The site is designed as a place for me to muse about shares and to document what I would like in my portfolio however I get a lot of requests for information on how to invest in the share market for the long term.

As a qualified financial adviser with both my DFP and CFP qualifications completed I look at investing in the share market from a long term perspective. This does not mean I will not trade or use various tools for increasing my potential return it just means I tend to look at things the way a Warren Buffet type investor would look at shares.

I have an area for people who want to learn a bit more about the share market and how , when and where to invest in it without all the hype that comes from the “sales” people in the industry.

I believe education or financial literacy is on of the most important parts of being able to provide advice about investing and so in the education section you will learn a lot more about investing in the Share Market and be provided with additional thoughts reserved only for premium members. These lessons and thoughts are delivered directly to your preferred email address for your convenience.

2010 Is Nearly Here

It is always difficult to predict the next twelve months but some trends are starting to emerge and some earlier predictions are coming true.

I believe house prices, in the main centres, will continue to appreciate, especially Auckland which has already started to occur. This is due both to supply and demand. There are less new dwellings becoming available as there are fewer being built (especially in the apartment market), demand is increasing due to higher immigration figures, more Kiwis returning home and a natural population increase.

Interest rates will go up but in the second part of the year only as the Reserve Bank honors it’s commitment to the nation when it said it would keep rates low. The amount they go up all depends on the recovery happening, how strong it is and if unemployment is starting to fall.

Finance will be difficult to obtain for self employed, businesses and construction projects due to the demise of virtually all second tier lenders. This is a serious issue for the country and will hinder our future growth.

Each month the international credit crisis moves further into the background and hopefully next year it can be consigned to part of global economic history.

Property Zooms Away

Well I have a bit of time away and it seems like everything takes off at once.

Not only have National house values chalked up their fourth successive month of increases in August, to be just 2.8 per cent lower than a year ago, but Property values in the Wellington region were down only 1.4 per cent on last year, a big improvement on the 4 per cent annual fall in July.

The average sale price for the region rose slightly from $429,571 to $431,614. But despite the increases, values in Wellington were still 7.3 per cent off their peak in 2007.

Pieter Geill of QV Valuations said a continuing shortage of listings had sparked renewed interest in property. “It is very hard to say if values will continue their upward trend in Wellington. An influx of listings in spring could very well see the market rebalance away from a seller’s advantage.”

Job losses in the public sector could also have an impact, he said.

Nationally, the August values were a sharp improvement on the same period in July, when prices were 5 per cent lower. The national average sale price also rose, to $385,426 in August from $382,758 in July.

Nationwide, values recovered to 1.9 per cent more than they were in April, but were still 7.9 per cent below their peak.

QV valuation manager Glenda Whitehead said confidence appeared to be returning to the market, with solid sales activity in August. But she cautioned that the pickup had been expected as more properties came on to the market.

Houses in all the main centres have increased in value in the past three months. Auckland and Christchurch were both 1.9 per cent below the same time last year.

Most of the provincial centres have also shown less annual decline than was reported last month.

As far as adding to my share portfolio, well that has been on hold for the last month or so as prices have reacted extremely positively thereby shutting out most stocks when using my usual screens.

Inch by Inch

As the market has rallied significantly ove the last few months the opportunities to add quality stocks to my portfolio that meet my screening criteria has dropped off.

However like all good long term investors you look at the opportunities and eventually something of interest will pop onto your radar.

Today my addition is going to come in the way of a company who was on yesterdays biggest falls list. I think they will continue to drop a little today before consolidating and moving forward.

As this will make cheap buying I will sit back and wait for the share to drop by another few cents and then add them to the portfolio.

…{+}

Stock Trader Pro

This little bit of software has quickly become one of my favorites.

It has been developed after some consultation with the software developers specifically for me. (I bought a similar piece of software from them, fell in love with it and thought why can’t you create something like this just for the share markets that I follow.

The software comes loaded with links through to the major markets so with a touch of a button I can be at the site I am after and on the actual login page. If I have an account the user name and password are right there in front of me and I have a nice big field for jotting down notes if I want to.

I can add other sites in as well if I want so the software grows along with me. This little piece of software and it’s brothers saves me up to 20 minutes every day.

At only $19 NZ it’s not morning tea at a cafe. Give it a try. I’m sure you will like it as much as I do.

Get it Here.

Trading Pro

Get ready for a whole new way of looking at your investments. You can stop worrying about the economy and the so-called recession because this “underground” trader is about to tell you how…

Sure I browse through the papers and check out what is happening everyday while I sip my extra strong latte however I would not  rely on that as a strategy for making money on the stock market.

So if you would rather let software take control of all the trolling through the various stocks and all the screens or filters you have in place… and remember you still get to decide, the software just narrows down the field for you, then check out the following system.

A system that allows you to make money from the stock market no matter how bad the economy gets.

more……

Add this to the portfolio

It’s been a while since I have had something to add to my portfolio however recent news added to the close proximity of the P.E ratio and yield to my desired screens has made me decide to add …{+}

Survey Released Today

ASB’s investor confidence survey released today showed that the pessimists still outnumbered the optimists for the three months to June, with a net 11 percent having a gloomy view.

This was a sharp improvement on the 25 percent expecting things to get worse in the three months to March.

New Zealander’s love affair with housing as an investment now seems to be making a strong comeback.

This was the top-rated form of investment in the latest survey with 18 percent, up from 15 percent favouring rental property as something to do with their money.

Obviously this is due to a lack of understanding and not reading my musings (just kidding).

Managed funds attracted “relatively lacklustre” support, down to 9 percent from 10 percent – but there was a large rise in confidence during June in this kind of investment.

Confidence in Kiwisaver continues to improve, with nearly one third of those surveyed now with Kiwisaver. The quarter also saw a significant increase in those who say they intend to use Kiwisaver in future.

Interesting figures which pretty well reinforce the experiences that I have seen over the last few months in the markets.

Too Good To Pass Up

It’s interesting sitting back and waiting patiently as our dollar bounces around and signals from the market continue to contradict themselves.

At the end of the day though my investing is all about the long term and most of the turmoil we are seeing today will eventually become a distant memory.

With that in mind I decided to add one of my long time favorites into the portfolio again as the numbers are just too good to sit by and watch …{+}

News

In a speech to a Hawke’s Bay business audience today Bollard said New Zealand’s economy was likely to “start recovery ahead of the pack” from the global upheavals of the past year.

New Zealand Retail sales data for May was much stronger than expected but economists argued that electronic card transaction data for June suggests retail sales will be weak in June.

“These days the electronic card transactions report is our preferred timely indicator of household spending,” said Darren Gibbs at Deutsche Bank. The retail sales data had limited impact on markets.Consumer Price Index data due on Thursday and business surveys this week in Australia.

Westpac said the NZ dollar has been locked in a range since June 3 and the range has been narrowing.

Not much has been happening to make me want to add anything to the portfolio lately however if the dollar does start to dip below the breakout as suggested and weaker data in the retail sector is confirmed I would suggest some bargains will again start to appear which will be added to the portfolio.