In the Media

Whilst I was out shopping on the weekend I found that some of the major retailers were clearing stock to make way for new season fashions that will be coming in soon, and this means bargain prices, so we can go to the races without it costing us an arm and a leg. Like me, you might be thinking that it’s a bit early to be shopping for an outfit for the spring races, however, the risk in leaving your decision close to the event is that you are likely to end up wearing something you’re not completely happy with, or you find you just don’t have the money to get what you really want...

Any study of human psychology around investing always reveals how sentiment is heightened at the end of bull and bear markets. Too many investors tend to enter the market near the top and exit near the bottom. I find this interesting because these facts are widely known by investors and traders, and I have never conducted a seminar where those attending did not finish my sentence when I mentioned "amateurs buy at the top and sell at the bottom". Obviously, educated investors do the opposite by buying near the bottom and selling near the top...

''They make the market much more volatile and unpredictable,'' says Dale Gillham, the chief analyst at fund manager Wealth Within, which runs the only accredited diploma of share trading and investment. ''It's like a marathon race. Someone sprints for 10 minutes and gets out in front but the pack catches up.'' The whole idea of speed trading is to catch you out, so the solution is to ''look at the bigger picture'', he says. ''Don't trade day by day. Look at the market on a monthly basis and say - what is the real trend...''

Do you truly believe you will retire wealthy on your super? When asked, most of us would say they either don’t know or they doubt their super will see them living the life they dreamed. For women, more often the super statistics indicate most will fall well short of the minimum needed. If you are well informed, however, it can make the difference between having a comfortable lifestyle and a mere existence. For most, making decisions as to where you should invest your superannuation is not easy, because the choices are extensive...

When building a portfolio of shares, we are traditionally taught to buy stocks in different sectors and to diversify with large numbers of individual shares. I have always been challenged by the logic behind this concept, especially when you consider it is based on the theory that about a third of your portfolio will be rising, one-third falling and one-third going sideways at any one time. Any investor would rather hold only the rising shares, which is why I teach in my book how you can sell falling shares and actually increase your portfolio returns. Sounds simple, and yet this is an approach that sadly is not well understood...