CFD Trading Investment - JSE Report

The JSE ended slightly lower as gold shares lost ground, but platinum stocks bucked the trend to end higher.
A London-based metals analyst told I-Net Bridge fears still lingered of longer-than-expected wage talks, which raised the spectre of lower production and higher prices.
The all share index ended 0.26% lower. Resources fell 0.43%, the gold mining index was down 1.14% but the platinum mining index gained 2.29%.
Industrials fell 0.18% and financials shed 0.21%, but banks gained 0.45%.
The rand was bid at 7.08 to the US dollar, unchanged from when the JSE closed yesterday, while gold was quoted at US657.65 a troy ounce from $656.25 at the JSE's last close.
"There was no clear-cut path for the market after Asia and most European markets traded flat," a Johannesburg-based trader said.
But platinum stocks bucked the weaker tone on the local market.
London-based metals analyst from TheBullionDesk.com, James Moore, told I-Net Bridge that he felt platinum stocks may struggle to go higher but were not likely to go much lower at the moment either.
He explained that the current increase in stock prices was due to supply concerns in a tight market.
"The focus on the market at the moment is the wages issue," he said.
"There is only a small surplus forecast for platinum and if we lose a couple of days it starts pushing it the other way," concluded Moore.
Moore also pointed to the recent shutdown announcement by Anglo Platinum.
Anglo Platinum said today that it would shut down its Rustenburg operations for seven days to implement measures to address concerns associated with safety of employees. As a direct result of this intervention Anglo Platinum said it expects production in 2007 to reduce by between 10,000 and 15,000 ounces of refined platinum and the proportionate reduction of associated by-products produced.
Shares in Anglo Platinum (AMS) ended 2.81%, or 35 rand, higher at 1,280 rand. Impala Platinum (IMP) was up 2.05%, or 4.79 rand, to 238.79 rand and Lonmin (LON) was up 1.35%, or 7.91 rand, to 591.76 rand.
Heavyweight resource stocks were mixed. Anglo American was down 2.25%, or 9.98 rand, to 433.02 rand while BHP Billiton (BIL) was up 1.70 rand to 193.20 rand.
Paper maker Sappi (SAP) was off 1.14%, or 1.60 rand, to 138.50 rand and petrochemicals group Sasol (SOL) was 1.90 rand softer at 268.05 rand.
Among gold counters, Anglogold Ashanti (ANG) gave up 1.62%, or 4.70 rand, to 286.30 rand and Gold Fields (GFI) weakened 1.08%, or 1.25 rand, to 114.50 rand.
Banks were mixed with Firstrand (FSR) improving 29 cents after saying that it would buy the housing loan book of transport parastatal Transnet for 1.4 billion rand.
Standard Bank (SBK) was up 68 cents to 106.79 rand but Nedbank (NED) was down 1.64%, or 2.39 rand, to 143.01 rand.
Industrial investment group Remgro (REM) fell 90 cents to 186.70 rand. It said late yesterday that it has lifted headline earnings per share by 37.4% to 1,445.4 cents per share for the year ended March.
Fully diluted HEPS increased from 1,027.7 cents to 1,401.3 cents.
I-Net Bridge

CFD Trading Investment - JSE Report

The JSE ended slightly lower as gold shares lost ground, but platinum stocks bucked the trend to end higher.
A London-based metals analyst told I-Net Bridge fears still lingered of longer-than-expected wage talks, which raised the spectre of lower production and higher prices.
The all share index ended 0.26% lower. Resources fell 0.43%, the gold mining index was down 1.14% but the platinum mining index gained 2.29%.
Industrials fell 0.18% and financials shed 0.21%, but banks gained 0.45%.
The rand was bid at 7.08 to the US dollar, unchanged from when the JSE closed yesterday, while gold was quoted at US657.65 a troy ounce from $656.25 at the JSE's last close.
"There was no clear-cut path for the market after Asia and most European markets traded flat," a Johannesburg-based trader said.
But platinum stocks bucked the weaker tone on the local market.
London-based metals analyst from TheBullionDesk.com, James Moore, told I-Net Bridge that he felt platinum stocks may struggle to go higher but were not likely to go much lower at the moment either.
He explained that the current increase in stock prices was due to supply concerns in a tight market.
"The focus on the market at the moment is the wages issue," he said.
"There is only a small surplus forecast for platinum and if we lose a couple of days it starts pushing it the other way," concluded Moore.
Moore also pointed to the recent shutdown announcement by Anglo Platinum.
Anglo Platinum said today that it would shut down its Rustenburg operations for seven days to implement measures to address concerns associated with safety of employees. As a direct result of this intervention Anglo Platinum said it expects production in 2007 to reduce by between 10,000 and 15,000 ounces of refined platinum and the proportionate reduction of associated by-products produced.
Shares in Anglo Platinum (AMS) ended 2.81%, or 35 rand, higher at 1,280 rand. Impala Platinum (IMP) was up 2.05%, or 4.79 rand, to 238.79 rand and Lonmin (LON) was up 1.35%, or 7.91 rand, to 591.76 rand.
Heavyweight resource stocks were mixed. Anglo American was down 2.25%, or 9.98 rand, to 433.02 rand while BHP Billiton (BIL) was up 1.70 rand to 193.20 rand.
Paper maker Sappi (SAP) was off 1.14%, or 1.60 rand, to 138.50 rand and petrochemicals group Sasol (SOL) was 1.90 rand softer at 268.05 rand.
Among gold counters, Anglogold Ashanti (ANG) gave up 1.62%, or 4.70 rand, to 286.30 rand and Gold Fields (GFI) weakened 1.08%, or 1.25 rand, to 114.50 rand.
Banks were mixed with Firstrand (FSR) improving 29 cents after saying that it would buy the housing loan book of transport parastatal Transnet for 1.4 billion rand.
Standard Bank (SBK) was up 68 cents to 106.79 rand but Nedbank (NED) was down 1.64%, or 2.39 rand, to 143.01 rand.
Industrial investment group Remgro (REM) fell 90 cents to 186.70 rand. It said late yesterday that it has lifted headline earnings per share by 37.4% to 1,445.4 cents per share for the year ended March.
Fully diluted HEPS increased from 1,027.7 cents to 1,401.3 cents.
I-Net Bridge

"BANK IT!!" buddies

Whooooo...it's great to be back in the sea again. After 2 weeks of "light duty" I went to to the beach at 6.45am to resume my morning swim. It was great to see Babs at his usual spot fishing with a couple of mates. "Where you been uncle" he shouted to me, and then launched into a tale of the 3.5kg Stumpy he caught last week. "You missed it Mitch, should have seen it's big teeth! I fed the the whole neighbourhood!" What a fellow he is, out before the sun,king of the beach, living it. He's an old hand at "BANK IT!!"

