What is one thing you wish you knew when you started investing? | Summer Series

Bryce: [00:00:31] Welcome to the Get Started Investing feed summer series brought to you by superheroine over six episodes, we're going to be hearing from members of both the Equity Mates and Superhero community and covering some of the biggest questions for anyone starting their investing journey. As always, I'm joined by my equity buddy Ren. How are you going?

Alec: [00:00:48] I'm very good. Bryce. I'm very excited for this episode. There's a lot we've learnt over the last few years, and this time in this episode we'll be asking What's one thing you wish you knew when you got started? Just one Bryce.

Bryce: [00:01:04] Just one, yes.

Alec: [00:01:05] No waffling from, you

Bryce: [00:01:06] know, waffling from me,

Alec: [00:01:08] right?

Bryce: [00:01:09] Yeah. Look, and this for me is is a classic episode because there are some serious ties between the answers for everyone here. And I'm not going to give it away, but I think it's a really encouraging episode. If you are feeling like you're wanting to take your first step in investing, but you can't because you're feeling overwhelmed and daunted. The good news is that doesn't have to be the case and our amazing community members. We've got Justin, we've got Molly, and we've got Josh all sharing what they wish they knew before they started investing with us. Before we get into that a reminder super hero. Before we get into that, a reminder the summer series is brought to you by Super Hero, who allow you to buy Aussie and U.S. shares and ETFs with no monthly account fees. And you can now earn Qantas points with superheroes. So visit Superhero.com.au/Qantas to learn more eligibility criteria, terms and conditions and fees and charges apply.

Alec: [00:02:03] Well, the theme of this summer series has been If you feel alone as an investor, you're not. There's a whole community of people that are going through very similar experiences who are facing very similar challenges, asking very similar questions, and we want to share some of those voices from the community. And I think this episode will really highlight that because I definitely saw myself in the answers that Justin, Molly and Josh gave. Like, I had similar beliefs that they did that when I was starting. And, you know, I've since realised I was perhaps wrong about some things. But let's let's kick it off with you. Bryce, let's put you under the spotlight. What's one thing you wish you knew when you were getting started?

Bryce: [00:02:47] that ETFs were a thing to know about, and that rather than feel the need to be the next Warren Buffett, I thought that investing was all about uncovering stocks that no one else had ever heard of and trying to pick the next sort of big winner. And it was it was almost embarrassing to invest in the most common, well known ASX 200 stocks because, well, everyone's done that and I've had their time. And if I only knew that serious wealth and a great core portfolio could have been built from the very beginning by sticking to listed investment companies and ETFs and not being not feeling like you need to be the next Warren Buffett to begin, then I'm sure I would be in a much better position than I am today. So if, if only I'd known that which my dad had told me that if only I had listened to what he said.

Alec: [00:03:44] Your dad and I constantly struggling to get you to listen. So it's across we both.

Bryce: [00:03:51] So yeah, that that's for me. Yeah, I wish I knew that.

Alec: [00:03:55] Yeah. What about

Bryce: [00:03:56] you?

Alec: [00:03:57] Well, if you wish you knew ETFs were a thing. I wish I knew bitcoin was the church, but I wouldn't be here if I knew bitcoin was a thing. Your answer is a good one, and it's probably one that is definitely something that I wish I knew. Like that that idea of that you don't have to find something new is a really important one because it's sort of just something that we believe that it's weird. I was going to say we internalise it, but I don't know where we internalise it from. Like, where do we get this view that you got to find a new stock?

Bryce: [00:04:31] I've no idea. Yeah, yeah. But I was just thinking to myself that so many experts that we interview are all investing in the same stuff,

Alec: [00:04:39] all the same stuff. Yeah.

Bryce: [00:04:40] So like even they're not there. They have different faces, theses. Yeah. You know, the nuances between valuation or changes. But yeah, unless you're in that micro cap space and actually finding new ideas, a lot of the big funds are just all doing the same stuff. And I don't know where we get the idea that you need to uncover the next gem to be successful.

Alec: [00:05:05] Yeah, probably like Motley Fool's hidden gem advertising. Anyway, let's that's a whole rabbit hole we can go down. So one thing that I wish I knew, as well as the two that you said that index funds and its sort of thing and you don't have to find new things. I also wish I had just taken the time to write I was and still, I'm a pretty big. Right. But I feel like my introduction to investing was The Australian Financial Review and the Internet and some of the books that I've since read about investing, I think, are just 10 times 100 times more valuable when it comes to getting started investing. So obviously can't go past a shameless plug for our book. But there's so many other ones. Millennial Money by Patrick O'Shaughnassy, value able by Roger Montgomery. There's plenty of others, but just the value. Books of books are written to be long term, and the incentives for books is to write something that is valuable at the time, but also a year, five years. Ten years later, the incentives for media is to get as many clicks or for us as many downloads for that episode. And then we release a new episode in a few days, and the AFL releases a new article an hour later. And it's just like the the way the things are written is different, and I just the value of books relative to other media, including ourselves. I think it cannot be overstated.

