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What’s up everyone!
How’s your weekend going?
It’s going to be a SPECIAL post today, courtesy of our friend in the nation’s capital- Light Beam.
You know Light Beam duncha?
He who works in our federal treasury department – pulling all the strings and greasing all the wheels that make our country tick.
I managed to grab him away from preparing our federal budget to bring you guys a tantaliZING guest post on investing in the stock market.
Why Light Beam you ask?
Well, he’s only made about $30k in stocks, since the start of this year – a phenomenal achievement off a relatively small base.
The guy walks the talk, constantly PEPPERING us with his stock picks and recommendations (our Whatsapp chat is filled with them), so what better way than to share with everyone how he did it.
Take it awayyyyy Light Beam:
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Hiya all – Light Beam here – The Frugal Samurai has kindly asked me to guest post for him this weekend on my top three tips for investing in the stock market.
Where the samurai cuts through the housing market (starts humming “kungfu fighting”), I am all about stocks (just can’t deal with tenants/agents).
The broader ASX and the US markets have performed extremely well in the first three months of 2019.

So how do you get into stocks to ensure you do well and achieve your financial goals?
Have your investment goal in mind
Just like anything in life – whether it’s your mate’s Tuesday poker game in a garage, your next sunday soccer showdown or your finances – it is important to know your goals to determine your optimal strategy.
As with all investments, there’s always going to be a level of risk, but without a clear goal in mind, you could be subjecting yourself to unnecessary risks.
For me, most equity investors can be grouped into two categories – growth or income (a third could be speculators or day traders…..more on that later).
Growth
These investors tend to have a longer time horizon – investing in businesses with growth potential over the next decade or two. Contrary to popular belief, not all companies grow on the stock market, neither do all companies follow the economic cycle.
But if you do happen to hit the right growth stocks, the returns can be very rewarding. Two examples from the ASX (Aussie stock exchange) are:
Magellan Financial Group (ASX: MFG, a fund manager) – Annual return of 61.1% – $20,000 ten years ago would now be worth $2.3 million.
Altium (ASX: ALU, a tech company) – Annual return of 59.8% – $20,000 ten years ago would now be worth $2.2 million.
Editor’s note – “FAAARRRRRRKKKKKKK”.
These stocks easily outperform any other asset classes over the respective period – and with shares, there’s minimal upkeep costs.
Income
These investors (typically mum and dad) invest in equities for dividends – a generally consistent source of income at pre-determined periods.
There are tax advantages with this approach, and in this current environment of falling house prices and low interest rates, it offers a competitive yield.
In fact, the biggest gain from this approach is to reinvest those dividends in DRPs (dividend reinvestment plans) which allow you to use the income to purchase more shares.
Given its compounding nature – over time – this can generate a significant portfolio and dividend flow.

I split my portfolio into both camps – growth stocks I can keep (ie. APX, ALU, BIN, RMD, NUF) and add to until I retire and the income stocks (ie. AWC, any of the banks, WPL, GEM, WAM) provide me with a good source of secondary income.
So find the reason why you are investing in equities and don’t lose sight of it.
Know the business you are investing in
Now what I’ve said above sounds simple enough – but how do you know which stocks to pick once you have settled on a strategy?
Well for either strategy – you want a business that is either growing, or is generating positive income.
Which is a fancy way of saying a successful business.
Analysts and smartie pants at Macquarie Bank (Aussie Investment Bank) will give you all sorts of fancy charts, P/E ratios, price targets and recommendations, but at the end of the day, the best judge of any business is you.
A good example is retail.
If you are investing in retail, think about whether you have ever shopped at that store, did you have a good experience, would you come back again, how does the store present itself?
Many years ago, I was a frequent shopper at Myer, but I could see with my own eyes it was a dwindling business.
I would walk in and never be greeted by a sales person, when I ordered something online, the wrong product turned up, in fact the only times I ever shopped there was when things were heavily discounted.
