Where to start ?

Hollister11

Hi,

I want to start investing in a few years after i build up a bit of savings. A bit of background information first.

I'm 19, I have 1500 in savings from summer work and i started a new job 3 weeks ago where i earn a take home pay of around 220 per week working part time. I'm in college studying Computing and i hope to become a software developer but on a consultancy bases so I work for my self.

For years i have been reading about stocks, prices and trying to learn about to world of trading. But i would like some advice from some experts here. I have begun "Trading" on the iPhone app "Stock Wars" where i grew my portfolio from 100K to 113K in two months.

How much should i start out would ?

Where should i do my trades ? Online, In person.

Do you pay CGT on every transaction you make a profit and how often do you file tax returns.

If overall in a a year you make a loss do you have to pay tax on shares you made a profit on even if its an overall loss.

What do you look out for before investing ?

ulinbac

Hi Hollister,

What books have you read so far? Fair play for the increase but have you studied how you did it e.g. position sizing, risk management etc. Or was there a lot of luck involved?

Take everything on here with a pinch of salt and always do your own research. At the end of the day everyone here doesn't have a face or proof of portfolio gains/losses.

Thanks,

UL

Prezatch

Hollister11 wrote: »

I have begun "Trading" on the iPhone app "Stock Wars" where i grew my portfolio from 100K to 113K in two months.

How much should i start out would ?

Be very weary first starting out with real money. Use very small amounts because you will lose starting out, everyone does eventually. You will not be able to translate gains made with fake money into gains made with real money easily. Learning the psychological impacts of losses is a huge step in your journey into the world of investing. There was a decent documentary a while back that the BBC did called 'traders millions by the minute' which is worth a watch for someone like you - 2 part series all on youtube.

Hollister11 wrote: »

Where should i do my trades ? Online, In person.

Online - good bit of talk on this board about online broker choices.

Hollister11 wrote: »

Do you pay CGT on every transaction you make a profit and how often do you file tax returns.

For stocks, yes. For ETFs tax treatment is different. With stocks you can also write losses off against the gains to reduce your taxable amount. Returns are annual, even if your gains are below the annual exemption threshold.

Hollister11 wrote: »

If overall in a a year you make a loss do you have to pay tax on shares you made a profit on even if its an overall loss.

See above - you need to read up on tax treatment. Check out askaboutmoney.com and revenue.ie

Hollister11 wrote: »

What do you look out for before investing ?

Do months of research online and with books before investing. Have a demo portfolio going in google finance or something to see how that performs during these months to see if your initial investment ideas were decent. Don't get jittery about small losses when you do decide to get involved with real money or you'll end up panic selling and buying when stocks are overpriced. Don't check your portfolio every day - you're in it for the long game. A lot can happen in 12 months +.

There is a good story here (http://www.askaboutmoney.com/threads/stock-market-correction-or-bear-market-crash-either-way-i-bailed.195818/) about a guy who did not have enough experience in investing and got burnt when the markets went against him around August this year due to a culmination of macro factors (Greek crisis, migrants crisis, China crisis, VW scandal etc.). You'll need to be able to analyse the macro economic factors at play and how they are effecting your portfolio. In this case the guy made a call that the there was a major stock market crash on the way for years to come and unfortunately for him this was incorrect. The markets have bounced back nearly to the levels they were in June.

shanered

Its still your judgement of an open market, i've been looking at ryanair shares myself but iys because i see the company gaining traction intetnationally.
Depends what and where your insights into the markets lie but again unless you are privy to insider knowledge about a country, currency or company its anybodys guess really.
I remember the story of the blindfolded monley throwing darts at options...


"Give a monkey enough darts and they’ll beat the market. So says a draft article by Research Affiliates highlighting the simulated results of 100 monkeys throwing darts at the stock pages in a newspaper. The average monkey outperformed the index by an average of 1.7 percent per year since 1964. That’s a lot of bananas!

What is all this monkey business? It started in 1973 when Princeton University professor Burton Malkiel claimed in his bestselling book, A Random Walk Down Wall Street, that “A blindfolded monkey throwing darts at a newspaper’s financial pages could select a portfolio that would do just as well as one carefully selected by experts.”

http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickferri/2012/12/20/any-monkey-can-beat-the-market/

Best of luck to ye! Lol