TRADING AND INVESTING HELP!! Career change

Cscan07

Hi folks,

After scanning the internet for a few days now, i have came across several colleges/learning establishments in dublin area where i can get a diploma and learn about capital markets, trading etc.

However, when i email to enquire i am told that prior finance or banking experience is best. This of which i have neither, i come from construction background

The time of work with the covid and lots of time to think, i have came to the conclusion that i want to change my career and follow my interests. i have been pondering this idea for a while . At the minute i feel like i am going around in circles as i cant seem to find the correct info online

I dont mind starting from scratch , can anyone advise me where do i start, any courses that are totally beginner based any career advisors, anything to help.. i basically have an keen interest and wish to further it to see if this would suit me as a new career change.

i would love any advice you guys might have that can help

thank you

What is it you want to do, what do you imagine when you say this?

Cscan07

i would like to invest as a personal hobby firstly, i would like to be able to understand buying and selling, trends, learn about the markets, how to use platforms, terminologies etc. Ultimately i would like to work in an environment that would enable me to use these tools i.e trading/investment companies, crypto etc. At this stage, it is personal interest i would love to learn more off and see if its something that would suit me professionally.

Jim2007

Cscan07 wrote: »

i would like to invest as a personal hobby firstly, i would like to be able to understand buying and selling, trends, learn about the markets, how to use platforms, terminologies etc. Ultimately i would like to work in an environment that would enable me to use these tools i.e trading/investment companies, crypto etc. At this stage, it is personal interest i would love to learn more off and see if its something that would suit me professionally.

There is a very big difference between personal investing, day trading/gambling, professional investing and working for an asset manager.

- If you are young with a first class honours degree, then landing an entry position with an asset manager is definitely on the cards, otherwise hard work and perseverance might land you an entry position. Apart from that gaining an accounting/finance/legal qualification might provide an entrance

- To make a living as a professional investor, you need to start with a pile of money to start, say 300k - 500k might generate a 20k P/A with a lot of skill and a bit of luck. Not really an option for most people.

- Day trading: well if you want a bit of fun, don't mind loosing your cash and have no illusions about make a living or gaining wealth from it, it can be a bit amusing for some people.

- Private investing, this is the most likely long term way for the average Joe or Mary to build wealth. Depending on the strategy you choose in can be time consuming, say 10 or 12 hours a week or easy, say a couple of hours a year. The downside is that there is not instance gratification, it requires patience and acceptance of some boredom.

But the best way to make money in finance is to sell you something - course, a book, a newsletter, stock tips etc... so whatever you decide to do, be careful about how you send your money on educating yourself.

Cscan07

Jim2007 wrote: »

There is a very big difference between personal investing, day trading/gambling, professional investing and working for an asset manager.

- If you are young with a first class honours degree, then landing an entry position with an asset manager is definitely on the cards, otherwise hard work and perseverance might land you an entry position. Apart from that gaining an accounting/finance/legal qualification might provide an entrance

- To make a living as a professional investor, you need to start with a pile of money to start, say 300k - 500k might generate a 20k P/A with a lot of skill and a bit of luck. Not really an option for most people.

- Day trading: well if you want a bit of fun, don't mind loosing your cash and have no illusions about make a living or gaining wealth from it, it can be a bit amusing for some people.

- Private investing, this is the most likely long term way for the average Joe or Mary to build wealth. Depending on the strategy you choose in can be time consuming, say 10 or 12 hours a week or easy, say a couple of hours a year. The downside is that there is not instance gratification, it requires patience and acceptance of some boredom.

But the best way to make money in finance is to sell you something - course, a book, a newsletter, stock tips etc... so whatever you decide to do, be careful about how you send your money on educating yourself.

Thank you so much for your reply Jim2007, i really just wish to educate myself more at this stage, have no big plans to take over the world yet.

I have some money aside that i wish to invest however, have no education on how to do it, really interested to learn more.

