I love watching my children jump in the swimming pool... And when Bristol Rovers score a goal it sets my heart racing… There was also that time I almost became a golfing great a few years ago when, to my own surprise I scored a hole in one… But what I really love is making money… And I’d love to help you do the same…
I remain utterly convinced that the stock market is the best place to make real, big, touchable money over the long term. Believe me I have tried the alternatives and none of them compare.
It takes time to learn how to play the stock market – so the best way to learn anything is to practice. You should start investing as soon as you can and learn what works and what doesn’t.
Muster that courage and take the plunge – you will inevitably spill some money on the way, but your bag of money should get fatter and heavier the more you dip into the market.
The two best pieces of advice I can give you today are as follows: stick with smaller companies and turn a deaf ear to politicians whenever they pontificate about financial markets.
Politicians are generally a bunch of back-biting, lying, conniving, plotting and deceiptful so-and-sos; and I believe you should completely ignore them.
In particular, don’t pay any attention to a man called Tharman Shanmugaratnam.
He is Singapore’s second minister for finance, and he has clearly been trying to find something clever to say at the World Economic Forum on East Asia. Unfortunately, what he said was not very clever at all and it was a perfect example as to why politicians views on financial markets should be held in contempt.
He warned that “financial contagion will hit when it is least expected and bring about a vicious aftermath.” He went on “You can't predict when it's going to come. You can't predict the scale but there's a feeling that when it comes, it's going to be a pretty large impact and going to be very difficult to manage.”
What a load of pompous tosh …
In case it was not sufficiently clear, this is what Shanmugaratnam told the “global community” (which includes you and me, by the way):
“We must brace ourselves for the unknown unknowns that come along every few years – and it could be a pretty vicious unknown unknown with an unwinding that's unpredictable in global financial markets. You really can't tell how this unwinding is going to play out, but it could be substantial”
He explained his reasoning: ‘There's a high degree of complacency coming out of a very long period of a low interest rate environment and a low volatility environment, but seasoned observers, those who have been around long enough (like himself presumably), know that a shock is very likely to come at some point.’
This is just the type of ignorant and foolish background noise that deters people from doing the one thing that has always worked; and that’s long-term investment in the stock market.
How many more decades do we have to endure before people accept the fact that the long march of stock markets is relentlessly upwards – and that there is no point in worrying about the inevitable set-backs, not only because they are by nature unpredictable but also because they are always only temporary. The best way to increase your wealth is to be a player in the stock market – any politician that tells you otherwise is an utter fool…
Regards,
Tom Bulford
for The Penny Sleuth
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