The Bull Hunters Guide

Investing should be a long term activity. To really get the most out of it, it must become an integral part of your life and daily routine. Therefore, today we’re going to be talking about the concept of “dollar averaging” or consistent investment of a specific set fee over a long period of time.

Dollar averaging investments

Many people view this as something like “paying the bills”, and if that helps you to think about it and remember to do it, more power to you. But what dollar averaging really is, is a personal commitment on your part to continuously feed money into your investments on a regular basis, rather than just letting them sit and do what they will. Think about it. If you were using a regular savings account instead of the stock market, would you just rely on the accruing interest, or would you continue to put money into it when you could, week by week, or month by month? Almost certainly, you’d want to invest in the wiser of the two options, the second one. The stock market is no different.

Set aside some money out of your monthly income (it doesn’t matter how much it is, just however much you’re comfortably willing to part with), and then invest that into your portfolio. This should be the same amount of money each and every month, and it is a practice that has a lot of non-obvious benefits.

Your stake in a company

Firstly, if you’re investing the same amount of money each and every month into your stocks, it’s easier to draw some conclusions about the direction that those stocks will go in. For instance, if you know you’ll be investing x amount into a stock next week, that’s something you can depend upon. You will be able to say that you have x stake in a company, without really wondering about whether that stock is going up or down. Regardless, your value is increasing, and you have more to work with in order to maximize your total profits.

Secondly, it’s a good practice because it keeps you actively engaged with the market. During slow periods, people might sometimes forget to check on the status of their investments for several days at a time. This could easily lead to disaster. However, if you’re continuously investing into your portfolio, it’s always fresh in your mind, and the incentive to check it is always looming. It keeps your investments growing and keeps you on your toes.

See you next week for part 10 of Basic Investment Strategies.

Sean Rasmussen
The Bullhunters Guide
Universal Wealth Creation © 2004 - 2008

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This is probably another one of those common sense tips that tends to be overlooked and swept under the rug in favor of the latest “hot tip” or whatever happens to have come down the pipe. Nevertheless, these tips have been around for a reason: they’re important, and their wisdom bears repeating. This time around, we’re going to talk about the old adage of sticking with what you know.

Get the best results from what you know

You’ve probably heard this advice given most often in conjunction with the exercise of writing, under the pretense that by writing about the topics that one is most intimately familiar with, one can produce the best results. The same applies to investing. If you put money into industries that you don’t know the first thing about, you’re going to get into trouble and fast. Suppose that you open up your morning news paper to the technology section and read about Company X having developed an all new standard for etching circuits onto the surface of a microchip, one that can double the number of circuits of past chips. If you know nothing whatsoever about computer chips, then you wouldn’t know exactly what this meant for Company X. You wouldn’t be able to (accurately) speculate as to what it meant for them in terms of near future stock market activity and your hands would be tied. Everyone knows that following an industry’s developments is one of the best ways to know what’s going to happen in its corresponding market presence, so it pays to invest in those industries that you understand well enough to follow.

Satisfaction from investments

Furthermore, you’ll have the advantage of feeling more passionately about your investments, and you’ll derive a greater emotional satisfaction out of working with them. After all, part of the appeal of the stock market is that it’s a lot more fun than just letting your money sit in a bank somewhere! If you have an investment in a company that you used to work for, for instance, or a company that produces a product you use on a daily basis and feel a personal fondness for, you’ll have more invested than just your money. This isn’t just sentimentalism, either; the more you personally care for a company and its products, the more carefully you’ll be inclined to follow the trends that affect it, and ultimately affect your investment.

See you next week for part 9 of Basic Investment Strategies.

Sean Rasmussen
The Bullhunters Guide
Universal Wealth Creation © 2004 - 2008

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I have been promising a part 2 to The Bullhunters Guide eBook. My ideas haven’t come to fruition so far. Instead, I have put together a 12 Part Basic Investment Strategies blog series. It will be posted weekly here in The Bullhunters Guide.

This blog entry is the first in the series. The series has been designed from the ground up to help you get more actively involved in the world of investing, so that you can get the most out of your investments. Our approach is to take the amateur investor and slowly introduce him or her to the more sophisticated and advanced concepts that are practiced to great profit by the professional traders in the industry. In other words, this is a tutorial in how to become wealthy! The series will be rather long, and each blog entry will concern itself with one particular technique that you can add to your repertoire of investment knowledge and strategies in order to become a stronger player in the stock market. So, just sit back and relax, and try to take this all in. Ready to start maximizing your earning potential? Then, let’s go!

This time, we’re going to get off to a really basic start and discuss the virtues of diversification. Chances are good that you’ve heard the jargon thrown around on a few television dramas from time to time about how so and so was in dire need of “diversifying his portfolio“. Well, that trope had to come from somewhere.

