Route 2 - DIY Approach

 

If you’ve read Liquid Millionaire then you now know that to profit from the stock market over the next ten, twenty or even thirty years, it’s all about being able to:

a) Find the best of the best investment vehicles consistently.

b) Accurately and consistently interpret the trend of the market so that you can get into the market on strength and get out on weakness.

c) Beat the Nasdaq over the long-term.

d) Get greater than average tax-free returns over the long-term.

Therefore, you now need to answer the following questions.

Do you know how to:

a) Find the best of the best investment vehicles consistently?

b) Accurately and consistently interpret the trend of the market so that you can get into the market on strength and get out on weakness?

c) Beat the Nasdaq over the long-term?

d) Get greater than average tax-free returns over the long-term?

If you can confidently answer yes to the above questions, the do it yourself approach is probably for you and you will not need any help.

But here is a quick word of advice. If you do go down the DIY route, please ensure that you fully understand who you will be going up against.

Warren Buffett, regarded as one of the world's greatest stock market investors, sends this word of caution: “The market, like the Lord, helps those who help themselves. But, unlike the Lord, the market does not forgive those who know not what they do.”

We therefore suggest that it might not be the best of ideas to cut corners.

In other words, if you are going to take this do it yourself approach seriously, please commit to putting in the hours needed to succeed.

We like to use the game of rugby to explain what we mean.

If You Do Not Know What You Are Doing, You Could Get Hurt. When investing in the market, you are going up against professionals. Imagine a person who has not played rugby before going head to head with professional rugby players. What would happen? If you thought pain, you would be right on the money. And so please bear this in mind. Being unprepared and uneducated could cost you dearly. We suggest you make a decision to put in the hours if you are going to go down the DIY route, get help, or scrap the whole thing.

If you are thinking of taking the solo route, the first thing that you would need to discover is how to become very good at reading the trend of the market as well as how to find the top performing funds.

To give you an idea, it takes a person around 10,000 hours to master the trend of the market. That is the equivalent of learning and studying the market for 40 hours a week for the next 5 years. To become an expert in fund selection, it is going to take you at least 12 months to become highly proficient.

Do You Really Want to Become a Full-
Time Stock Market Professional?

And so you need to ask yourself:

Do you have what it takes (time, effort, sacrifice, financial resources etc.) to become a stock market and investment fund professional?

If the answer is yes, then once again you will not need any help.

And if you’ve read the Liquid Millionaire book you’ll remember that in Chapter 9, Stephen gives you a complete outline of the steps you could take to get you on the fast track to becoming a full-time stock market professional.