Bryce: [00:06:38] Yeah, I love that. Head to our website to check out a list of books for beginners. We've collated from all the experts that we've spoken to and from books that we've read as well collated a list of books if you're looking to also do some reading over the summer, but Ren. Without further ado, it's probably a good time to jump into these stories from our community. So we've got Justin, Molly and Josh all sharing one thing that they wish they knew before they started investing. Justin is a 26 year old content creator on a journey to grow that snowball, and he realised that there was more to investing than cutting dishwasher tablets in half and scrimping and putting everything into ETFs. We're going to find out what he wish he knew before he started. Justin, welcome to the show.

Justin: [00:07:33] Thanks, guys. Have me. I'm really excited to chat and I just appreciate the invite him looking forward to chatting to your audience.

Bryce: [00:07:40] So this episode, as we know, is all about things we wish we knew when we started investing. So what is it that you wish you knew when you started your investing journey?

Justin: [00:07:50] Mate, how long we go. We've got about two hours to talk about this topic all day. But look, the biggest thing when I reflect on this question is what I know, and I was thinking when I started investing, it seemed like a sort of journey going on yourself, and you only want to talk to your friends about it, and it can feel quite isolating. And it's been quite dramatic. But it's kind of like what it feels like when you started because you're a little bit nervous to talk about money. It's a whole taboo topic. What I found anyway, and especially like creating videos on YouTube sort of opens at Easter Egg up, but it opens it up to the world. And what you learn is that there's actually so many other people out there in the same boat. And once I realise that you can talk to your friends, build a community and really share different ideas and go on the journey yourself, because whether you've got a thousand dollars invested or $5 million invested, I think we can all share the same goal is that we want to learn more. We want to grow that snowball. I mean, want to continue investing, probably for our whole life. So for me, is that something I wish I knew when I started, it was just to have those conversations earlier on, like not wait three, four, five years down the track to try and talk to you made about it because my mates have gone on the same journey. We were just in our silos and we didn't communicate. So communication, build a community, get your mates on board. And not to mention, it's a whole lot of fun when you do that because you can bounce ideas off each other. You can talk about relatable topics and enjoy the journey even more so than it currently is. So, yeah, that's my big one. I'm going to go to bed. I could talk about this for hours, as I said, Well,

Bryce: [00:09:23] for those who want to catch some of your content, Justin, you've got a YouTube channel and what's the name of it and where can we find

Justin: [00:09:30] you? Yeah, I just this on YouTube. Search that Justin Baldori. It'll come up first on there, and there's a whole bunch of videos, hopefully to enjoy some to make you laugh. Hopefully learn a thing or two that they're looking forward to see on the channel. Love it!

Bryce: [00:09:43] Well, you're right. It's always great to open the channels of communication between everyone on their investing journey, so we really love what you're doing in the space. But now let's hear from another member of the Get Started Investing feed community.

Alec: [00:10:00] So we're now joined by Molly Benjamin, founder of the Ladies Finance Club. Molly, welcome to Equity Mates.

Molly: [00:10:06] Thank you so much. Very excited to be here.

Alec: [00:10:09] So for those who haven't heard or come across Molly before, she's the founder of Ladies Finance Club, a group empowering women to take control of their finances and get money savvy. She has hosted workshops with global banks, law firms and tech start ups and helped over 15000 people take control of their financial future. So it's a pleasure to have you on the show. We're talking all things we've learnt over our investing journey Somali with all the experience that you have now. What's one thing you wish you knew when you were getting started?