However , really would be interested in doing courses etc, lots of colleges in dublin have diplomas/evening courses etc on this topic, not sure if im suited as they said banking /finance backgrounds preferable.

I dont want to pay college fees, to sit like a rabbit caught in the headlights.

Really looking for advice, if anyone any info on how beginners can get educated properly?

NickSantigo

Cscan07 wrote: »

Thank you so much for your reply Jim2007, i really just wish to educate myself more at this stage, have no big plans to take over the world yet.

I have some money aside that i wish to invest however, have no education on how to do it, really interested to learn more.

However , really would be interested in doing courses etc, lots of colleges in dublin have diplomas/evening courses etc on this topic, not sure if im suited as they said banking /finance backgrounds preferable.

I dont want to pay college fees, to sit like a rabbit caught in the headlights.

Really looking for advice, if anyone any info on how beginners can get educated properly?

If you are interested in learning more why don't you try reading a few books as you are off to see if you like it.

Some I'd recommend starting with are:
“The Motley Fool Investment Guide: How the Fools Beat Wall Street's Wise Men and How You Can Too” By Tom Gardner
This is a good place to start as it goes through a lot of the basics

One Up on Wall Street by Peter Lynch is another great book.

I found the Little Book series very good. Written by some really intelligent people, e.g.
“The Little Book of Common Sense Investing” by John Bogle goes through Indexed funds
“The Little Book that still beats the market” by Joel Greenblatt
I’m sure other poster could offer recommendations from their experience too

Jimbobjoeyman

There are a good few courses on the likes of udemy and such that would allow you to dip your toes without too much financial commitment.

As far as trading by yourself - these days the concept of day trading is gone the way of the dodo as the markets are now far too efficiant and mispricing is quickly snapped up by algos and the like.
You could gamble a little betting on what way the spread would move but I cant imagine it being of massive educational benefit.

But I'd be very wary of crash courses teaching you how to trade - I'd be a massive proponent of weak form efficient market hypothesis and the stuff those courses would teach you with technical analysis and making a trading decision based on a bar chart pattern is largely rubbish.

Jimbobjoeyman

Jimbobjoeyman wrote: »

There are a good few courses on the likes of udemy and such that would allow you to dip your toes without too much financial commitment.

As far as trading by yourself - these days the concept of day trading is gone the way of the dodo as the markets are now far too efficiant and mispricing is quickly snapped up by algos and the like.
You could gamble a little betting on what way the spread would move but I cant imagine it being of massive educational benefit.

But I'd be very wary of crash courses teaching you how to trade - I'd be a massive proponent of weak form efficient market hypothesis and the stuff those courses would teach you with technical analysis and making a trading decision based on a bar chart pattern is largely rubbish.

The CFA institute do an investment foundations programme which would be a good start without too much financial commitment.

dartboardio

What is it exactly you're looking to get into?

I started off learning all about buying and selling currencies recently, Forex

I started on babypips.com learning about how to know when to buy and sell, reading candlestick patterns, charts, supply and demand.

Id highly recommend this as a starter free course and you can take it at your own pace.

This will then all help you when trading /learning about trading other markets too like commodities/indices/stocks.

Lots of great free videos on YouTube too on how to recognize key areas on a chart. Yeah obviously it's not all technical analysis and lots of fundamentals come into play aswell.

Jimbobjoeyman

dartboardio wrote: »

What is it exactly you're looking to get into?

I started off learning all about buying and selling currencies recently, Forex

I started on babypips.com learning about how to know when to buy and sell, reading candlestick patterns, charts, supply and demand.

Id highly recommend this as a starter free course and you can take it at your own pace.

This will then all help you when trading /learning about trading other markets too like commodities/indices/stocks.

Lots of great free videos on YouTube too on how to recognize key areas on a chart. Yeah obviously it's not all technical analysis and lots of fundamentals come into play aswell.

I'd read a little bit about effecient market hypothesis.