The water was very warm, disappointingly so as we need temperatures below 18 degrees celcius for the sardine run to really get to us in any big numbers. I have been reading Roger's BLOG with interest, the sardines are moving up, the pictures are incredible!

Are you in the race?

I watched the Comrades Marathon on TV today - an unbelievable achievement by Leonid Shvetsov of Russia, who set a new mark of five hours, 20 minutes and 49 seconds in winning the down run. He bettered the 21-year-old record of the great Bruce Fordyce, who set a mark of 5:24:07 set in 1986.

After the finish I heard KZN Premier Mr Sbusiso Ndebele in an interview. He made good sense...3 things struck me from his speech

• just start the race
• keep going in the race
• finish the race

Whether on the road on in your life, you have got to get into the race if you want to succeed. And so I challenge you...are you in the race

There is a great story about a Lion and a Gazelle at www.big5photosafari.com...

CFD Investment Trading - JSE Report

Dear Clients,

The JSE ended flat after a volatile session ahead of the futures closeout on Thursday, with some investors snatching profits after Friday's record run.

The all share index ended up just 0.02%. Resources were 0.06% higher, the platinum mining index climbed 2.31% but the gold mining index was off 0.10%.

Industrials added 0.28%, but banks and financials lost 0.74% and 0.56% respectively.

The rand was bid at 7.08 to the US dollar from 7.11 when the JSE closed on Friday, while gold was quoted at US656.25 a troy ounce from $654.10 at the JSE's last close.

"It's been unstable. We opened very strong after Asian markets closed at record highs this morning but around noon we started flattening in line with European markets," said Lavan Gopaul, a trader at Cortex Securities.

He added although overall trading was quiet due to a lack of fresh corporate and economic news, blue chip stocks featured ahead of the futures closeout on Thursday.

Gopaul further noted selective profit-taking after the market's record performance on Friday.

On the resources index, Anglo American (AGL) was off two rand to 443 rand and BHP Billiton (BIL) fell 1.18%, or 2.28 rand, to 191.50 rand.

It was reported today that the Melbourne-based resource group is considering a new $40 billion bid for UK-based aluminum producer Alcoa but BHP Billiton declined to comment.

"We are always looking at our portfolio of assets and analysing opportunities, but we don't comment on market speculation," Bronwen Wilkinson, BHP Billiton's South African spokesperson, told I-Net Bridge.

Highveld Steel (HVL) surged 2.50%, or 2.20 rand, to 90.20 rand after saying that that it expects its headline and basic earnings per share for the interim period ending June to be between 55% and 65% higher than that for the same time last year.

Platinum miner Anglo Platinum (AMS) climbed 2.05%, or 25 rand, to 1,245 rand. It said earlier that it would be suspending underground production at its Rustenburg Platinum Mine's Rustenburg section for about seven days to implement measures to address concerns associated with the safety of employees.

Impala Platinum (IMP) soared 3.085, or seven rand, to 234 rand.

Among gold counters, Anglogold Ashanti (ANG) inched up 75 cents to 291 rand but Gold Fields (GFI) shed 1.25%, or 1.46 rand, to 115.75 rand.

Diversified mining group Metorex (MTX) was 3.40%, or 90 cents, stronger at 27.40 rand. It said earlier that it was in talks, which might affect its share price.

Heavyweight industrial group Barloworld (BAW) shed 1.50%, or three rand, to 197 rand but investment group Remgro (REM) was up 1.10 rand to 187.60 rand.

Among banks and financials, Standard Bank (SBK) gave up 40 cents to 106.11 rand but Absa (ASA) firmed 20 cents to 139.10 rand.

Life insurer Old Mutual (OML) retreated 18 cents to 25.01 rand but Sanlam (SLM) gained 10 cents to 23.10 rand.

I-Net Bridge

Notice:

Please remember to book a seat for the weekly seminars at www.iquotetrading.co.za. These seminars are for your benefit.

Regards,

Paul Venter (CM,Dip(Man),MBA)

CFD Investment Trading - Hold the line

I must say I started to doubt my strategy of holding small positions with no stop losses when my Investec stock dropped to a 12% loss.I had hovered between 5% and 10% for about 10 days, and with no recovery in sight I was thinking of selling out at the loss, and using my free margin in other shares. But I thought back to a saying Roger and I use..."Hold the line!"
The saying is used by cyclists, while when riding in a bunch, if they see a fellow cyclist starting to waver and lose his riding line (which could be disastrous for every one riding), shout "hold the line!"
I held firm, and at Friday's market close my net position in Investec was around a 3% loss! The question I now ask myself is how flexible should I be..?? Should I "hold the line" (this could take months to beak even, or bail out now and employ the capital better?)
I think I will do a combination of both...by putting in a trailing stop loss in case the market bottoms out again, and leave the position open, allowing it to increase in value.

CFD Investment trading - JSE Report

The JSE ended sharply higher, buoyed by rising overseas markets with a strong opening on Wall Street encouraging local investors to push the bourse a few points away from the 29,000 level.

The all share index ended 1.35% higher at 28,988 points. Resources added 1.13%, while the gold and platinum mining indices were up 0.17% and 2.12% respectively. Industrials improved 1.32%, financials picked up 1.86% and banks surged 2.79%.

The rand was bid at 7.16 to the US dollar from 7.23 when the JSE closed yesterday, while gold was quoted at US651.10 a troy ounce from $651.05 at the JSE's last close.

"We opened in positive note with most stocks in a recovery mode after traders overreacted on the downside," said Lavan Gopaul, a trader at Cortex Securities.

He added that a positive opening in New York, after the US released fairly contained producer price inflation, spurred local investors to buy more local stocks. Although the US May PPI rose by 0.9% - above an expected 0.6% increase - Gopaul said while fuel was the major contributor, prices for other items were largely tame.

