What You Need To Know About Investing in ASX Shares
Investing or trading in the share market can be a great way to increase your wealth, and if you play your cards right eventually supplement the income from your job. But there are a few fatal mistakes that may stop you from enjoying success on the ASX Share Market.
What do I mean? Let me give you an example: Let's say you started putting $150 a month into ASX Shares in 1980. That's around $5 a day. It earns an average of 15% per annum over the years including dividends. If you re-invested all your returns, today it would be worth over one million dollars - $1,038,490 to be exact.
But not everyone makes it that far. In fact statistics show that over 82% of traders lose a large portion of their capital and never trade again. If you are investing for the long term, your odds are slightly better (although 2008 scared a lot of investors out as well). But the thing is - now they miss out of the rest of those gains, on that million dollars that we discovered.
So how can we make sure we don't make the same mistake trading ASX shares? Your Trading Plan is the answer, and although it can be simple, it is the most powerful tool you will use in the market. If you haven't got one, you shouldn't be trading. But where do we start?
Well, one man's trading plan is another man's ruin. In other words, we are all different - and we all invest differently. But there are a few solid ground rules that will make your job easier. So having a trading plan should definitely involve the following:
1: Your Rules for Buying and Selling - these are the rules you have tested that determine when you buy and when you sell a share. Whether it is buying for fundamental reasons, like company earnings or book price, or whether it is for technical reasons like crossing a trend line or Dow theory it doesn't matter: so long as it suits you.
2: Your Money Management Rules - these are the rules for how much you will invest in a single position, and then in your total positions. This means you decide how much is right for you when putting money in a share. Obviously, if you put too much into one share on the ASX, you will lose all your money if it disappears. But also, if you put your money into too many shares it will be hard for you to outperform the market. Usually between 6 and 12 positions is optimum.
Having these in place will set you on your way to a solid start in ASX Shares.
Learn more about investing in ASX Shares with the free course at www.asxmarketwatch.com . Dave McLachlan also has free research on the Australian Stock Market.
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