly. I taught myself from this book and its in its 10th edition so i cant be the only one. Using his book and my own research i have made 9% return on the thai stock market since January. Could be pure luck but the fact that i got this return even with the red shirt violence and associated stock market drop bodes well!

I wouldn't recommend paying for investment advise from a broker or firm- they have their own vested interests which will not always be in line with yours.

[personchester]

Due to >IT< however, this has all changed, to do one's own stock selection is not advisable one has to find a reputable firm of financial advisers / fund managers /stock brockers etc (and there are many) to invest in the markets, for expats this should be offshore (for tax reasons) and one should not go for individual companies but rather for funds, or fund of funds in order to dilute any losses, like the recent losses of bank shares and other major companies, and like for instance now the tremendous market share loss of BP such losses would ruin an individual.

Going via a financial advisory firm would also result in getting up to 100% discount on brockerage fees that is to say up to 5.25% , moreover, one has access to the portfolio valuation on a daily basis via there website, plus bi-annual reports on the performance of the funds, thus one is always kept well informed.

I, and I would think a large number of other investors, would disagree strongly with this. The person who has the most interest in the well-being of your money is YOU. If you trust your decisions to some financial advisor, their decisions are biased to what makes THEM money. They do not have your long-term financial interests in their hearts. Why pay commissions and give up part of your monies to third parties for things you can well do yourself.

I'm not saying there's no place for financial advisors, as clearly a lot of people do not understand investing, but any educated person who wants to look after their own long-term interests is more than capable of doing so.

You are of course entitles to your opinon, but you are wrong, I have been investing in the markets for over 40 years and always with experienced and succesful fund managers,

who's names are well known in the markets, those chaps have teams of researchers who interview company Directors, fund managers, and fund of fund managers, in order to form an opinon as to future performance of those companies, funds, and fund of funds, and then decide whether to buy, stay invested, or sell.

I have been with four well known and successful funds managers and my investment result with them has been tremendous, in my business life I have come across many people who entered the market on their own but were not successful, and in some cases lost to such an extent that they never had the courage to enter the market again, others went for government bonds, or high % bank A/c's

You are also wrong in believing that most investors enter the market by buying company shares direct by themselves, since according to market statistics it is in fact largely the other way round, that is to say they use stockmarket professionals, and I would advice to follow that concept.

But please, don't be upset, as I said you are entitled to your opinon.

[MJo]

Are you thinking of investing in the stockmarket in Thailand or other countries?

Warning!

There are a lot of online resources to educate you. There are also many scams. Once you sign up to some newsletters you will probably start to receive spam.

Usually they are scams making sll sorts of ridiculous claims that the gullible fall for.

I get emails from a person called Jason Kelly. I continue to allow them as I find them somewhat amusing. He is a pump and dump promoter. That is he gets paid to push a company with low liquidity. He and others buy into the stock and the price rises because of the sudden buying volume. He then releases the news that this company is going to sklrocket. The unsuspecting clients jump on board and push the price up a bit more. The scammers then liquidate their holdings while buying interest from the clients maintains the price. The price then returns to the level before the scam as the duped sell at a loss.

The last email from Jason Kelly was about Big Bear Mining Corp. The day it was released as a fantastic stock pick it opened at around $1.26 and it has dropped to as low as $0.26 I think. Some victims of this scam may have lost 80% of their "investment"

If you want to learn about trading, try paper trading first, open a demo account. It will probably take you 2 years to learn how to approach trading successfully, but maybe 10 years. Most new traders make devastating losses.

One of the keys to success is to be able to cut losing positions and ride the winners to bigger gains

Most new traders do exactly the opposite and cut winning positions and let losing positions ride. Often adding to the losing positions.

If you are not prepared to put in the effort to educate yourself. If you are unable to cope with the emotions of losing. You will not be successful.

If you think that it's an easy way to make money, think again. It is not!

I guess OP is not talking of day trading but has a "few" years plan.

So learn first as others advice here and don't put all your eggs in one basket. And remember, you only make losses when you sell. Your not going to get rich in few years but most likely see decent return for your investment.

Trying to get rich in few years means you need to take huge risks, that's called gambling.

[vont]

artamus

agree, agree and agree. wise counsel. hear ye, hear ye, hear ye all.

The person who has the most interest in the well-being of your money is YOU.

If you trust your decisions to some financial advisor, their decisions are biased to what makes THEM money.

They do not have your long-term financial interests in their hearts.

Why pay commissions and give up part of your monies to third parties for things you can well do yourself.

I'm not saying there's no place for financial advisors, as clearly a lot of people do not understand investing,

Due to >IT< however, this has all changed, to do one's own stock selection is not advisable one has to find a reputable firm of financial advisers / fund managers /stock brockers etc (and there are many) to invest in the markets, for expats this should be offshore (for tax reasons) and one should not go for individual companies but rather for funds, or fund of funds in order to dilute any losses, like the recent losses of bank shares and other major companies, and like for instance now the tremendous market share loss of BP such losses would ruin an individual.

Going via a financial advisory firm would also result in getting up to 100% discount on brockerage fees that is to say up to 5.25% , moreover, one has access to the portfolio valuation on a daily basis via there website, plus bi-annual reports on the performance of the funds, thus one is always kept well informed.

I, and I would think a large number of other investors, would disagree strongly with this. The person who has the most interest in the well-being of your money is YOU. If you trust your decisions to some financial advisor, their decisions are biased to what makes THEM money. They do not have your long-term financial interests in their hearts. Why pay commissions and give up part of your monies to third parties for things you can well do yourself.

I'm not saying there's no place for financial advisors, as clearly a lot of people do not understand investing, but any educated person who wants to look after their own long-term interests is more than capable of doing so.