Fixed line phone operator Telkom (TKG) featured on the upside on vague talks that it might sell its 50% stake in cellular phone operator Vodacom.

Shares in Telkom closed 3.13%, or 5.40 rand, higher at 178 rand.

Business media reported this morning that Telkom and Vodacom were sending out signals that they might part ways.

Cellular phone operator MTN Group (MTN) was up 50 cents to 98.50 rand.

Media group Naspers (NPN) gained 2.65%, or 4.75 rand, to 183.80 rand. It said earlier that it expects core headline earnings per share for the year ended March to be between 25% and 35% higher than last year's restated 714 cents.

On the resources index, Anglo American (AGL) fell 75 cents to 432.75 rand but BHP Billiton (BIL) advanced 1.74%, or 3.30 rand, to a fresh closing high of 192.99 rand. The counter earlier touched a trading high of 193.72 rand.

Junior resource group African Rainbow Minerals (ARI) surged 3.12%, or 4.05 rand, to 134 rand.

Pulp and paper producer Sappi (SAP) climbed 3.45%, or 4.51 rand, to 135.25 rand and synthetic fuels maker Sasol (SOL) picked up 3.47%, or 8.60 rand, to 256.50 rand.

Among gold counters Anglogold Ashanti (ANG) gave up 15 cents to 291.60 rand but Gold Fields (GFI) was up 70 cents to 115.80 rand and Harmony (HAR) inched up 30 cents to 97.30 rand.

Leading platinum stocks also advanced, with Anglo Platinum (AMS) gaining 1.09%, or 13 rand, to 1,202 rand and Impala Platinum soaring 3.09%, or 671 rand, to 224.20 rand.

Industrial investment group Remgro (REM) was up 2.20%, or 3.99 rand, to 184.99 rand, brewer SABMiller (SAB) picked up 2.28 rand to 173.90 rand and Barloworld (BAW) strengthened 2.81%, or 5.50 rand, to 201.50 rand.

Among banks, Standard Bank (SBK) was 3.10%, or 3.20 rand, better at 106.50 rand and Firstrand (FSR) rose 3.22%, or 74 cents, to 23.74 rand.

I-Net Bridge

CFD Trading Investment - 10 % down

With the banks coming under pressure this week I have a couple of shares I bought 2 weeks ago that have been hammered. The Investec stock I bought has dropped by 10%, a huge drop when I am trying to make between 2-3%. What does this mean? Ok, if I put R1000 rand as a margin into the stock, the daily profit or loss (in this case a loss) has dropped to equal my margin amount i.e. R1000. Is this a train smash? Well not really, as I have only got 10% of my entire trading float in this share, so I can afford to hold it (for 2 months if necessary) until the stock recovers. It may not recover fully, but I have a chance of recovery whereas if I had a stop loss in place I would be out of the stock, with no chance of recovering my loss. I am only doing this because I have a very small amount invested in the stock, and won't lose my shirt on the trade.

This is how the trade went. I bought the share for 9800, putting a 2% take profit onto the trade, and no stop loss. The share started dropping as soon as I bought it (typical!) If I had put a 3% stock loss I would have sold the stock when it plummeted through 9506 . It keep up it's free fall, right to 9000. I was reeling, over 10% down. But I hung in and slowly it's started a recovery. I am hoping that it will get back to my buying price, and then I'll get out.

The only question is ...can I employ that capital better somewhere else and make up the losses faster??

CFD Trading Investment Executive

CFD's are becoming more and more popular, I suppose as the ordinary investor wants a product that is simple to use as a stock trading option. The one big reason is that there is no minimum amount needed for you to hold in your trading account before starting to trade. There is also no fixed time period like with Futures, you can literally get in and out of a trade in a day. But beware, and stick to the Golden Rules...
This article shows CFD's coming to Canada and what they mean for the Canadian investor
Investment Executive

CFD Tutorial: Great CFD Trading Tips To Improve Your CFD Trading Skills Immensely

I've just read a great article from my CFD Investment feed (feeds all relevant articles to my email automatically- an awesome tool!) which runs through the mechanics of a CFD trade, working out profit, interest paid and your cost in the trade. It's worth a read. http://www.thecfdtrader.com/cfd-trading-tutorial.php

Out of the Blue

That stray bit of wind I was talking about came through at about 2.45pm. I was sitting skyping Blaine in the UK and Julian's text to come kite surfing came through "MEET AT THE LIGHTHOUSE NOW". Scrambling to shut down and get home to fetch my kites took 5 minutes and 10 minutes later I was pumping up my kite on the beach, ready for a down wind kite surf from Umhlanga to Durban. "BANK IT!!"

There's a lesson in that. Sometimes you have everything nicely laid out, goals mapped and all neat and tidy. Then BAM.. out of left field an opportunity hits. Do you stick to the goals or take the opportunity?? You have to be flexible in life and business, adjusting to the ebb and flow and freak waves. Take every opportunity you can, live your life, kiss your wife and hug your kids often. Take every opportunity to "BANK IT!!"

Goalfree Living

A great friend of mine, Blaine "the Meister" Wilson suggested I look at a good friend of his , Stephen Shapiro's,website. It really is a great site.

I've just read an article on Stephen's site Goal Free Living, an Amazon best seller. It's an interesting article and I am going to get the book but I have a comment. He says "...I discovered that the most creative, passionate, and successful people were NOT goal-oriented"

I think that most creative, passionate and successful people are by their very nature goal driven. They have very concrete ideas about how the world works and what they want out of it. They also have a plan of how they are going to achieve it. They may not write up a plan with goals and deadlines, but they are the people that put in the extra time, and push, push, push, until they have achieved (goal??) what they feel is worth their effort.

I do however agree with Stephen in that if you are 100% consumed with your goals you will never stop to smell the proverbial roses. That's why I like my idea, of setting goals that are "BUYING TIME" and as you go through each day and do something awesome "BANK IT!!"

I'll give you an example..Sue and I plan our holidays at the beginning of each year, set the list of things to do so we end up going on the holidays, and now they are banked. Then we fit the work around the holidays. There will always be enough work to do 24/7, but one of our goals is to spend as much holiday time in great places with out kids.

Business GPS

I was trolling through the old articles in "Pete's Weekly" and came across an amusing article on using a GPS to navigate in a motorcar. I loved the bit about the" wonderful young lady sitting in the cubbyhole" giving him directions. I know Pete personally, he's a wonderful fellow, with a quirky sense of humour a great take on small businesses and how to navigate amoungst the big fish in the business world.

