That article I wrote a while back on Getting Started In Shares? Well, the course is coming up next Thursday, 30th August in Cape Town. To book, and for more information, click on my link in the first sentence of this post.

SLXS, keeping you informed every day!

Sean Lloyd

Editor 

A house- Like the people of yesteryear might have wanted to own

I think we are all aware that life has changed dramatically for younger people these days. No longer are we forced into doing the same job that our parents did. In the old days you would leave school and no doubt get a pretty average job, where you would work your way up, and probably retire without having ever done anything too exciting with your life. You would retire the perfect average, having the 2.2 kids, the family home, the wife, the car and let’s be honest, a pretty boring life. Things have changed and people have come to realise that there are actually other jobs out there.There are so many different markets for business these days that people leaving school are actually overwhelmed by the choice of careers they have. We also realise that we don’t want to work our entire lives, just to pay off the house and afford food. We also want to be able to enjoy our lives, enjoy our work and make some good money. The popularity of books such as “Rich dad poor dad” and the books written by various moguls such as Donald Trump and Richard Branson show that there is a trend towards making your money work for you. And it’s also about having fun.

In my parents days they would never have thought of trading shares as it is all too risky. However, with great knowledge comes great power, and hopefully great wealth. There is so much information available today that you need to read up a lot, ask questions, talk to investors and people who have made money on the stock markets. It might not give you overnight wealth, but in the long term may pay off for you.

For people not wanting to take too many risks, you can invest your money in an account such as FNB’s Money Market. This is for people wanting to invest at least R10000. While the returns may not make you wealthy, they are better than the standard interest rates that banks offer. Interest on FNB’s Money Market is calculated on a daily balance and is paid out monthly.

The current rates can be seen HERE, and they range from 4.80% through to 7.90%per annum(As of 15 July 2007)

As you can see, this is a better option than just letting your money sit in a standard bank account. While it won’t buy you a private island, it is an easy way to earn more interest on your money.

However, the best way to “play” with your money, is to do a bit of share trading. I have read a few books on this but often these books are not based on the local market, and so the best way to learn about our local market, is to attend an investment course by a local bank.

I think investing on the stock market is quite a fun way to play with money. I say play because you would not exactly use money that is set aside for food and rent to play on the stock market. First, pay off all the essentials, and then if you have some spare money, try and invest it wisely. Obviously “play” is not the right word, as you want to actually make some informed decisions, but I think money is fun to play with, especially when that playing earns you rewards.

Investing and share trading is a complicated business, but I think everyone should try and get involved in it sometime.

Locally, Standard Bank offer various courses from the beginners courses on “Getting started in shares” and “Introduction of investing” right through to the more advanced “Introduction to Single Stock Futures”

I think it is worth attending these courses, and over time hopefully you will see yourself making more money, with less effort, more leisure time, and a greater happiness.

For information on these courses, please click HERE

You can book online to attend the courses and the course on “Getting started in shares” takes place in Cape Town on Thursday 30 August 2007.

Make sure you book it, it’s worthwhile, especially for younger people. The sooner you get started, the sooner you will learn and the sooner you will(hopefully) be living the dream.

A view- Like the people of today want to experience

Sean Lloyd

Editor