Molly: [00:10:43] I guess the one thing I wish I knew, I guess, is I wish I had known about index funds and exchange traded funds, and they definitely existed because they've been around in Australia since 2001. But for some reason they didn't really come on my radar until I had read the barefoot investor. And I know when I was starting out, I was getting a lot of like hot tips from people, which is now what I pretty much say do the opposite of. So like, I'd be listening into my dad's conversation with his investment club, then relaxing and taking notes. And but they knew when to buy and when to sell, and I did it, so I held onto all these real do these stocks. And then I learnt about, Oh, just wait, I can buy the index so I can buy the top 200 companies in Australia, or I can buy the top hundred, you know, Nasdaq in America, like in America. And that was like a real game changer for Visa. You know, I think, you know, when we start out, we all think we're going to say, you know, bidding on all those, I didn't know what I was doing. I was just like, you know, like, that sounds like a cool stock. I like the name. Let's see how it goes. I was doing very little research. I was literally, you know, going in blind. And so I think now that, you know, it definitely what I've learnt is, you know, you've got to do that research, you know. All my all my, you know, my stocks that have done well or have been ETFs like that. Well, you know, they're they're the investments that have done well. And the fact that data from the S&P Dow Jones Indices shows 60 percent of large cap equity fund managers and the four performed that S&P 500 in 2020. I mean, if the people who are paid to do this on a daily basis can't get it right. How long do I have to learn as much as I would like to think? You know, I can pick a winner? Yeah, it was. That was my biggest kind of learning and and I lost a bit of money that way. But hey, that sort teaches you and then, you know, you can not make that mistake again. So now I'm sticking with those ETFs and those indexes, or if I do kick a stock, I research it really well.

Bryce: [00:12:48] Similar to me, I think when I started, I was picking individual stocks. And yeah, I wish that I'd come across the idea of a core and satellite and a ETFs sooner than I did. But to your point, might we all make these mistakes? Learn from them. And now hopefully we're doing a much better job. Well, nice one, Molly. We appreciate you sharing your time with the Get Started Investing feed community and as I said, anyone out there who's looking to take that next step certainly check out what Molly is doing. It's fantastic. So we appreciate your time, as always. Thanks, guys. So Ren, before we hear from our next guest, we're going to take a quick break to hear from our sponsors and then we'll be right back into it. So, Josh is a 24 year old from Victoria, who was recently married and has since taken a more serious approach to investing, trying to set up his family for life. So Josh, firstly, welcome to Get Started Investing feed.

Josh: [00:13:38] Thanks. Thanks for having me.

Bryce: [00:13:39] What is one thing that you wish you knew when you started investing?

Josh: [00:13:44] So myself, I started investing at the right time, and that was one thing I wish I knew is that a lot of people say that you should. You need to be in the market to start making any, any runs on the board, which is true. But the time of that is crucial is low. So for me, I was in university, still studying and studying business, so I was very active and relevant to a lot of, you know, what businesses were doing and what they were investing in and improving in their own operations and was excited about that and wanted to get a piece of myself. Yeah, I think wrong time didn't have a lot of money to actually invest. And I think that is crucial because without a substantial amount of funds to see growth, there wasn't any additional investment to build a meaningful portfolio. So it didn't really get any runs and didn't really see any fruit and.

Bryce: [00:14:36] How has that changed and you know, now?

Josh: [00:14:39] Yeah. So looking to just provide a stable future for the family, my wife and I were very young, like I'm twenty four and my wife is twenty three, and we're very mindful of how banking has changed in the last generation. Now being a graduate and having stable incomes where able to just invest more frequently, invest more wisely as well, whether that's through ETFs or index funds to just kind of stabilise and kind of take some smarter approaches to investing like dollar cost averaging as such.

Bryce: [00:15:17] So do you have any other investments outside of the property outside of the share market?

Josh: [00:15:23] I'm just entirely in charge at the moment.

Bryce: [00:15:25] Well, thanks, Josh. Appreciate you coming on and sharing one of your tips to what you wish you knew before you got started. So Ren, the common tie there for me is really that it's not as hot as everyone anticipates it to be, and you don't need to know everything. I think it's a common thread that everyone feels.

Alec: [00:15:44] Yeah, yeah, which is if I went back to my earlier, well, my early self was dumb and naive and thought that I could invest. But like if you know, if we went back to our earlier selves and said, it's not that hard, just get started like that advice would probably fall on deaf ears. So I don't know how we tell people who are, you know, who are on the fence or thinking, it's all too hard. How do they get started? But I guess if they're listening to this episode, they are getting started. They're taking a step. So keep going. I think is probably the main thing. And just more like it has never been easier to small start with a tiny amount of money and figure out how this whole thing works. So I think that's the that's the night we should end on.

Bryce: [00:16:31] Well, thank you to Justin, Molly and Josh. Appreciate you coming on and sharing your stories with the community. Summer Series is brought to you by Superhero, who allow you to buy Aussie and US shares and ETFs with no monthly account fees. And you can now earn Qantas points with superhero as well. So visit SuperHero.com.au/Qantas to learn more. Eligibility criteria, terms and conditions and fees and charges apply well halfway through. We've got three amazing episodes still to come, and in next week's episode, we're asking the question How or why did you get started investing? And can you tell us the story of your first investment? Can't wait for this one, Ren, but we'll pick it up next week.