yeah, the market has been going up over the last few years, so its not been too hard to make $. i know a lot of people who have made money, and yeah im a bit envious. the last 2 weeks it has started dropping, and i think we're possibly heading towards a bit of a downturn. house prices have been dropping in most parts of sydney, which will spread to the rest of the country. i think in a few more months things will be a bit clearer on whats happening.
its easy (and probably fun too) to buy shares because people around you seem to be making money, but you have to be careful, if you keep it up you will lose. the last few years has been a very good time for the stock market. for me the fun is trying to work out what is going on and how it all works, and hopefully later i can apply that knowledge for the rest of my life to make me money. another thing to be wary of is that people dont usually brag about thier failures, so even if he's making a lot of money, he could well have lost more and is just blagging to cover up.
at the moment im just paper trading, the asx has this free service that lets you set up watch lists so you can see how you go. for each different investment methodology i read about i set up a watch list and trade that system, so i can see how it goes without risking my money. i find it pretty interesting
http://www.asx.com.au/resources/myasx/index.htm
i dont think im missing out by not investing my own money now. firstly i dont understand it well enough to be confident of my own abilities, and secondly the sharemarket will always be there. i can read, watch, "play" by paper trading and learn. even if it takes me ten years to learn the sharemarket will still be there and i can make money then, and id probably have a better chance of doing ok, or at least a better chance of not getting wiped out.
i personally wouldnt trust brokers reccomendations for crap, despite regulation, the industry is still very dodgy.
