By Janine CoxIn life the keys to success are knowing what you want and doing something about it. In Part 1 we looked into the journey of Sonya, looking to achieve financial independence through the share market. Take a few minutes to consider your own future and explore whether you have really given yourself the time and space to think about what you want in your life.
I mention these important questions to you, as Sonya’s journey has not only seen her think through the answers, but importantly she has acted on them. Part of Sonya’s journey saw her realise that once you know what you want you can set goals, then before you know it you are well on your way to achieving success.
Now more than ever before I see women taking back control of their lives. When I first began debunking the myths about the share market, the ratio of women in the audience was around five per cent; now the balance has shifted with the number at around 30 per cent and growing.
Janine Cox: Why did you want to make becoming a share trader one of your goals?
Sonya Burrill: It was initially to satisfy a much larger goal, which was to pay off the family home and provide tertiary education for my children. I wanted trading in the share market to be a source of financial help for the family generally, as well as to provide a meaningful contribution to the advancement of research and treatment for Ovarian Cancer. I knew what I wanted, the doing part of creating my success was in studying the ‘how’. Now I know I have the knowledge to design and run my very own share portfolio. This is so different to how I was before I got an education, as I now realise I really didn’t have a clue. As I said, before we relied on a financial advisor to do the thinking for us.
Janine Cox: What other services have you utilised in your journey so far and what did you learn?
Sonya Burrill: I have used the ASX website as part of my research to find out what Contracts for Difference (CFDs) are and what ‘trading short’ means. I also collected some ASX booklets about CFDs and Options, just to have a bit of an idea as to what the terms mean.
I have also read articles in various investment related magazines and attended a number of exhibitions on the subject. For me the best way to learn was to keep things simple. I found that I needed to not complicate or confuse things by loading other information over the top of what I was doing. That said I now understand much more about the market.
Janine Cox: How did you ensure you had enough time to study?
Sonya Burrill: I was able to allocate about two days a week to studying the Diploma of Share Trading and Investment, which I spread out over the week to fit in around my shift work at the hospital.
I recall how I struggled a bit with the work in one of the modules, and so with the support of my husband I dropped one shift a fortnight to make more time. Having that support is fantastic, I find that this actually puts more pressure on me to succeed in making profits, but realise this is “my stuff” as I know I can be very hard on myself.
Janine Cox: What did you find was particularly important to your progress?
Sonya Burrill: Being taught how to work things out for myself, as this gave me a huge amount of confidence and I often surprise myself with what I know. Trading is about being independent, and the support provided during my journey helped to lock the knowledge in my head so I could be confident in myself. The support also kept me on track and assisted me to apply this newfound knowledge to stocks on my watch list. I am now about to start a portfolio for our Family Trust and look forward to more growing, learning and trusting myself, all with the encouragement and support of my family and your team.
Janine Cox: How much time do you spend managing your trading, and how do you manage your decisions?
Sonya Burrill: I allocate approx six hours per week, and I am fine tuning my trading plan for each stock and getting the portfolio up and running properly. Once this is done it is just a matter of keeping the analysis up to date and waiting for the buy or sell trigger to occur.
I don’t trade a stock unless I have fully prepared my trading plan and I always consider risk when determining my position size. Once I have bought the stock, I check how the trade is going each day by looking at a stock chart.
I know I would have made some very bad decisions if I hadn’t got an education, as I would probably have acted on tips from other people. A friend recently told me what an expert had said about a stock that was supposedly going to do really well. I did some analysis and found that the stock was more likely to turn and fall away after having a long run up and it actually has fallen away since. Seeing this boosted my confidence, as I know that I can trust my own judgement as I have the knowledge behind me.
To find out more on how to be successful in the share market visit our website and listen to the free podcasts in the Trading Room such as ‘Active Portfolio Management’ https://www.wealthwithin.com.au/education/trading-room/wealth-radio-episode/345
Stay tuned for the next Wealth Within article that shares a story about a window of opportunity that is helping more and more women to learn how to manage their very own share portfolios.
Janine is the Senior Analyst at Wealth Within, a private investment company specialising in managing direct share portfolios through their Individual Managed Account Service. The company is also a government accredited specialist share market educator, where Janine is one of only two lead trainers educating people how to invest and trade the share market. Janine can be contacted at info@wealthwithin.com.au or you can visit the website www.wealthwithin.com.au.