Currency movements are mathematically random and if you regress the past pricing data on itself using a AR(1) AR(2) or so on model you'll see that you have a unit root.
Technical analysis is complete nonsense in my opinion and the only consistent wat of making money in currency trading is with a carry trade strategy.
Which works on the principal that uncovered interest rate parity is crap.
Stick to fundementals.

I currently work as a desk analyst with a large FTSE 100 asset manager in London and when it comes to currency we hedge and get out of the way as theres no way of realistically knowing where its going.
This is the industry norm for long term asset managers which I think says alot when the professionals are doing this.

The carry trade is a play on interest rates and economic data more than anything else which just happens to include an fx related portion to the trade which if works out should increase returns.

dartboardio

Jimbobjoeyman wrote: »

I'd read a little bit about effecient market hypothesis.

Currency movements are mathematically random and if you regress the past pricing data on itself using a AR(1) AR(2) or so on model you'll see that you have a unit root.
Technical analysis is complete nonsense in my opinion and the only consistent wat of making money in currency trading is with a carry trade strategy.
Which works on the principal that uncovered interest rate parity is crap.
Stick to fundementals.

I currently work as a desk analyst with a large FTSE 100 asset manager in London and when it comes to currency we hedge and get out of the way as theres no way of realistically knowing where its going.
This is the industry norm for long term asset managers which I think says alot when the professionals are doing this.

The carry trade is a play on interest rates and economic data more than anything else which just happens to include an fx related portion to the trade which if works out should increase returns.

Thank you! I'm open to absolutely any advice I can get.

Really interested in how fundamentals move currencies alone. Will definitely read more on this

Jimbobjoeyman

dartboardio wrote: »

Thank you! I'm open to absolutely any advice I can get.

Really interested in how fundamentals move currencies alone. Will definitely read more on this

Your largely looking at two things in regards to currencies.

Interest Rate parity both covered and uncovered and then purchasing power parity and how the two of these interact to a greater extent.

Largely the take away is uncovered interest rate parity is crap but that in itself opens up several oppertunities such as a carry trade.

Purchasing power parity examines the link between currency fluctuation and inflation rates(or more accurately expected inflation in its ex-ante form).
Over the short term theres nothing there but in the long term theres an argument for it.

But largely as I said short term currency movements are in essence completely random.
We hedge our exposure and get out of the way.

If I was looking at investing I'd look at equities and credit.
Look for companies with a strong balance sheet that are well positioned for growth in an industry or sector you know.
An example being the CPU market - Personally i think x86 is in the twilight of its life and I think a largescale switch the arm based processors in the consumer/industrial pc space is inevitable especially when apple decide to inevitably make the jump.
While you can't invest directly in arm you can invest in a manufacturer like qualcomm.

Although dont take the above as investment advice its just an example ive plucked out of the air.

Jimbobjoeyman

Jimbobjoeyman wrote: »

Your largely looking at two things in regards to currencies.

Interest Rate parity both covered and uncovered and then purchasing power parity and how the two of these interact to a greater extent.

Largely the take away is uncovered interest rate parity is crap but that in itself opens up several oppertunities such as a carry trade.

Purchasing power parity examines the link between currency fluctuation and fx rates.
Over the short term theres nothing there but in the long term theres an argument for it.

But largely as I said short term currency movements are in essence completely random.
We hedge our exposure and get out of the way.

If I was looking at investing I'd look at equities and credit.
Look for companies with a strong balance sheet that are well positioned for growth in an industry or sector you know.
An example being the CPU market - Personally i think x86 is in the twilight of its life and I think a largescale switch the arm based processors in the consumer/industrial pc space is inevitable especially when apple decide to inevitably make the jump.
While you can't invest directly in arm you can invest in a manufacturer like qualcomm.

Although dont take the above as investment advice its just an example ive plucked out of the air.

Personally I'm of the opinion with so much money in index tracking funds these days its left a lot of value on the table in equities outside the major indices that's not being picked up.