In the green 🙂

I’m about 6 weeks into my FT investment journey.

I started with a small lump sum deposit, which will equate to about 6x my planned monthly contribution going forward.

Anyway, thanks to a small fall in GBPUSD today, it has tipped my balance into the green for the first time since day 1.

Its a nice feeling…lets hope going forwards I can stay there. Certainly reseach, reading and this community is helping me educate myslef and growing my confidence :slightly_smiling_face:

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Congratulations on starting your investment journey. Ups and downs are normal, specially for someone that just started. Investing is complex, but most of the times, over the long term you are less likely to loose money. Having patience is one of the most important skills of a good Investor (and probably the hardest).

Learn about discovering good companies, what are good businesses, what are compounding companies and you will do good. Or simply match the market using an ETF that tracks world companies and enjoy life. Depending on your profile, everyone is different :wink:

Good luck :crossed_fingers:

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Thanks for sharing your experience.

Theres a lot to learn, but im suitably curious and a quick learner.

I have made it my hobby to learn more and every investment is with a 15 year outlook (under review).

I wanted to share some postive sentiments with my new friends on FT…so thank you for your interaction :slightly_smiling_face:

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Dont do like me and you will be fine and make money (i.e. dont buy high and sell low !)

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The picking is the hard bit lol

Its like standing in the Sahara desert and trying to pick the nicest 10 - 20 grains of sand :rofl:

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I started investing about this time last year and managed to get 4% up, then a considerably larger downswing! Back at about 4% now. Hopefully your own first year stays nice and green.

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Thank you.

Im enjoying learning more every day and hunting for my next sections :slightly_smiling_face:

I hope your successes continue to grow too.

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If you plan on investing continously for a long time, it would be much better to see falling prices. That way you can buy much more stocks and profit from later stock price growth in more depth.
The best thing that can happen to young investors is a longer lasting crash. :smiley:

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Yeah I understand that.

Thats the constant dliema… I want to see growth to validate my choices, but also I dont want my favourite stocks to get too expensive so I can afford to buy more :rofl:

Ovwr the long term it will all work out fine.

The main point of the post was to pass on some positive vibes and a little appreciation to the community :slightly_smiling_face:

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Fair! The psychological aspect of investing is very important too. Glad for you! :raised_hands:

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You can also look into dividend paying stocks, then compounding those divs, not just growth stocks. Seems to be tons of personal investing strategies and my initial aim to was to grow a portfolio as quick as possible through risky growth stocks then move everything over to medium/high yield div stocks for later on in life as additional stream of revenu but i havent been very lucky in my growth picks. Still hope to achieve my goal but will take longer with lower risk.

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Dividend v Growth is another interesting choice.

My current philosophy on that is that I like a number of US growth stocks, but I have yet to find too many UK growth stocks I believe in.

However, there are some great UK Dividend stocks I can get behind.

So i have diversified a little with USA growth my biggest holdings and UK Dividend stocks as diversification. (And a few wide ETFs).

I would likely funnel growth stock profits into my native UK Dividend stocks over time as i get older.

Thats where I’m at today…but its a constant learn and review situation it seems.

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Problem i have with trying to build up div stocks is that im starting very late in life and it takes about 7-10 years to double your investment when doing drip. Which is ok if you have a large initial capital. My ÂŁ1500 wont get me far by the time i hit 67, even if i invest an additional ÂŁ50 a month. Hopefully it will be a different story for my 11y/o son as time is on his side.

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Im 44…not exactly a spring chicken.

My outlook is 15 years then cash in to top up my modest work pension…maybe treat myself to a shabby Bulgarian apartment or something :thinking: :rofl:…I can worry about that later.

Thing is, I may never see 60.

You may make it to 100.

No one knows…never too late to start IMO. Good luck friend. :+1:

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44 isn’t that old, considering we’ll probably have to work til 70 for state pension (born in 81 here). Another quarter of a century to go!

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Hope its a prosperous one for you too :+1:

I guess the term money makes money is true. The hard part is starting off. Im finally well into the green on my tm1 but as i only had a small amount to invest i now have pretty much 2 small amounts. Others can retire on their large investments ! Hard part now is not to lose my two small amounts and make it become 4 small amounts somehow! Been a long time in the red so its just nice to see some green ! Oh and im similar age (77 lad)

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The Warren Buffet saying “Never lose money” is even more true. But by investing in penny stocks/gambles, you increase the probability of losing significant amounts of your wealth eventually. I’m not aware of many people getting wealthy by gambling like this - the opposite, on the other hand, is very common.

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Buy low sell high. Hi Bob1 go after monthly stocks for keeps. I put in 12k on monthly paying stocks an its doing good about £200 bucks a month happy to here you are in the green. I was happy when i coverd the cost’s of my mobile £5 A month and the freetrade App for the plus acount witch was £10 a month i carn’t wight for the next crash good luck in your investment’s. :sunglasses:

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Part of my portfolio is growth, the other part is dividend (about 70/30).

I didn’t start investing til my mid-forties, started just with growth, buying monthly when I got paid, whether markets were up or down. In the early years, I was rarely in the green but my portfolio slowly got bigger with the added money. I’m a buy and hold investor.

I then switched some growth stocks to dividend paying stocks (investment trusts mostly) and built up that part of the portfolio.

This is what I like doing! My first year, I think I just got a couple of quid. Currently, my divis could cover my council tax, broadband, gas/electricity, mobile, water and tv licence.

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