April was good

April was a pretty good month. I went away for two weeks in the middle of it but my wife ran the program while I was away so it made no difference. Ended up making a 24% profit for the month which was nice. My wife is saying she is the lucky charm, thinks it's only fair we spend the profits down at Myer. Any excuse!!

Two years of trading with 1Wealth

This month marks two years of running the software, I was reading some of my posts from 2011, they were pretty funny, I was obviously a bit nervous and naive when i started. Nowadays I have a much better understanding of the markets. In terms of the software, it’s been a profitable couple of years, but aside from the money it’s just nice having control of my finances. I’m now managing my own super and we’ve just bought an investment property that we’re going to manage ourselves as well. For the first time in my life I feel like I have control and a real financial plan for the future. Bob Marley said it best “every man gotta right to decide his own destiny”. 

Early signs are good

Been a good start to the year. Three strong months and things are bubbling along quite nicely. DTL, CCL, CSL and DWS have all been good. 

Sticking with the end of day for a while

I have spent the last few days talking to 1Wealth about live trading. Have decided to stay on the end of day program for a while. Have made a few tweaks to how I run the program which should start returning a monthly income the same as what i get from teaching. Once i can do that for six months I think the little lady will feel more comfortable about me leaving work to focus on trading. That way we have the end of day providing a wage and the live trading will be the extra on top...very exciting. I got into trading because i wanted to make more money, i never thought i would enjoy it so much. If there are any live traders out there please share your experience with me via this blog or contact me direct at tonymarcusrobinson54@gmail.com. Ideally if anyone is trading live with 1wealth i would love to hear your feedback.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Refreshed and excited about 2013. 

Can’t wait for the holidays.

Been a busy couple of months and looking forward to a nice break. Have started the paperwork to self manage my super and will hopefully have that finalised by xmas. I nearly cry when i see the fees i get charged by MLC for them to generate a couple of percent return. I literally would have been better off if they stuck it in a long term deposit. With my wife and my super combined we will probably go into property and possibly give the live trading a shot. This might take some convincing, I think my wife is concerned about me being at home all day trading like i might go stir crazy. 

Nothing much to report

Been a busy month for my family. Sitting on about 14% profit this month. Have a few open though which are close to giving profit alerts so the real figure is a bit higher.

I get it now!

In my last post i spoke about 1Wealth’s method of getting in and out very quickly and looking for individual stocks with the potential to make a small, quick profit. My big question was since it works so well and seems so basic, why the heck isn’t everyone doing it. I was chatting with Andy about switching my super to self managed and couldn’t resist asking. He pointed out some obvious stuff which made sense. Here is the jist of it - as an individual trader i buy 8 or 9 thousand dollars worth of shares...an easy amount to get in and out of the market with. A bank though is dealing in huge volumes, millions of dollars worth of shares. For a start, that limits the style of stocks they can invest in and also if they do make a quick profit they can’t simply offload millions of dollars worth of stock to realise that profit. That sort of sale would create an over-supply and the profit would very quickly deteriorate as the share price contracts. It seems for once being the small guy is beneficial. You have so much more flexibility. I didn’t ask but I guess it applies to the downside as well. When the 1wealth program picks a stock that goes backwards they cut out at a small pre-determined loss and then invest into something about to move up, i’m assuming banks would have to ride out a bad stock for the same reason as before, they can’t dump millions of shares or the price will dip even further. So good or bad they are in for the long haul. I am starting to understand why this system works so well. Up to now it always seemed a bit surreal that a humble high school teacher could do better than the top dogs at Macquarie Bank. But it’s obviously two very different ways of trading, they want 20% per year on a billion dollars whereas i’m looking for an income of 80k. Our strategies are nearly the complete opposite. Off on a tangent, i’ve heard there are shieks with so much money that they are constantly looking for fund managers to take hundreds of millions to invest for them, they literally have millions of dollars every week they need to find a home for and their biggest challenge is finding places to invest it....what a great problem to have. Anyway, back to reality, this month has been a pretty good one, should be over 20% for the month which is a tidy profit now my portfolio is bigger.

Another solid month.

There is so much uncertainty in the news everyday about the eurozone and possible double dip recessions but the program seems to carry on unfazed. It’s such a simple concept, take tiny gains, reinvest them, create a compounding effect, it’s been working so well I can’t understand why more people aren’t doing it. Why aren’t the banks doing it? 

How does the 1Wealth software actually work?