I have used a GPS a lot in a marine application, to locate a good piece of reef and go back there to dive on the spot again. It is virtually impossible (unless you have good land marks, or are well versed in the finer art of charting plotting and sextant use) to find an exact spot under the sea for a second time. Without a GPS that is. The effectiveness of these small, inexpensive tools are staggering, a paint by numbers directional aide to unerringly find your way.

If you had the opportunity to to use a tool like this in your business, I have to ask you, would you pass it up or jump at the opportunity with both hands?! There are some incredible internet marketing tools I use and which, if you follow the directions they give you, will guide you through the labyrinth of internet startup.

The ones I have used and found to be cost effective and accurate are from the Internet Marketing Center. It's so much easier with your own business GPS...

CFD Investment...turning tide.

Last week was dismal, with bank and consumer stocks taking a pounding. I had a small rally in my mining stocks and made a profit on Friday (twice! when I bought and sold the same share twice during the day - that was cool). I shut my computer down and went to Sodwana Bay for the weekend, South Africa's premier scuba diving location, for the Winter Game fish Spear fishing competition.

As my hooked finger is still in stitches I wasn't able to dive, and spent the day as the "bakkie boy", driving the boat for John Girzda and Chris West. They came fourth and third respectively, and I had an awesome day, calm seas and very mild, sunny weather. A glorious day at sea. John and I took our families up, and we had a great weekend with the Sue and Manuela and all our kids.

Back at my desk I am looking at my battered CFD positions and they aren't so battered any more, the banks and consumer stocks having recovered slightly from Friday's close. Still a way to go before I am in profit but, in this instance, having no stop losses has allowed me to still hold the shares, without selling at a loss, my cost the daily interest which is factored into my profit and loss account. I feel it in my waters...the tides a turning.

Gills drying up

It's been three days since I had my finger stitched up and I haven't been in the water since then. I must say, I feel like my gills are drying up. The winter time in Kwazulu Natal is a beautiful season, cool mornings with offshore breezes. A great time to be on the beach... this morning I saw a whale, one of the early visitors to our coast this year. As the month progresses the sardine run moves up the coast from the Cape, driven by the big cold fronts and winter swell we get at this time of the year.

Roger is assisting the BBC in filming of the sardine run and will be based at Umkomaas for the next month. Have a look at his website www.rogerhorrocks , for updates

Money Question:What would you do with a windfall?

I read a great article which posed the question "what would you do with a windfall?" Its posted on an interesting finance blog site called "The Lazy man and Money"

It's well worth a read, and might help your thinking. The interesting part of the article was for me was from Ben, who said he'd start a business...

Fed up...and Gatfol!

Have you ever felt fedup and frustrated trying to make some extra cash by starting your own business because you also want to be "BUYING TIME". You feel like you don't know where to start, and do tons of research but it all ends up as hours and hours of mindlessly surfing the internet. The answer to you dilemma is right in front of you...it's YOU. Look at yourself, start a blog writing about yourself and you will find your way...

I want to share some secrets with you, secrets from 5 people who sound like they know what they are doing:

1. Common sense is more rare than flawless diamonds.
2. It's a numbers' game - if you do the numbers you have a chance (and don't expect results before you do!).
3. 90% of people don't follow through. A very tiny percentage of people will apply some of the actions or strategies they learn. And just a few might follow exactly what the e-book publisher suggests.
4. People would do anything to avoid thinking for themselves. People hate thinking.
5. Your solutions are right under your nose, that's why you don't see them.

Get offline...and get online.

You’ve heard the expression “you can’t see the wood for the trees”. We are so used to thinking conventionally that when we try to think “online” we can’t. So I thought this would help you. You need to see your online business as an offline business, a store you open up each day and wait for customers to call. The difference is subtle… How many customers would visit your offline business in a day: 2...20…200? On the internet your products or services are available to millions. And you want to be “BUYING TIME”. Man... this beats sitting behind a counter. All you need is a couple of thousand visitors on a daily basis, turning 20-50 of them into buyers. And the best part…you can sell exactly the same stuff online as off line!

Setup costs for an online business are a fraction of a conventional business, your time is the same, your leverage disproportional... if you carry on doing the same things expecting a different result...sorry to tell you but you will be disappointed!

Taking a breather

It seems as if a lot of investors took a breather today as the JSE softened. The only stocks that I have that rose slightly were mining stocks...I am told because of the softer rand. I am sticking to the golden rules, and I don't take too much notice of fundamental and technical analysis. I am not a day trader and if the shares fall outside of the golden stock trading rules I don't buy or sell them. You may think this is silly but remember where I am coming from. I will learn slowly, using small amounts of cash on small positions. I need to make an overall 13% average profit on my capital. If I can learn to pick the correct stocks and I do this consistently, I will make a good return.

On the R35,000 I am currently using as working capital, I aim to make a profit of R4,55O per month. If I can trade with R350,000 capital and achieve the same returns, I would earn R45,500 per month. If I am sounding repetitive it is because it is repetitive. I will trade unemotionally, and not chase any shares at all.

"So have you made any money?" you ask

This last month has actually been a bad month. I haven't made any money but I have learned alot. I am happy with my progress, and figure if I have done ok in a bad market I will do better in a good market.

Outsourcing your life

The world is changing and if we don't change with it we will be the dinosaurs of our time. I read this website and it really re-in forced the notion that I don't know to much about the internet and I need to learn. "Out source your life? What's that...??" Well the world is shrinking, and resource and expertise are only a mouse click away. Tim Ferriss' book "The 4 hour workweek" is a great inspiration if you want to move you virtual business to the next level. It'll spark your imagination and keep you wondering into the wee hours of the morning

Priceless Time

I was just thinking this morning how we all take time with our families and friends for granted. I suppose as our DNA dictates, we assume we will live forever and the opportunity to spend quality time with family and friends will always be there. Yesterday I heard that a close friend's daughter was diagnosed with advanced cancer...

Personally I've found the single most effective way of "BUYING TIME" is is by managing the e-zone, the electronic data barrage that gets spewed at us everyday. Control these three things; TV, email and your cell phone and I guarantee you that your will be in the top 1% of the population when it comes to "BUYING TIME", and will be able to spend more quality time EVERYDAY with loved ones.