Diversify Or All Your Eggs In One Basket

Diversification is a rather simple concept that simply refers to the idea of “not putting all your eggs in one basket“. Many beginning investors are often tempted to buy a huge number of shares in a single stock, because the initial cost of sales commissions will usually be quite a bit lower than if they had taken that same amount of money and bought just a few shares in a wide number of stocks. Furthermore, they tend to think that without a substantial number of shares in a stock, their payout will never “amount to anything”.

Try and overcome this way of thinking. The upfront costs might be higher, but what will you do if that one stock you put everything in collapses? It’s happened to many people and it can easily happen to you. Avoid this potential by spreading your funds around in a variety of interests, preferably across a number of different industries. This should help to protect you somewhat against market forces that can sometimes capsize a whole industry worth of stocks and leave you with losses in every single stock in your portfolio.

See you next week for part 2 of Basic Investment Strategies.

Sean Rasmussen
The Bullhunters Guide
Universal Wealth Creation © 2004 - 2008

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I have spoken about many stock market strategies, touching on the DJIA or Dow Jones. We have been over the US stock market and ways to understand how to make money with the correct share strategies. Today I want to talk about one of the outcomes of a successful trade; The Profit and the underlying benefits. In other words: when do you take a profit and where do you put the profits?

Taking Profits When Trading

I haven’t got a more straight answer than this. Decide before you place the trade. How much profit would you be happy to take or make? 20%, 50%, 100%? Then if you reach the target, take it. Cash it in there and then. Don’t hesitate! I will give you a great example of a trade that I didn’t set a profit target on. I bought 90000 options on a stock for 3cents each. That cost me around $2,700. I was happy to take the risk and lose the lot. Yes, hardly a great strategy but the gambler does come out if you don’t plan your trades.

Beware the Gambler

Here’s the strategy I call “The Zero Strategy“. $2,700 of 3 cent shares. The stock went up to over $1.00 and the options became worth around 80cents each. Not bad in 15-16 months. My $2,700 was now $72,000! That’s around 2600% Return On Investment. I didn’t take it though. Why? Well, there were a few reasons. One was that I KNEW the stock would keep going up. And it did. Another 10cents or so.

Down Goes The Stock Market

Then it came down. I’ve still got the stock and it’s worth about $17,000 and still in a pretty good margin. When will I sell it? Probably never! It’s too good a story to tell. It’s priceless! So now, what on earth has this got to do with The Gamblers $18,000 Piano? I only put that in the headline so you’d read this… Just Kidding! I bought some other shares around the same time and here comes the Grand Piano…

The Stock Markets Grand Piano

I bought 2000 shares for $1.59 each. This time there was a plan in place. An ambitious one, but realistic however. A uranium explorer. My friend had 3 Million of these shares and bought them for less than 3 cents. He sold them around 45-50 cents. Work out the profit on that! Absolutely Massive! My plan was to sell these shares at $9.00. They got to $9.06 and I sold them, turning $3,180 into $18,120. Then I proceeded to chip in a bit and buy a Grand Piano for my son who now has won a few competitions and wants to become a Concert Pianist when he grows up.

Where is the price on those shares now? Who cares! The stock market sponsored my Kid and gave me memories to enjoy for years to come. (The shares went on to over $11.00 then dropped very fast to $6.00)

So when do you take your profits? When you have something fun to spend the money with. There are always profits to be made. Just know when to take them home with you.

Sometimes the Bullhunter has to be Bearish.

Sean Rasmussen
The Bullhunters Guide
Universal Wealth Creation © 2004 - 2007

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“The only reason it took me nearly 2 years to fire my boss was purely because that’s the time I set for the goal. Had I set a 1 year target, I have no doubt that it would have been acheived in that time ” - Sean Rasmussen July 2006

So here’s the letter I wrote on that day, in it’s entire unedited form:

The Path To Freedom - leaving captivity

Sean Rasmussen - Karratha, Western Australia, Thursday, 8th December 2005

I’m finally there! In the next level.

Today, 8th December 2005 at 7am I walked away from my job a free man. No more shackles from the day to day grind of conforming to the will of society. I’ve replaced my income thanks to Jamie McIntyre (thanks Jamie) and the road is no longer rocky. My life has turned for the better. Big Time.

My new title: Full Time Investor & Life Coach

I can now do what I love to do. Invest during the day and help others achieve the same.

Look up the word Happy in a dictionary and you’ll see a picture of me. Actually, you’ll probably find my photo next to “ecstatic”, “excited” & “over the moon” as well.

Nearly 2 years ago, when I did the Jamie McIntyre homestudy program (the same month as Bill Stacy did his), I set a 2 year retirement target. Retire to do what I want to do, not what I have to do. There’s a big difference. I have been getting up in the morning and going to work because I had to.

Now I’ll be getting up and doing what I want to. Big difference.

My target has been achieved 5 weeks ahead of the deadline, January 15, 2006.

Meanwhile, I’m living my dreams. I’m in the Next Level. I’ve stepped up to the plate and I’m ready! Bring on life. It’s beautiful!