Fast forward a few years and unsurprisingly, Myer share price has gone from $2 to around $0.50. It’s been a constant favourite for short sellers and I can understand why.
On the other end of the scale…
Take Afterpay – the ‘buy now, pay later’ scheme.
They are everywhere and with the credit card crunch, more and more millennials are attracted to these schemes.
You only have to walk through your local Westfield or do some shopping online to see how many retailers they’ve partnered with.
For this reason – I tend to not invest in industries I don’t understand – mining, energy, infrastructure.

But I have invested heavily into the tech sector – for example, I bought into Appen (ASX:APX) earlier this year.
The company specializes in the development of machine learning and artificial intelligence, a sector which I believe will grow over the next decade.
AI will affect everything from driving to education in the next decade and I see a lot of growth potential for the sector.
The company recently reported huge increases in their earnings last year, and the share price has doubled since January 2019.
Have a long term view
Everyday you flick through the papers or listen to TV/radio – top movers and shakers on the ASX are being thrown around and you wonder, why don’t I have shares in that penny mining stock which has gone up 500% over the last week.
Then you hear that your friend’s uncle Bordan Jelfort (editor’s note – laugh out LOUD) is a day-trader and has been killin’ it.
In actual fact, what day traders are trying to do is to predict short term sentiment, or what a subset of the market is thinking.
Imagine you had to guess survey results or political polls for a living, it’s extremely difficult.
However having a long term view cuts out the guesswork and the variance of the market.
Whether or not you are an income or growth investor, the key is to focus on your holdings over a long term period.
I know many people who bought into A2 Milk or Afterpay, made 30% and thought “you beauty”.
They thought making that quick buck was the end game and could then flip those profits into finding another A2.
That task is not easy.

At the end of the day, if you invest in a quality company which is generating positive and growing returns, the share price should be able to weather any macroeconomic shocks.
In fact, if you believe in a business model and see short term falls in the price (because of negative sentiment from the market), this is actually a great opportunity to top up your holdings.
So my advice is, don’t get caught up in the daily movements of prices, know your strategy and do your research, analyse the fundamentals of the company and then hold on tight for the ride.
Thanks again Frugal for letting me guest blog. Back to you!
(Disclaimer: this is not the giving of any financial advice – general advice only – seek independent financial advice)
~~~
WOW.
Loved it, absolutely loved it.
Most of Light Beam’s advice is so simple and common sense right?
Have a long term view, walk around your local shopping centre, have an end goal in mind – so simpaul…
So why doesn’t EVERYONE do it if it’s so simple?
Because common sense is one of the rarest investing attributes in my opinion.
Horses for courses, there are a million ways to make money and to invest in the share market.
Buuuuuut you could do worse than listen to some of that gold Light Beam just dished up.
Thanks again Light Beam!
What do you think? Did you enjoy this post? Please help me out if you enjoyed this and put your email in and click on the little “subscribe” button at the top right. This way, you’ll never miss my words of awesomeness! So do the right thing, be a subscriber and get it straight to your inbox fresh out of the oven!
P.S. As Light Beam has stated, everything here is general advice and opinions only… please don’t come back and say you followed the advice of a friend of a friend of a friend’s personal finance and development blogger’s… friend… that’d be an awkward conversation.
P.P.S Contact me if you are keen on doing a guest post, it’s so easy, so simpaul!
13 Comments
Dani
This is just in time. I am trying to learn more about finances and investment. I will definitely reread this and get it started with stocks.
The Frugal Samurai
No problem, please come back and revisit – tis very important!
Jimmy
E…excuse *clears throat* mmmhmm
Excuse me.
I am a financial beginner and earlier in the year I followed my friend’s advice without any research.
I based it purely on gut feel and made $7,000.
Do you think what I did was prudent… or would you point and LAUGH at someone who is so reckless?
PS. I am thinking of starting a company called Anytime Coat-Tail
Thank you I always read your blog
The Frugal Samurai
Wowow $7,000 off gut-feel? Are you a Chow Yun Fat aka God of GAMBLERS?!