Things are going strong. Another good month. Sometimes I need to pinch myself. I have recorded a lot about my results each month but friends often ask for more info about what the software actually does. I’ll try to give a basic rundown, but forgive me if it sounds a bit vague because to be honest, even after running it for a year and a half, i still don’t know the exact ins and outs. As a user you literally just turn on your computer at the close of trade, click a few buttons and the program tells you what shares you need to sell and if so, what to replace them with. It is really simple so you don’t get too involved with the workings of it. My older brother is a complete computer dummy and he has been using it for 6 months without any hassles. In terms of how it works out what to buy it uses technical analysis. From what i can gather it is the most common way to analyse stocks when trading short term. Every stock has its own unique stock cycle, almost like a fingerprint, if you do enough analysis you can identify it. Once you have detected its cycle, everyday new information comes in on that stocks performance which updates that unique cycle....once you look at enough history you start to see the pattern over and over again. What the 1Wealth program does is it looks at thousands of stocks, watches where they are in their own unique cycle and when they detect a striking similarity in the pattern to say the stock will rise, they tell you to buy that stock...again, that is my understanding, i’m sure it could be explained better but like i tell me friends, i don’t know exactly how it works but it works and that’s the most important thing. I’m making about $1500 each week from running it so i couldn’t be more pleased with it.

1Wealth, forex or live trading??

Andy from 1Wealth had one of his colleagues call me about trading forex. They don’t currently offer the service but suggested a few sites to look at, chatted a bit about live trading instead of forex, sounds tempting and would be more comfortable using 1wealth again given how well it’s gone so far. Big step to start trading full time but the returns definitely are tempting. I am maxed out with my current end of day portfolio. Whatever profit i make from the 1wealth software now has to be taken out each month...great problem to have. Currently paying off the last of the mortgage but in 6 months that should be done and will have a couple of grand each week to invest somewhere. If anyone has experience with the day trading program from 1Wealth please contact me via this blog or on my email tonymarcusrobinson54@gmail.com.

Bye Bye Commsec

Decided to switch brokers. Have signed up with CMC markets. Will keep you posted. Thinking about having a play with forex as well. My wife thinks i’m crazy, says i should stick to running the 1wealth program, loves 1wealth...from memory she wasn’t too keen on it when i started but now she tries to take credit for it like it was her idea. Short memory, short temper, still the best woman in the world.

Frustrated!

This month was a good month as far as the performance of the 1Wealth program went but in terms of commsec i have been very disappointed. They have had some technical difficulties with their site so i went into the branch but no-one seemed willing to help. Instead they gave me a phone number to call. Can’t you go into banks anymore....why have branches if they just tell you phone a number...if people in banks don’t want to lose their jobs to overseas call centres than maybe they should be nicer to people when they come in to see them. Anyway, contemplating making a change, have seen some good deals with other companies.

Okay May

Okay May. Percentage wise it was average and I dipped into the trading account to buy a car for my daughter so was hoping for a big month to replenish those funds but it wasn’t forthcoming.

My first year with 1wealth has been very profitable.

Nearly a year of being a 1wealth client. What a year, have paid off the initial investment and made about 40k in profits. If last month is any indication this year should be even better. My biggest dollar value return for a single month, $8140.54.

Investing more.

Call me crazy but after my first losing month I have decided to put more money into my account. Andy from 1Wealth says all the signs are very good and the next few months should make up for a slow Feb. Running with a pretty decent portfolio now, just over 55k.

1 out of 10 is not bad

Feb turned out to be a losing month. Final figure was -1.8%. Not the end of the world given the overall return over the last ten months but i still prefer to be going up. 

An unwanted first.

Gasp!! Unless I have a good rise in the next day or so it looks like my winning streak has come to an end. Feb is shaping up to be the first month where the 1wealth program has failed to make a profit for me. As it stands I am down 2% for the month.

Addicted to trading...pfft!

Feeling very refreshed. Ended up taking my laptop with me on holidays. My wife thinks i might be addicted to trading, but since the holiday was paid for from trading profits she wasn’t complaining. The xmas period was pretty slow in terms of trades. Only did four trades in 3 weeks. Profits have been pretty good though.

Holidays!!!

Coming into xmas, time to reflect. Does the 1Wealth software actually work? Definitely. Has been a great year, i’m off on holidays till mid January...1Wealth has shown me how to set trail orders while i’m away so i don’t need to monitor anything. 

28.6%

Final return for October was 28.6%....not bad for a months work!

Best month yet...loving 1wealth right now.

Cracking month! Still not finished but expecting to see a final profit for the month close to 30%. Had two shares absolutely fly for me. Awesome.