I’ve met some fantastic people over the last 21 months. Jamie McIntyre, Andrew Dimitri, Bill Stacy from Planet Wealth (mate, do you inspire me), Nik Halik, Adam Thomas & John Chapman from Investor Finance, Ian Daley, Roger (my graduate mate from Brisbane), 150+ Graduates that joined 21st Century Academy with me in the last 18 months, numerous speakers at seminars and literally hundreds of new people I’ve met through Jamie McIntyre’s program.

Has this been a fortune cookie of life, or what? Small things make big changes. I nearly didn’t see Jamie’s add in the paper that day in December 2003. I sent away for his free VHS and the rest is history.

Look up the word Happy in a dictionary and you’ll also see a picture of my wife, Cherie.

When she broke the board at the seminar in Fiji, I knew there and then. This is it. We are in the Next Level. Financial freedom is only a matter of time in my own mind. Success is approaching fast in the shape of happiness, freedom, gratitude, love, security, and financial rewards.

I am actively supporting charities. People want to know what I’m doing and want a piece of it. Life is looking pretty great right now, to say the least.

I’m really excited and there are a thousand things I want to do. Now I will be doing so with balance. For nearly 18 months, I have been working in a day job (10 hour days, 13 day fortnights), investing on the stock market, helping people get started with Jamie’s program and pretty much been up to 11-12pm every night with few exceptions.

Most mornings, I’ve got up at 4.30am to walk the dog and be at work on a construction site for a 6am start. 45 degree heat in summer, working in the sun in North West WA. I was nearly crippled or possibly killed by a near miss 6 weeks ago when a 6.75kg scaffold tube was dropped 12meters to the ground, landing within 6 inches of my right shoulder.

In all this time, I’ve watched about 6 movies, read no newspapers, watched maybe 1 hour of news and been 100% committed to the task. I only had $20,000 to start investing with and had no stock market knowledge worth mentioning 2 years ago.

Then I went to Fiji with my wife and 2 boys. That took me to the next level.

Now, I am planning balance in my life. This means evenings off. Lots of time with my family is not only on the cards but happening from today onwards. I’m scheduled to take my family to New Zealand in July 2006 and Hawaii in November 2006, followed by a few more destinations in 2007.

My next Big Holiday will be 4 weeks in France with my family. Don’t know when, but it will have to be soon. The world is too big to be sitting around, waiting for things to happen.

I’d like to share parts of my goal list I wrote out during a Jamie McIntyre homestudy session in January 2004:

• Retire to full time investor by January 15, 2006 - achieved
• Financial protection by 5 May 2005 - achieved
• Financial security by 5 May 2006 - on track
• Financial independence by 5 May 2007
• Financial freedom by 5 May 2008
• Absolute financial freedom by 5 May 2010
• Take my sons to all 7 continents by their 20th birthday – on track
• Travel to one major world destination every year – on track
• Donate 10% of profits to charity – ongoing and being honored
• Establish my own charity for educating children by 2016

There are many more. Some were achieved a lot easier than I thought. Others were possibly a bit ambitious but still workable. The main thing is this:

If I hadn’t written these goals down, I would have lost track and got off target. Today, I would still be at work and heading on a path towards retirement at the age of 65.

My inspiration source is massive. I will be sharing as much of my learning with as many people as I can. Anyone who wants to be a part of this, email me urgently. I’m building a team of 10 people to help me share this with many more people and help them do the same as me and many other 21st Century Academy Graduates. Who doesn’t want to be a Bill Stacy, right now? ( Bill, you’re a legend)

While I was writing this post, I jumped on the phone and joined up as an ongoing monthly sponsor of Greenpeace to add to my list of charities. When I nominated the amount, the response was hugely rewarding! Look. I’m taking action! I’ve been an onlooker for too long. Now I’m taking action.

One piece of advice I can give from all this:

Write down your dreams, Take Action and do it!

It’s all in your mind.

I’ll see you in the next level. Join me there.

Regards
Sean Rasmussen

So that was it. I wrote that testimonial within 1 hour of leaving the workforce forever. At the time I was overwhelmed by the fact that I had actually done it. All the critics, sceptics, cynics… all the people who told me it was a pipedream… they are still back there somewhere at the same job or another one. The beleivers who rewarded me with their support and who listened to me; some are advancing in leaps and bounds. Others are on their way or thinking about it. Life is surely beautiful and must be lived to its potential.

I beleived in Jamie McIntyre and 21st Century Academy. It paid off for me. I decided to make up my own mind and not let anyone else do it for me.

As I write this, I’m at a 21st Century Academy Education For Life seminar on the Gold Coast in Australia. It’s day 1 of 4. I have been to 6 or 7 of these now (it’s a benefit of working close with Jamie). I was listening to Jamie McIntyre inspire the 400+ people attending and I was inspired to jump into my hotel room during the break and post this. I remembered how easily I could have given this whole “wealth thing” a miss… The though scares me.

Beleive in your ability, back yourself in and take action! It’s the only way to find out what is really in store for you in life.

Thanks for reading my story.

Sean Rasmussen
21st Century Academy
Universal Wealth Creation © 2004 - 2007

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