ManFromGlass wrote: ↑Sun May 07, 2023 2:04 am
I’m learning about things that interest me.
My only frustration is not having the cash to invest to learn in a more first hand manner how this all works.
It is not investing - it's gambling. Investments take place when there is no counter-party. Buying and selling shares is to bet that a share will go in one direction, whereas the other side of that trade is betting that it goes in the other direction. But just like online gambling, the retail punter always loses!
Why this is so is simple maths - with pure gambling, the punter runs out of funds and gives up. In the share market, the counterparty is nearly always some giant investment fund that sees a price go up and automatically sells some shares to pull those gains to their bottom line. People Blackrock or Vanguard are never going to run out of funds!
In gambling, this effect is called "The House Edge" and is the mathematical advantage of having unlimited funds - well, compared to the punter!
But like our friend DC Chopper, playing one company can work for you if you have an intimate knowledge of a company - how much debt, standing orders for employees, ethical stand, qualifications of management - that sort of thing. Then you are more or less as well informed as the Big Boys - particularly if you know people within that company.
I like solid, boring engineering companies that work within fields like water supplies or food or, well, anything humanity cannot live without. I like companies that have little or no debt. I like companies that own their own IP (intellectual property). I like companies that have a healthy working environment.
I am expecting a major correction this year or next - so I am out of stocks and into physical gold and junior miners (gold/silver/copper mines that have not yet come in). The main trick here (there are others!) is to see who else is buying into the company.