My involvement in securities came about as I left university and was unable to get a job for about a year. Walking down streets and seeing fancy expensive cars I thought about how it would be nice if I saved my money when I got a job and bought one. Then it dawned on me that even if I bought the car I couldn't afford to run it. Searching for jobs in the papers I came across the financial pages and was intrigued; culminating in my reading online, buying books, magazines etc. on the subject and learning about investment over that one year period whilst I looked for a job. Some years after that period I was able to get the necessary deposit to get my first home and continued to invest bringing down the mortgage ahead of the scheduled term. In terms of successes and failures with regards to investments, they came in the form of the dotcom era (tells my age), where I made a lot of money, missed a few opportunities and also lost a bit which took some time to recover from. That was a harsh lesson in greed and also instilled the merits of research and not following the herd. In the current market I am seeing a similar vein where research seems to have escaped a few and easy money (as was the case with the dotcom crash), seems to be the order of the day. Hence as is usual I spend at least two hours a day minimum (but usually more) making sure I am up to speed on all investments. New investments are researched for at least two weeks to a month and always monitored on watchlists. Despite some of my holdings falling in value one thing has been key throughout which has been to constantly look at the fundamentals and if nothing has changed to just sit tight or add to positions. Research is key and if there is no immediate need for capital then holding tight is imperative, keeping your overall goal in mind and as aforementioned not following the herd.
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