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FIRST TIME INVESTOR

If only I had only known ...

Lets share our best first mistakes with investing.... I can go first, I didn't know that dividends that are reinvested within one financial year affects your taxable income for that year. I had assumed that it was only taxable if you redeemed the actual $ into your bank account or sold shares.

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Craig Pilon

19 August 2022

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23 Comments

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Kurt Walkom

PEARLER

over 2 years ago

My first investment was $15,000 in 3 stocks based on a stockbroker’s recommendation – right before the GFC. It was all my savings at the time and two of the stocks went broke. I still think it’s criminal that stockbrokers can recommend anything other than ETFs for first-time investors.

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about 2 years ago

Me to, I wish I got into ETFs or LICs a lot sooner.
As a novice, I thought a good investment had to be in specific companies and didn’t understand you could buy the index through an ETF.

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over 2 years ago

I just wish I realised sooner how simple everything could be. And how instead of trying to fine-tune your investments, time is far, far, better spent elsewhere – either enjoying life, optimising expenses, or earning more income.

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over 2 years ago

My first mistake was buying a stock because all the ppl at work were… I was 21 and didn’t know what the company did, or clearly value my own hard earned cash highly enough! I sold out a few weeks later at a loss. This was not the only time i made this mistake :(

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Vinit

PEARLER

over 2 years ago

Mistake of Smiling at news reports when they talked about Markets Tanking thinking It was better to keep money in savings account, as I never invested until recently.

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over 2 years ago

Not investing regularly! At the start I would by large packages of shares and then never really buy again. I realised DCA’ing was a better fit for me, and it made me less as worried about price fluctuations.

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Cathy Sun

PEARLER

over 2 years ago

Getting caught up in the thrills and spills of chart reading and the excitement of day trading until my get rich quick dream gave me a quick tease before being shattered completely🤑

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Cathy Sun

PEARLER

about 2 years ago

I was margin trading forex so… massive wins, then got margin called and cash balance went to zero –_-

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over 2 years ago

I’ve done a lot of guilty timing the market trades, ignoring whether it was profit/loss doing so I think the stress that it brings was not worth it. Had an unhealthy obsession with stock prices and news hehe.

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about 2 years ago

My biggest mistake was messing around with bear ETFs without knowing exactly how they worked. They are very, very, short term! It was when Covid hit, and I thought there would be more of a correlation between economies and markets

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about 2 years ago

This is a really important one. Many ppl don’t realise that stock markets typically trying to ‘price in’ everything, so when prices drop heavily it’s because the poor economic outlook is being factored in. Then, when the economy does go into recession etc, the market doesn’t react the way ppl expect because it was already priced in and expected. Only unexpected or ‘new’ news tends to affect the market if that makes sense.

And of course central banks and govts can announce support measures for the economy which can cause markets to bounce back strongly, even if the economy is not even close to improving. It’s a really interesting dynamic and hard to get your head around at first.

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about 2 years ago

Just realised you may also be talking about the mechanics of bear ETFs, in which case, also a good lesson to share – they’re really designed for trading rather than holding.

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almost 2 years ago

Both!

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about 1 year ago

I only wish I knew about Investing and the benefits of compounding your money long term when I was younger.

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