Traveller's Will

Newcastle is the second largest city in terms of population in state of New South Wales (NSW).  The Greater Newcastle Area has an approximate population of around half a million people and includes the Local Government Areas (LGA) of the City of Newcastle, Lake Macquarie City Council. It also includes: parts of Cessnock City Council, Maitland City Council and Port Stephens Council. Located on the mouth of the Hunter River, Newcastle serves as the main city and hub of the Hunter Region. Newcastle as a lifestyle home and a tourist attraction has many things to offer such as: beaches, nature parks, breath taking walks or trails, and hangouts. The main ways to get to Newcastle are:  Direct flights to Newcastle Airport (located in Williamtown) from either Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Canberra, Ballina/Byron, Dubbo, or Auckland in NZ. Train from Sydney Central Station to Newcastle Interchange Station, or  On the road to Newcastle by car or bus. My top 10 places in Greater Ne

1. Don't lose money 2. Don't forget rule number 1. 3. When you are investing in a stock, you are buying to be part of that business (eg. part owner in the business). 4. Its better to buy a GREAT quality business for a slight premium than to buy a mediocre business at a fair price. Eg. Its better to buy a Coca-Cola than to buy Joe's Cola because Joe's Cola is trading at a cheaper multiple than Coca-Cola. 5. Buy a business that has a strong and leading moat. Eg. Coca-Cola, people associate it with happiness according to Mr Buffett.  6. Stick to your areas of competence or the businesses you understand. Eg. if you work in that industry like the car industry, you will have an upper hand in understanding the state of the car industry. 7. The power of compound interest: its important for the business has a high amount of retained earnings that is reinvested back into the business. Eg. like putting $100 at a 5% interest rate, assuming a simple interest annual payout, at the en

I would look into the following below, and consider these ratios before investing, as follows: 1. Valuations based on earnings such as P/E & P/B .  2. Dividend yields . Whilst its important for a company to have a higher amount of retained earnings reinvested into the business than to pay dividends eg. Berkshire Hathaway. But as a passive investor it is good to receive some of the profits as dividends. Rule of thumb is if it is safe to store money in the bank at an interest rate of 1.5%, therefore ideally you want to get a dividend yield of higher than the interest rate in term deposits or government bonds, for the extra risk to be worthwhile.  3. Net assets > Market capitalization to provide a margin of safety.  4. Only buy stocks which have a net assets multiple of under 1.5x.  5.Compare the Book value per share to the current share price.  6.  EV/EBITDA . Some use this ratio to measure, but others consider this irrelevant.  7. Current ratio = Current assets/Current liabili

It was 2008, as I recalled my stock portfolio at the time was valued at around $20,000 AUD at the peak. Everything was going so well with my investments and I never made a stock loss since I started personally investing for myself in 2004 after graduating from business school. Every company I've picked as a stock investment was focused on banks, financial services, and some in the oil and gas sector. I was enthusiastic in participating in Initial Public Offerings (IPOs), every company I've picked was guaranteed that I was profiting and two most notable companies I made gains in was the then Tattersalls Group (a wagering company) and Goldman Fielder Limited (a wheat company spun-off from Burns Philp & Co.). Then by late 2008, came the fall of Lehman Bros, who filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It was widely believed to be an impossible event to many, because it was of the world's largest investment banks and seen as an impossible event. I remember seeing it on the news i