Education

Although Vestdata is NOT a share market educator we firmly believe that trading without knowledge is liken to driving a car without any lessons, yes you may get somewhere but the first near miss could lead to you crashing.

There are many different investment styles, but successful investors share a few common characteristics – they’re disciplined, organised and can remove their emotions from the investing process.  Aim to develop these characteristics.

So what is the best why to “get” and stay informed?

Here are some ideas that may assist you when starting trading for the first time

1. Trading rule number 1 is to “Read first” and “Invest second”
2. Until you become educated in how the market works seek professional advise from your broker and/or financial advisor on where to park your money until  you get the feel for how the market works and lean how to develop the best invest strategy to suit your temperament.
3. If you are really starting out, we would also strongly recommend The Psychology of Investing (by Colin Nicholson) It is easy to read and understand and the aim is to make you a better investor or trader, with ideas and methods in it to improve your investing and trading decision-making.  The Barefoot Investor book (by Scott Pape) - easy to understand, commonsense financial planning. Some other great books are - The Intelligent Investor (Benjamin Graham), The New Buffetology (Mary Buffet), Understanding the Stock Market (N E Renton) these are an excellent introduction to the value in investing.
   
   As you get more into it, perhaps look at The Aggressive Investor(by Colin Nicholson) expands on how to how to succeed in the share market and cut you losses  and some of the Jim Cramer books (US-centric but excellent advice), One Up on Wall Street/Beating the Street (Peter Lynch), and any of The Motley Fool books
4. The Australian Financial Review is your key to understanding what is happening within the business world. If your preference is Banking, Energy, Retail or whatever, the AFR will cover it.
5. Paper trade for 6 months. Paper trade is exactly as it sounds, you are trading on paper and not using your money. This is the safest way to learn and you’re your skills as a trader, allowing you to apply what you have read without any risk. Visit the ASX, play their on-line trading games to get a ‘feel’ for what to expect.

Gain access to comprehensive data BEFORE you start trading, access historic data so you can learn from the past and most importantly apply Trading rule number two; it is your money at stake so be plan to stay fully informed.