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[Hammer278]

I'm planning to go heavy into Forex in 2012 and have been reading and learning up about it, plus I have a mate who has been trading for the past 7 years successfully. To share my story of investment so far, its been property. Currently I have 2 condo units rented out (I'm staying in one while subletting the rooms to mates). I've had to resort to other channels as the government has come down hard on investors after looking at the US debacle...3rd property onwards requires LTV70 (30% deposit required) for residential properties. So, to be blunt I have no more money to invest in properties for a while.

I'm interested in success stories from you guys here who've made it and maybe like to share tips and tricks...feel free to make this into the 'investment' thread!

P.S.
Doesn't have to be just Forex...shares/stocks/bonds/property/all welcome (except fixed deposits strictly a no no).

[What's Burning?]

Maybe you caught me on a bad day Hammer but my personal opinion is that the government is right to come down on investors given what's happened in the US and the world over the last few years.

The problem I have with investing in the "markets" is that it leads to nothing but money loss or money gains. It's not creating anything, it's not encouraging anything it's simply a sophisticated form of gambling where you're betting on something to increase in value while the person selling it is sure the value of it will drop. The problem with this philosophy is that we've created a culture in the market that only rewards corporations for their continued growth. It does not reward corporations for sustained long term earnings and remaining profitable that's simply not enough in today's investment world. As a matter of fact, the word enough IS the dirtiest word in the investment world, and that's why we are where we are today. Investors punish a corporation that's shown clear profits, is financially sound and may have capital at hand, simply because it didn't meet the expected growth so all of these factors simply aren't enough for investors if you can't guaranteed continued and sustained growth. That's not a realistic business model in any realm of logic other than in the stock markets.

If a corporation is hiring people it's often seen as a bad marker, as their costs will increase. That's why often companies that shrink, lay off employees and ship jobs overseas to cut their costs often get rewarded with a stock price rise because they will increase their growth and their profitability for their investors, none of these investors gives two sh!ts about the employees let go.

I'm not bashing investing in general, and I believe some of the most constructive investing that can be done is in the VC market. Someone with a vision to see a fledgling idea and fund it. That creates jobs, that increases manufacturing and the support mechanisms that drives the economic growth for all, not just for the investor.

If you're doing real estate now, continue doing that, it's a sound financial investment that has real value if you buy the right properties, as opposed to a fickle, volatile and often irrational market that's not much better than if you were to go in to a casino with your money as a small investor. The financials institutions win when you win, they win when you lose, and they win when they (in an unregulated environment) repackage high risk home derivatives and sell them off as high quality investments to people like you.

[Hammer278]

Thanks for the great post WB, I enjoyed the read. Completely agree with you though, what the gov did was not good news for me but I didn't mean to hint it was the wrong move, rather very necessary..

Your theory on today's businesses are spot on, though are you suggesting that the best form of investment then is to find a need that is yet to be fulfilled and to start up a plan which will fund this need? Speaking from my perspective and going by statistics, apparently 85-90% of the sole ventures normally fail within the first 3 years. Plus you need some serious funds to start up anything big or small. Serious funds is something I don't have...I hate seeing money in fixed deposits and anything extra I have, I have invested already.

My outlook on Forex is a means to get the funds required to lead to my end result - more properties. As you say, I'm more than convinced property is solid as long as its done right though the issue of lack of the down-payment funds and having your salary to keep up with what the banks expect...it's no easy task. Forex seems to be a channel which as long as you have an in depth understanding of its mechanism and more importantly, the right mental approach...there is potential. Granted, its a money gained = money lost for someone else but that's the name of the game today isn't it?

I like this theory I heard once....imagine 10 people on an island with 1 bank. The bank lends USD10 to each person and charges them interest of USD1 per week or they get assassinated. The only realistic thing which can happen is for crime to come into effect to make this work for the bank and the (leftover) individuals.