And controlling them means switching OFF, (thank you voice mail, automated email and PVR), clearing the hard drive between your ears and relaxing with your loved ones. No distraction, no interruptions...just quality time. "BANK IT!!"

Dolphin duel

My early morning swim was incredible. The misty early morning off shore breeze blew out across the jacketed fisherman as they stood on the sea shore waiting for a bite. I walked down to one of the fisherman and as is my custom struck up a conversation with him. Apparently yesterday as they stood fishing a group of sharks chased a young dolphin into the shallows. It's mother was highly agitated, swimming around the young dolphin, protecting it from the sharks. The fisherman said they all pulled out their lines, and watched as the sharks were chased off, and eventually the dolphins headed out for deeper water.

I swam out thinking about the dolphin, swimming like a dolphin...and stepped back on the shore invigorated. "BANK IT!!"

Seafood Squall

This mornings calm, clean seas are typical of Natal waters in May. As I packed my spear fishing gear, a sudden unexpected squall blew in from the sea. Wondering whether we should cancel the dive, John and I decided to drive out to Umdloti anyway and check out the conditions. The blustering conditions worsened by the minute, but the water was so clean...so we swam out into the 35knot squall anyway. Under the sea the conditions were crystal, the surface tumultuous, the wind whipping the waves into a white froth.

We had a great dive, and hit the beach with our quota of eight crayfish each and a yellow belly rock cod to boot. It turned out to be a great afternoon...a squall and a seafood feast.

Who is in charge?

If you are anything like me, your cell phones rings alot. And your email fills up, all day long. You have to ask yourself the question ...who is in charge? YOU or THEM (the technological devices that we can't seem to do without).

A typical day for you probably goes like this...you head to the office and tackle your emails. By 9.00 they are done, and you start putting the important time into thinking about your business...an email pops up, you have to answer it because it is expected in our instant age.. that you do. As you are halfway through your concentration is broken with a phone call. You answer it, because you have to answer your cell every time it rings...after the call you get back to the mail..and so it continues through the day.

When I am busy I put my cell phone off, allowing me to focus on what I am doing. In this way I am 100% more productive. I have a message on my cell which goes like this..."This voice mail does not take messages. If it's important please send me an sms (text)" You know, the important calls do text (so I can get back to them), or call they me back later. i.e.. I control my time

I have just started the same with my emails. I spend until 10.00am on my emails and then I turn them off.It's funny how much more time I seem to have in my day.

Prioritising time is vital if you want to effectively be "BUYING TIME". It also give you extra time in the day to spend doing the great things you want to.

Hooked on Kite surfing

Seven kite surfers set off from Umhlanga Rocks on a downwind, with a fresh NE blowing us down the coast to Durban. It was fantastic, great wind and some swell, so we had some reasonable waves to ride down the coast. After about 10 minutes my main spar opened at the trailing edge and the bladder squeezed out, looking like a bloated sausage hanging out behind my kite. I beached and Alex followed, helping me to sort the distended bladder, and we were off again heading towards Durban.

As we reached Blue Lagoon, my kite twisted, falling from the sky and beating itself to death behind the backline. A bladder leak had deflated the kite and I was unable to relaunch so I started swimming in. Just behind the shore break I unhooked my safety leash, as Glen was waiting on the beach to pull my kite out. Before he could catch the kite, a wave pulled the kite..and pulled the hook on my safety leash through my finger middle finger. I was dragged under the water by the force of the wave pulling the kite...I thought my finger would be pulled off. As the leash slackened off I pulled in some slack, and managed to pull the hook out of my finger.Literally hooked on kite surfing.

Thanks to Glen, Alex and Julian for their quick reaction to the situation. Fortunately it was not lfe threatening, but at another time their speed could have made a vital difference!

A quick visit to the doctor and four stiches later I am good to go!

Getting robbed by the banks...CFD blowout

After chatting to a trader this morning I realised that I was far to over exposed in the banking sector (4 lots of bank shares) and even though I would make a loss if I sold, it would be better to make a loss now, free up the capital and buy a share with a chance of increasing in value. With possible interest rate hikes in the not to distant future in South Africa, the banking sector has little chance of recovering short term. So I sold 3 bank shares, holding one (which I think has a chance of slight recovery) and bought some other shares, and already I am up over all.

Why sell at a loss? So that I have the ability and capital to take advantage of other sectors that are increasing in value. My theory...small positions with small upward moves, banking small profits consistently.

Let's go to Sunny Mozambique...

Bob Dylan put the spot light on Mozambique in his 1975 song, and it truly is a wonderful place to visit. I' ve just come back from 2 days looking at property along the southern part of Mozambique, along the turquoise waves and white sands. On the dunes of Techobanini I met a fellow life adventurer, Manuel. We got to know each other over a breakfast of scrambled eggs, Mozambique prawns and chilli. Here is a man who has done more in his life time than many men could do in ten, a man whose outlook is optimistic and whose pace through life is patient and unhurried. We drove down the beach and collected shells in the rock pools, and spoke about important life issues like ghost crabs and dolphins.

I leave you with a thought from Manuel.."when you need to make a decision, take your time, mull it over, think about it alot and when you are happy make the right decision"

See you again soon Manuel, and thanks again.

How to sell a CFD

The market had an up swing for about 2 hours and on checking my CFD trades I found that I had made a good profit on Sun International and it was time to "BANK IT!!". I called a Deal Stream and spoke to a broker to, putting a sell order in at the spot price to take my profit. Then I turned the screen off and went about my work.

Two hours later I still hadn't sold the share and I was down by R200, a R500 swing. What had happened? I hadn't checked the number of sellers at 2c below my sell price (16,000 in this case!) So as the last in the queue to sell I still hold the shares. Hint: always check how many sellers are in the market and then put your sell in at a lower price than theirs and you will sell out before them.

Where Angel fear to tread... Internet Quicksand

After many years of an interest in the internet, and looking at ways of developing a business online, every thing I thought about fizzled out. The main reason is that is never fitted in with my business, and I didn't have the time or energy to put into a new venture. So it's been a hobby, a reading hobby, something I probably could have discussed as a good read at Sue's book club, but nothing more.