Hmmm let’s see… friend’s advice, friend’s advice – well it depends on who that friend is I guess, I mean if that friend is named Warren Buffet, then no, it’d be reckless NOT to follow that advice. But if that friend’s name is Bazer Be Bont well then… Let’s put it this way – it ain’t how you go in a bull market that separates the wheat from the chaff but how you go in a bear market.
“Gives a firm nod of the head”.
The Frugal Samurai
Oh and thank you for being such a loyal reader… I am glad that there is one guiding light in the abyss.
Innocent Bystander
Highly recommend growth – yes it comes with higher risk but I simply cannot entertain the idea of looking at Telstra toggling 3 or 4 cents on most days. That’s too boring and the dividend is not enough to buy a week’s worth of food at the Parliament cafeteria.
Day Trader sounds fun, but most people have day jobs, imagine you get called into a meet at 10am, missed the start of ASX where your stock shot up by 15% only to see 200+ people queuing to sell 5 million units an hour later at a mere 2% profit at 10:35am.
As long as you don’t spend the money you cannot afford to lose, then it’s growth all the way.
The Frugal Samurai
Innocent Bystander!!! You are back! Welcome, welcome “gestures to a warm, comfy chair for a long-time and LOYAL reader back from the wars”… how are you?!
Yeah… Telstra is as predictable of a beast as a team named All-Stars winning some fantasy sports comp, SAFE.
100% agree with you about day trading, it might be fun but you gotta be monitoring it CONSTANTLY. I know of a couple of friends, who invested in some stock called Ernie Dingo, up 20% one day, down 40% the next, up 10% thereafter… a rollercoaster if I’ve ever seen it. Good fun and entertaining though, was better than watching “My Kitchen Rules”.
Innocent Bystander
They don’t call it “The Great Outdoors” for no reason. A place full of vultures, sharks and parasites. Definitely not one for the faint hearted.
The Frugal Samurai
It’s a jungle out there.
Hugzy
EXACTLY wat i thought! The Bystander! Finally out of the shadows ala Tottenham Hotspurs
Btw I really just read only the comments, they’re usually alot more entertaining than the content itself (nothing against your content they’re hilarious but i just dont understand the financial JARGON bargons)
The Frugal Samurai
Ustfu – the comments are only entertaining because we have guys like Bugzy and Darren Huckerby and Nicky Barmby trolling the muddy waters. Sigh, wanted to keep this as clean and friendly as possible…
Daisy Moss
Hello!
I’m Daisy Moss, a coffee and yoga loving writer who specialises in personal finance, so I think my money saving advice would be a great fit for your website. Whilst I’m sure you receive plenty of these pitches everyday, I can assure you that my work ethic and love for writing will make sure that you won’t be reading just any old blog post!
Here are a few pieces of my writing if you wanted to see if I’d be a good fit:
https://vmg.co.uk/simple-ways-to-save-money-to-master-personal-finance/
https://www.allaroundmoving.com/how-has-commercial-property-been-affected-by-covid-19/
https://thefinanciallyindependentmillennial.com/live-the-zero-waste-lifestyle-and-save-money-and-the-planet/
https://fangwallet.com/2020/11/07/benefits-and-drawbacks-of-a-lifetime-isa-for-your-pension/
Now, onto my ideas! Here are a few different things I have been brainstorming. If they aren’t quite right, please don’t hesitate to let me know, as I have plenty more that I’d love to share.
5 Steps To Take To Change Your Money Mindset
Money Saving Hacks That Tenants Need To Know!
Simple Ways To Make Significant Savings For Your Retirement
Let me know if you’d be interested and I can get working on the article to send it over to you for review. I’m looking forward to hearing back from you!
Kind Regards,
Daisy Moss
The Frugal Samurai
Sure Daisy, send us an email at info@thefrugalsamurai.com and we can take it from there.