Investing

How to save your first $100k

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Guru investor Charlie Munger once said “The first $100,000 is a bitch”.  It sure is.  When you start out investing and saving, your money will gain very little from compounding.  Most of your growth will come from putting aside money from your salary and other side income.

Once you hit $100k though, things will start to become a little easier.  For many people $100k seems completely unreachable.  But there are countless stories of people who have been dilligent with their finances and managed to overcome that barrier.  Here are some tips you can use on your journey to ammassing your first $100k.

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Spaceship vs Raiz: Which One Performed Better This Year

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Spaceship vs RaizI’ve been investing using the micro-investment apps Spaceship Voyager and Raiz, so I thought I would compare Spaceship vs Raiz to see how they performed over the last financial year (2019/2020).

This has been a pretty interesting year for the markets.  At one point we were setting record highs, before everything came crashing down thanks to Coronavirus.

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eToro Review: Is It worth signing up for

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I’ve been using eToro for a while now.  It’s an innovative online social trading platform that is now available in Australia.  It has some pretty unique features so I thought I would give it a full etoro review for 2020.  So is eToro worth it?  Read on to find out:

What is eToro

eToro is an online trading platform.  Through eToro you can trade shares, forex, commodities (such as gold and oil) and cryptocurrencies.  What makes eToro unique is that it’s also a social trading platform.  It’s a bit like if you combined Facebook with a broker.  Traders on eToro can share their trades, and other people can copy them.

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You can now Invest in Stocks without Commissions on eToro

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Popular online trading platform, eToro has launched commission free trading for real stocks.  This means you can trade stocks like Netflix, Apple, Tesla and more and you won’t pay commissions.  Previously eToro only offered CFD trading in Australia.  But now you can buy and own the actual stock through eToro.

Investing in U.S Stocks

While you can trade cfd stocks from all over the world on eToro, currently only real stocks are available for U.S listed stocks.  But for many Australians, this is perfect.  I know I’ve always wanted a way to invest in U.S stocks without having to pay the huge commissions that Australian brokers charge.

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The cheapest way to invest in stocks: The Best Platforms

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One of the biggest drawbacks of share investing are the brokerage fees.  These can really eat into any gains – especially if you’re not investing large amounts of capital.

Unfortunately in Australia we don’t have access to platforms like Robinhood which offers free stock trading.  But if you’re a bit creative, there are ways to cut down on your fees.  Here are my picks for the cheapest stock trading platform

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The Easiest Way to Invest in Gold

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In volatile times Gold is seen as safe haven asset.  I can’t tell if now is a good time to invest in Gold.  There is so much uncertainty in the markets that any investment is going to be risky.  But if you are looking to invest in Gold, here are some of the options I have tried in the past:

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Should you Invest during the Coronavirus Pandemic

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Over the past 2 weeks, global stock markets have taken a battering.  Many people would understandably be getting very concerned seeing their super accounts, stock investments etc go down.      And some people would have panic sold.  But is now a good time to stop investing?  Is it a good time to start investing?  In this post I’m going to walk you through some of potential future scenarios and what effect this will have on your money.

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My top tips for CopyTrading on eToro

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I’ve been experimenting with the CopyTrading platform eToro.  It let’s you automatically copy the trades made by more experienced traders.   Here are some of the things I’ve learnt while using the platform:

What is CopyTrading

CopyTrading is where your trading account automatically copies the trades made by more experienced traders.  Trading is hard.  So why not let someone who does it for a living do it for you.

When you copytrade, whenever the copied trader makes a trade, your account will make the same trade.  If the trader buys some Apple Stock, your account will too.

With eToro, you can browse through the profiles of thousands of traders.  See how well they have performed in the past and how profitable they have been.  Here are some of the things to look out for when copying traders:

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Commsec Pocket: Should you use it?

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Commonwealth Bank has launched a new way to invest in ETF’s called Commsec Pocket.  ETF’s or exchange traded funds, are funds that are made up of hundreds of underlying stocks.  Shares in these funds are traded through the stock exchanges.  The advantage of ETF’s is you get to invest in a diverse(ish) portfolio of stocks in a single investment.   For retail investors, this has proven to be a more successful for many investors compared to trying to pick and choose individual stocks.

So before you download Commsec Pocket, make sure you read this review to see if it’s the right investment choice for you.

In this review, I’m comparing Commsec Pocket with Raiz as that’s the product Commonwealth Bank is looking to directly compete with.

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