I trolled around in the morass of cyberspace, getting sucked into the information quicksand, until frustrated I'd shut down and go and do something less frustrating. It funny though how often your solution is actually right in front of your eyes. Mine was! Roger Horrocks suggested I start blogging, and bingo! I was on the net.

It's so easy to write about yourself, and combine it with a business, your experiences, advice or anything else someone out there would find useful. Be honest, and start writing..you have got a voice!

CFD Investment trading...hanging in there

The JSE opened today and all my shares were still below the price I had bought them for. Even though they seem to have recovered slightly I am still behind the pack, trying to play catch up. The advice from Specutip this morning was "MARKET MAY GO BETTER TODAY. SUGGEST START THINNING OUT LONG POSITIONS WHEN IN PROFIT" Great advice, but I am still hanging in, not in profit yet. I had a chat to Grant, and I decided that I need to analyse the prices I bought the CFD's at. As I know I only put a 2% markup on my cost, I may have bought the share slightly to high. But I have only taken small positions, so I can afford to wait. I am going to wait for an upturn and then sell out when I have a small profit, and start afresh tomorrow.

Goals revisited

It's Sunday night and I am looking at the goals I wrote down for the week, evaluating my position and progress.

Goals are a fluid entity, as pliable and changing as water as you move towards the ultimate gaols you set 5 years down the track. The ultimate goals are your destination, a big dam you want to fill, so to speak, and your daily weekly and monthly goals the river on the way to the dam.

If we follow that line of reasoning we can assume the following: as water runs down a hill and you build the first pipeline, you will encounter certain obstacle and challenges, making you divert the course you laid out originally , around a rocky outcrop, under a small hill etc. When you get around the obstacle and the pipeline is built (weekly or monthly goal complete) you might find you aren't 100% aligned with the dam anymore (your ultimate goal). So you have to reset the next direction, making minor adjustments to your plan, so that your will ultimately reach the dam and fill it up.

The only way to check that you are heading towards the dam is to do exactly that, CHECK! Every week you should sit down ( I do it on a Sunday evening ) and read through the goals you set for that week, evaluating each and every component, ticking off the goals you achieved and redirecting the goals you didn't. You may have achieved a lot more than you expected to, and need to possible speed up the goal time line.

Over the first 3 weeks of trading CFD's I far exceed the point I had anticipated, in my acquiring of knowledge and the number of shares that I traded. On the other hand the market took a small downturn, and my profits are now small losses, but still in positions that I can profit from when the up turn comes, which it will. Am I panicking, you ask? No, not at all, I am just going to adjust my weekly goals and set off again. It will be a great week, full of achievement as I tick the goals off, still heading on to my ultimate goal of "BUYING TIME", 5 years down the track.

What gives me confidence is my ultimate goal, it makes me not panic because I know there are a million steps before I get there. So when I wonder if I am going in the right direction, I relook at my ultimate goal, and rewrite my daily weekly and monthly goals. Then it's easy because I know exactly what to do tomorrow, and the next day.. it is so simple.

"BUYING TIME"...I love it.

Windguru - goal setting tool

Sometimes if you really want to "BANK IT!!" you need a snapshot of the future that will allow you to plan your meetings and work around the awesome things you are going to do this week. I use windguru and buoy weather to help me see whether I need to pack my kites into the car for some kite surfing, or if I'll be spear fishing this week.

This weeks windguru snapshot says that the wind will be very light (no kite surfing) but the swell is small tomorrow, increasing Tuesday and Wednesday, and dropping again on Thursday. With my weekend knowledge, I can now plan to dive on Monday and Thursday this week ( at least), and maybe a stray but of wind will bless us with a visit...

Huge success...or die trying

I read an interesting article in Entrepreneur.com about entrepreneurs not being able to plan for retirement as they are always pushing on for the big one. It made me think that my strategy of focussing on "BUYING TIME", and only spending time on business that can grow exponentially and that will pay a residual income, but not for getting to enjoy the journey, making time in your busy schedule to live and "BANK IT!!", was a great strategy.

Mind Mapping for goals

I thought I'd let you know about a very cool app to help with your goals. I got a tip on it years ago and it's been great in conceptualising and quickly formulating goals and other project tasks. It called " Mind mapping" and is supplied by Mindjet.

Remember how you used to draw out your ideas on paper... this is what mind mapping is. You brainstorm and write your ideas down, drag and drop them into a structure, link items, add dates and other deadline info, and export to word. It's that simple.

If you're a flat head like me and prefer pictures to figures you'll love Mind mapping.

Getting Stuck into CFD Investment

I was at Trevor and Bella's house last night, and they love their pets. They have lots of pets... cats, dogs, birds and even a lion not long ago. There was great inter action between the birds and the beasts, and I was reminded of a quote of Sir Winston Churchill, "Always remember, a cat looks down on man, a dog looks up to man, but a pig will look man right in the eye and see his equal."

Pigs really get stuck into life, and there's a good lesson in that. If you treat the CFD trading concept with gusto and get stuck in, learning everything you can, asking lots of questions, getting a great team around you and not being scared of getting a bit dirty you've got a great chance of learning how to trade CFD's...and make money doing it!

Take profit..."BANK IT!!"

After sorting out all my positions and converting all the conditional take profit orders to sell orders, I close the system and got on with my day. The next time I looked at the market was at 4.35pm. 5 of my positions had closed, I had made a good profit on all of them. I stuck to the golden rules, the only change being a smaller take profit (2% as opposed to 3%) and I have a great return of my money invested for the day.

I will miss the market open as I'll be on a plane to Johannesburg, but later I am going to try and place a CFD share trade over the telephone, both a buy and a sell.

Getting Pinged

Trying to work out the mark up on the close price, adding 1%, checking the spot price, placing a CFD buy trade and getting my boarding pass to the stewardess all at once was quite interesting. I got 2 tips from Specutip at 8.30am, did my sums on the back of my boarding pass, placed 2 buy trades and got on the plane for Jhb.

When I arrived in Jhb I called Deal Stream and asked if my orders had been filled. The trader. who said I should get an automated sms when a trade was accepted, checked and confirmed I was not on the sms list (persona non grata)... he registered me and said I'd be sms when activity took place on my trades.

I checked spot prices with him and placed sell prices for the 2 share into the market.

