Hello, shares please stop falling.

So why haven’t I been able to pay off my debt after 3 years of absence? You think I’d have been able to by now. But there was a period of unemployment, a move interstate, and I’ve started wealth building into shares (which seemed the cheaper option compared to property).

So my share portfolio is still relatively small. I started off with $1500, and have slowly built that up with additional funds and from profits to about $3000.

At first I did my due diligence and researched each purchase down to the bone. But after a series of successes when I made 20% profit on my initial investment (even factoring in the charges for online trading), I started being lax and went for the gut feel approach.

Big mistake.

My paper losses from those trades are around the $800 mark, the only thing that is saving my portfolio from pure catastrophe is that I have one stock that has made me a paper profit in excess of $800, so it kinda balances out. Now I entered the market knowing that the money I put in is money I can lose. And I can, I mean I still have a separate emergency fund account which is edging on the healthy, so this money isn’t really something I need. But even in saying that, it does still hurt a little when you see your share portfolio diving into the red day in and day out.

However, I am in this for the long term and I’ve always gone for high risk approach, since I have about 30 odd years of investment time left. So I can pretty much leave my money in this shares till a rebound comes along.

Here’s hoping another GFC isn’t looming around the corner.