Sitting tight

September was better than August, the program had me getting in and out of a lot of stocks, it was my most active month in terms of trading but only finished with a profit just over 15%. Have spoken to Andy about possibly tweaking my program settings but he says it’s best to sit tight, as long as we’re making money there is no reason to change anything. I sound a bit annoyed but realistically i’m still stoked with the results, it’s doing well and is making a lot more than i ever made going it alone.

Decent return but hungry for more

August was pretty quiet. Made about 8% in the end, which 6 months ago would have seen me jumping for joy but compared to the last few months it’s below what I have started to expect. Hopefully September will be a big one.

Not much happening

A pretty non eventful month so far. The market itself is pretty solid but the program hasn’t shown a lot of movement surprisingly. 

Short term v long term

Running with a full portfolio and has been a good move, picked up some nice profits at the beginning of last week, have made about 6k profit since starting. Starting to change my attitude towards investing. I always saw short term trading as riskier than long term.  Andy B, my go to guy at 1Wealth has been telling me if short term trading is done right than it is safer than long term investing. He feels there is more risk of volatility but in terms of finding winners, it’s easier to predict the movement of a stock next week then in 12 months time. I can see his point. It sought of applies when you’re running something like the 1Wealth software, but I don’t think an average joe would be able to do the necessary number crunching to cover themselves against the short term price fluctuations.

Topping up the account

Have cashed in 7k i had in a long term deposit. Was still a few months off maturing but did the sums and the few hundred dollars i lose on penalties i should make back easily by trading. Just want to get to the full ten stocks to see what this software is capable of. It’s a very different way of trading for me. I used to research one stock and then buy in once i felt it was a good chance of going up over the next 12 months, the most i held was 3 or 4 stocks. Now it’s very day to day, I like that my stocks are being closely monitored everyday. 

One month with 1Wealth

Tomorrow will be the one month anniversary of my first trade using the 1Wealth software. Looking back it has been a fun month. Have only been operating with 5 shares which is half the amount that 1wealth recommends but have still turned a tidy profit. Up about 14% after factoring in brokerage fees. Been pretty easy going, happy with my purchase so far but still need more time before i make my mind up once and for all.

Getting into the swing

First buy and sell went through smoothly. Back to 5 stocks and thankfully the one stock that was down has recovered and is now up 8%. Asked Andrew if I should cash out but he says wait for the program alerts before doing anything.  Will hold tight.

Milestone moment, first profit!

First profit alert today. Up 11% on one stock, not bad for four days. 2 others are slightly up, 1 is the same and 1 is about 2% down. Overall ahead. Sold my winner and will buy into whatever the program rates as the best option.

Steady...

Steady, no real change.

Stuck with the 1wealth default settings

Have decided to start with 5k. Have spread it evenly over 5 shares. Have kept all trading parameters at the recommended settings provided by 1Wealth. Andrew swears by them, have no idea so will go with the flow.

New trading account good to go

Commsec paperwork arrived and I went into bank to ID myself, all sorted, ready to start trading. Have spent the last week doing some paper trades. I’m not getting too ahead of myself but all four paper trades are up so that’s a good sign.

1Wealth service was good, ready to roll

Just got off the phone to 1Wealth. Took about twenty minutes to get fully setup, spoke to Andrew from Customer Support and i’m feeling more confident already. Nice guy, knows his stuff and explained in a bit more detail the strategy we will be using moving forward. He has suggested switching brokers, i’m currently paying $25 per trade with NAB, he has put me onto commsec which will be $14.95 per trade. Small saving but it all adds up.

The 1Wealth journey begins...

Today is the first day of the journey. It’s Wednesday the 20^th of April and the 1Wealth package has just arrived in the post. As promised it was delivered the next day, it has the all important software,  a welcome letter from the customer support team and instructions for getting started which are basically, stick the disc in and call us for a code.  

Does 1Wealth stock market software really work?

I have just spoken with 1Wealth in Sydney and have decided to give their stock market trading software a go. I have been trading the stock market casually for about 5 years but I want to get more serious and start generating an income from shares. 1Wealth seem to think that just about anyone can follow their software and make good money from trading shares. It sounds like a bold statement, but they were recommended by a close friend so I figure it’s worth a shot....Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

 If they really can help people make money from the stock market with zero experience than it is an impressive feat. I already have a little knowledge acquired over the last 5 years, mostly self taught. I read books and magazines, watch news channels and follow trading blogs and online commentators. It has been interesting and overall profitable. The returns 1Wealth are promising are much better, so hopefully they will deliver. I’ve decided to keep a timeline of my experience, just like I have used blogs to learn, hopefully it will serve as a guide to any other traders who plan on making the shift from part time investor to serious trader.