What a great sound as the sms "pinged" in my pocket, telling me I had sold out of a position at a profit. I got "pinged" 6 times today...a good day in the market. I didn't sell out of any positions at a loss, as I didn't have any stop losses on my trades. All "pings" are good news! - well today anyway.

Moneyweb article on CFD Investment

I read a great article on Moneyweb about CFD's, which really made me think a bit bigger. There are some guys buying with a margin account of R10M...with a quick calc, if you make 20% a month using half of your capital that equals R1M a month, almost unbelievable! But if I look at a novice like myself that is able to make 10-13% over tha past 15 days it is possible.

Smaller Profits - quicker turn around

I spent half an hour changing all of my 3 % take profits to 2% take profits. Why you ask? Why take a smaller profit? Look at it like this...costs are 0.7%, so on a 2% share price move, with 10% gearing, I will still make a 13% profit.(as opposed to a 23% profit). But I get in and out quicker, and can re-use the capital on other CFD buys. This is good for me right now, as I still take a bit of time to work out the sell price before placing it into the market.

Grant at Specutip has been great in his patience and support, always ready with advice and guidance, great for a newbie like me. Thanks Grant!

THE POWER OF GOALS

I really believe in the power of goals. After travelling overseas until we were nearly 28, then getting involved in a business that was'nt a good fit for me for the next 3 years, Sue and I finally started our own business (I was turning 32 that year) and we wrote down all the things we wanted to achieve, the most important one being that we wanted to be free, we wanted to have residual income, and be able to travel again...forever. That's when I came up with the concept of "BUYING TIME" Looking back now I wished we had written down bigger goals, as we have achieved everything we wrote down. The point is, if you don't have goals, do something about it now.

The #1 reason people fail when they try to start a business is because they have no clear direction. They chase one idea after another with no clear path to success, and they never see anything through to completion.

COLD RAIN

A massive cold front came through last night at 10pm, and when I went to have my daily swim it was cold and rainy. 60 push ups and a dip in the cold sea and I felt invigorated. As I stood under the icy beach shower looking at the big shore break, a group doing a photo shoot for a fashion mag wandered up. "have you got serious issues you want to talk to some one about" the photographer asked..."are you mad swimming in this weather?" I smiled to myself, looking back down the passage of time, as I have swum every day for years..a good way to start the day."BANK IT!"

Establish small,good habits early and stick to them, rain or shine, day in day out. They make you feel good about yourself, and help with other goals. Remember it's not one epic jump to success, but a series of small steps.

A dozen hot stock tips

My 8.30am sms from Specutip came with 12 stock tips, alot to process and sort out before the market opened at 9am. I downloaded the Instaquote updates, double checked the tips against the trading golden rules, and placed the trades I had chosen...9 out of the 12. The ones I left out were metal shares, very high priced and would suck to much of my capital. I needn't have rushed though, the JSE only opened at 10am (technical difficulties). Something I learnt today, with help from the Deal Stream guys, instead of placing a conditional order on a sell for take profit, rather put a sell directly into the market yourself. The result is the same, the advantage that a direct sell sits in the market waiting to execute, while a conditional order pops up at a traders desk, and then has to be manually executed by the trader. You may miss the trade like this.

FLAT AND FAST

I got my work done today by 1.00pm and the north east had been getting stronger all morning. There was no wind predicted today for kite surfing, so a perfect opportunity to "BANK IT!" was presenting itself. After texting the regular group of guys we do downwinds with, Alex and Craig were keen to join me and by 2.00pm we were on the water at Umhlanga, heading downwind to Durban 15 km away.We took off from Umhlanga with big kites and a 15knot wind, and within 5 minutes Craigs kite was in the water.. a line had snapped and had to be repaired on the beach. All part of the fun and after 20 minutes we were headed south again. The wind increased steadily, and as we approached Durban was blowing 25knots, strong for a big kite. With no waves to speak of and a pumping steady wind it was flat and fast...awesome!

Goals. goals, goals...your roadmap to success!

I hate to break the bad new to you, but if you don't MAKE THE TIME to figure out how you are going to BUY TIME, you will never achieve it, it'll just be a great yarn to tell your friends, of the life you could have had. So how do you make time in your already hectic schedule? And how do you then fit more into it, to achieve "BUYING TIME"

Hint: set some goals! The no 1 reason that people fail when they start a business is that they don't know where they are going, they run around like a baboon in a mielie field, grabbing some mielies and dropping others...no clear direction

1.Set the biggest 3-5 year goals you can imagine

2.Set annual goals

3.Set quarterly goals

4.Set monthly goals

5.Set weekly goals

6. Set daily goals

Daily, achievable goals will get you to weekly goals etc. Don't sleep until they are done. Look back 30 days from now and tell me if you see progress. IT'S GUARANTEED!!

I am feeling better now

I have just done the CFD course, and come out feeling really positive about the whole idea of trading CFD's, and making some decent cash out of it. Knowledge is power!

I was placing a buy on the ASK price, a sure way to get a buy every time, but at top dollar. So I now know that I should go slightly above the BID price, and once I get the order fulfilled, put my sell in 3% above the price I paid for the share. I also see that if I don't put a stop loss in ( I am not recommending this - make up your own mind), and my position is small enough so that if I end up selling out on a margin call, I will be able to take the punch, and live to tell the tale. Therefore, if I have no stop loss, and I still hold the share, even if it's down, I haven't lost until I sell. Capice?! Kind of loony reasoning but I think good.

So I have cancelled all my stop losses and taken smaller positions, over more shares with a wider spread. I also dropped some of my take profits to 2%, so I was first in line for a sell, and even though the profit was smaller, no one went broke making a profit. "BANK IT!"

Bank It!!

"BANK IT!" In business that would mean, " you've made a profit, bank it now". It's a phrase I coined from my life long friend, photo journalist Roger Horrocks and it has a different meaning to us.

You life is a set of experiences and memories, that either happen as you aimlessly wander through life, or that you make happen. If you are anything like me you have busy days filled with stuff that sucks your time, demands your time. You have to engineer the experiences you want in life, do them and "BANK IT!". Then it's done, no one can take them away from you.

Here is my way of doing it..

