Forum Archive Index - June 2001

["tennyson@caverock.net.nz" <tennyson@caverock.net.nz>]

Somewhere at an internet cafe in France,  near the front 
line..... 

Red Baron: Herr von Snoopy, why do I find you here, and what is this  
'Sharechat' you are looking at?  

Snoopy: Times move on RB.   Who knows, one day there 
may be no more jobs for World War One flying aces!  We fight above 
the French front for political liberty, yet far too many lose the 
fight for financial freedom.  Why settle for a kennel and dog 
biscuits, when you could be sitting at a French Cafe sipping a Root 
Beer?   The sharemarket, long term, outperforms all other classes of 
investment, and what better way to learn than bounce your ideas off 
like minded people?  'Sharechat' is where you will find those people!

RB: So how does the 'Focus Investment Group Message Board' fit into 
this?  What is the 'Focus Investment Group'?

S: The FIG Message Board is our anytime coffee table.  It's where we 
talk about what happened when we rolled up our sleeves and got down 
to the nitty gritty, the roots of successful investment, for the long 
term.  The Focus Investment Group is made up of anyone who wants to 
sit round our table.   Anyone who shares the aims of our little 
group.  Anyone who wants to learn.  And especially anyone who wants 
to help!

RB: What is "Long Term"?  And what are the aims of this group?

S: We are looking over 3, 5, 7 year (and longer) time horizons.  
Remember when we still had share certificates?   If we still had 
Share certificates  for FIG companies, you'd  be able to stick them 
under your mattress and sleep soundly on them.  We don't want to 
*have* to scan the media every day to know when to jump on and off 
our investment freight train.   We want to know that if we select the 
right companies, then we can leave the management to do their best, 
and it will be in our best interests to tag along for the ride.   The 
best time to sell out of a FIG company- is never!  It's the best way 
to stay on the rails.

RB: Never, is a long time away!

S:  Never is the ideal.  The practice is not quite that.  We have 
strict screening criteria.   So none of our FIG companies are 
allowed to get fat.   We set up a hurdle course for them to clear, 
and they must jump the hurdles every year!

RB: Sip coffee, sleep, screen and jump?  Seems an odd prescription 
for successful investment to me!

S: Sit down and take a toast with me RB.  What you have is a "raw 
bread" understanding of what we are about.  I'll try and put some jam 
on it for you.......(continued)

(Publishing Note:  The  LEARNING TO INVEST series is a concept by 
Gerry Stolwyk.   This post has been produced at his invitation)


---------------------------------
Message sent by Snoopy 
e-mail  tennyson@caverock.net.nz
on Pegasus Mail version 2.55
----------------------------------
"Sometimes to see the wood from the trees, 
you have to cut down all the trees."



----------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.sharechat.co.nz/          New Zealand's home for market investors
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
To remove yourself from this list, please use the form at
http://www.sharechat.co.nz/forum.shtml.