Bulls, Bears & a Croupier: The insider's guide to profiting from the Australian stockmarket

Part II: Building the foundations

For those of you who are now eager to investigate or rediscover the sharemarket, it is critical that you enter the game with a plan that prevents you from failing. Part of that plan is to prepare properly. So before you even contemplate buying shares in a company you must lay the right foundations — a step that all of us have to take regardless of our pedigree. The following chapters provide the key steps in building those foundations.

Chapter 4: Who are you? The road to discovery

Benjamin Graham, the father of value investing, observed: ‘The investor’s chief problem — and even his worst enemy — is likely to be himself’. Just ask Peter Proksa or anyone else who has dabbled and lost money on the market, ...