Tomorrow is hectic, meetings at work, a project to complete. I go to bed at 8.30pm (don't let TV suck your time every night), waking early at 5.00am. I head down to the beach, and go spearfishing in the warm, blue waters of Natal's North Coast. I shoot a 10kg Couta and catch a bag of crayfish, back on the beach at 8.30am "BANK IT!" By 9.00 I am at my desk answering emails and heading to a meeting. It doesn't matter what the day brings now...I have had a great experience and I did "BANK IT!"

or

I get up at 5.00am and spend an hour working on my emails or project. At 6.00am it's time for the kids to get up for school. Sue makes the sandwiches and packs bags while I get them dressed and cleaned up. While they are having breakfast I go down to the beach and have a swim"BANK IT!", back in time to take them to school. Sue and I have planned to go down to the beach at 3.30pm, and play in the sand with the kids.I finished work early because I started early "BANK IT!"

Instaquote

I have decided to use Instaquote software for downloading share info and updating daily trends. The software costs me R12,000.00 and there is a monthly charge of R155.00 for one download a day. I have registered with Deal Stream as my trader as they have a great product for placing shares directly into the market. My staring capital is R10,000.00 and I will be trading CFD'S, following the rules as laid out by Instaquote Natal.

I will follow these rules unemotionally to the T, and see how well they work. I have also registered for Specutip (a R200.00 per month) service that sends me a daily sms on shares that are trading within a set of parameters that form the rules.

So total cost for setting up a share trading business are R12,000.00 plus my capital of R10,000.00, and monthly costs are R355.00. I therefore need to make R355.00 per month to break even.

I will spend 30 minute a day on this business, reading up on CFD's, downloading Instaquote and deciding on my buys and sells.

BEATEN BACK...BUT STILL STANDING

I traded 50% of my capital this week, spending about R5,000.00 on deposits, all around the R1,000.00 mark. As CFD's are geared products, this gave me about R40,000.00 of exposure. I placed take profit and stop losses on all my trades, and was well pleased when I had made a R1,300.00 profit by market close on Monday. My joy was short lived as the market pulled back, and a stop loss sold me out of a position at a R800.00 loss. All my shares we platinum shares, and as the rand strenthened against the dollar, I took a beating. Fortunately none of the other shares reached the stop loss position, so I was left still holding the shares at the end of the week. I have realised, I am clueless about CFD trading and made a note to go on the next CFD course in Pinetown. And read up on CFD'S daily, in fact I am making it a part of my daily goals for the next month. I am also going to call the brokers every at 8.30am, before the market opens to check if I am thinking the correct way with my trades for the day.

Buying Time

Get a good education, get a good job, save and retire to the good life at age 65. Have you heard that before? I bet you have, and the other 300 variations on the theme. Well sorry to tell you, it's not going to happen. You've also heard about investing right, buying property, shares etc etc. It's all good and what most people aspire to achieve in their lives, but I want to throw some gunpowder in the fire.

I have always used age 65 as a datum because everybody else does, and my goal in life was to buy back as many years as I could from 65. "BUYING TIME" So this is the theory...everything you do either adds to the years you have to work or subtracts from the years. If you are fortunate to have bought back 10 years of your working life, you will be able to retire at 55. Pretty decent if you think you will live to seventy (at least), but possibly even longer as life longevity increases.

The only way to achieve this is through income producing assets and investments that don't require you to be there. My whole focus over the past 8 years has been on "BUYING TIME" How can I improve what I do so that I don't have to be there, do I have a good team around me, to help and guide me, and how many assets and investments am I buying a year that pay me if I am there or not.

People ask me how I did it and how they can start "BUYING TIME", so what I am going to do is make the following assumptions:

-that I am currently a salaried employee, right on track to get the gold watch at age 65.

-that I earn R25,000 a month. (don't worry if this sounds alot to you. 8 years ago I didn't own a bicycle...)

I am going to start 2 businesses

-a share trading business

and

-an internet business

all at the same time and all while I am doing my job. My goal is to buying back 10 years in the next 5 years, ie I will in the next 5 years, make and invest in assets which will give me a passive income of R50,000 a month (double my current salary) on going

CFD share trading Investment - the Golden Rules

You've heard that the golden rule is "whoever has the gold, makes the rules!" Well here are some insider tips, golden rules for trading CFD's, that I learned from Grant Jones at Iquote Trading

1.Never trade more than you can afford to lose

2.Always only trade 50% of your capital

3.Trade only in the top 70 companies

4.Only trade in a company with a upward trend for a minimum of three months

5.If the fast stochastic has broken up through the 80% line, it's time to sell

6.Buy on the slow stochastic as it breaks up through the 20% line

7.Work on a 3% move

The golden rules in a nutshell. Get hold of Grant for where you can do a course in Durban.

Me and George

Me and George

Big CFD Investment Stock swings

On Thursday night I was feeling great about CFD stock trading. I was in the green and even though some of my trades were making losses the majority were making a small profit, with a few making profits of nearly 20% on my margin. By tonight the market had swung completely the other way, all my small profits now small losses, and my bigger profits down by about 40%. As I have very small positions and no stop losses on theses trades, I am still in all my positions. I have planned to sell out of all the marginal positions as soon as they break even, and wait for the market to recover again.

I stick to my strategy of small positions over a large number of stocks. Time will tell if my assumptions are correct. Next week I will sit down with an experienced trader and pick his brains, running through my trades and checking whether I bought at correct levels and set take profits at correct levels. Remember, all boats rise with a arising tide. I am going to rise irrespective of the tide - through learning, practice and good advice from experienced traders.

It' s all good fun!

This weekend is Carnival at Jess's school. I really am looking forward to the sand art, face painting and pony rides with Jess and Jake, a great opportunity to "BANK IT!!", building memories and living the dream.

Keeping the Faith

Another cold, windy day on the east coast, so cold my feet got an ice cream headache on the beach. But it was quiet, no people, and I had it all to myself, crashing surf against a back drop of grey clouds, pregnant with rain. "BANK IT!"

Yesterday wasn't the best day in the market for me. I bought the CFD's recommended and at close of business was down in my overall standings. I still have all my positions and I will stick to the CFD golden rules. Lets see what today brings... I know and expect the learning stage to take time, laying the foundation and building my knowledge base. How long you ask? That I don't know, but even if it takes a year (which I doubt), in my five year trading plan it's nothing. I expect exponential growth when I can place multiple CFD buys, confidently and maneuver in the market, following the big institutions buying patterns. I must remember it's about "BUYING TIME". Small good habits developed now = astounding results in the future.