Investing Ideas - Q&A forum

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Permalink Reply by AlRow on July 5, 2008 at 18:00

Hear, Hear, As far as Small amounts contributed at regular intervals.
I would add this rider:
Invest your set amount on pay day. Do not say "I will save whatever is left at the end of the week / fortnight / month"
It will never be there
Set a plan, decide on an amount and stick to it. Don't be side tracked. It will be dificult at first but, as you see the saved amount building it will become easier

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Permalink Reply by Vonny on August 21, 2008 at 9:44

Totally agree with this one. Estimate how much u need to spend (plus a buffer) for the week/fortnight/month and put the rest into savings & investment. If u put it in before you spend it, you won't miss it.

Other tips, mainly for those who overextend themselves:
- the less money you have in your wallet, the less you spend
- use a debit card rather than a credit card and u won't be tempted to spend money you don't have
- it's not as important how much you make as how much you keep

As a separate issue, I feel sorry for the people who live on each pay packet and then have absolutely no money & live on bread and butter when it comes close to payday. If they don't spend that much and keep some money spare, they wouldn't get into this situation.

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Permalink Reply by Bandwidth on August 21, 2008 at 10:00

Great ideas and tips.

I remember being told "the rich invest then spend, the poor spend then spend" and "pay yourself first then let the others negotiate for the remainder".

On the last comment. in the lower affluance areas it is easy to figure out payday, the TAB, pubs and clubs are packed. During a recession invest in the liquor, pub and club industries seem to do quite well.

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Permalink Reply by Prickly Pete on August 20, 2008 at 23:46

Hi all, what a great idea here; I am 'in'...

After 18 years of contributing to my private superannuation account ('managed' portofolio) I pulled out from it last month totally disgusted and physically sick over the way my money was handled by the money professionals. I began to think about 'getting out' about three years ago when I became aware of the full cost of the charges on my account. It was then that some legislative changes forced the super funds to disclose all fees and charges. I was paying almost twice as much as was shown on my annual statements before the legislative changes happened. The 2007/08 fiscal year's 15% loss incurred by people who mismanaged my money was just the last straw. I decided to cut the losses, pay the early exit fees (about $3000.00) and roll the balance over into my other super account elsewhere. I'll recoup the exit fees by paying much lesser (75% less) charges in my current super account in few years.

Over the 18 years I invested $34 000.00 of my own after tax money in this fund. There were only two or three years of negative returns over the same period(naturally, I expected and was prepared for some losses). I paid $3 000.00 in 'exit' fees and walked out with $34 200.00. These people 'made' me $200.00!

I regret the waste of time and money. It seems to me that this was a terrible investment. The only people who made money with my money were the 'money managers'. I should have put the money into my mortgage repayments or kept them in a term deposit, high interest account. I am now thinking of investing myself to see if I can do better than these dishonest characters. I hope that seasoned, successful investors will offer some good advice through this forum.

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Permalink Reply by Vonny on August 21, 2008 at 9:46

ouch. i didn't think they could be so incompetent. 18 years and $200 gain?! and whats with the $3000 in exit fees? i thought exit fees were only charged if there is a time limit before you can exit without the penalty (e.g. 1-3 years).

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Permalink Reply by Prickly Pete on August 21, 2008 at 23:01

Hi Vonny,

incredible! isn't it? at the moment I am going through the original 'contract' document and the annual statements with a fine tooth comb. I have not finshed with these trickster's yet although I will not hold my breath...

I have found several questionable items already; some they will find difficult to defend with a straight face but I am up against a big multinational company here.

The $3000 I paid for making them richer and letting them to mismanage my investment? This was "an early withdrawal fee" which was, I understood, supposed to decrease year by year but reaching '$0' only in 2021- the year I nominated as my retirement year and the year I was going to get my retirement money. I think this was a feature of the early 'products' and sincerely hope that these 'a-holes' can not do the same these days. I will write to the minister and the superannuation ombudsman when I prepared my submission.

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