It’s Not Magic, It’s Common Sense: Christina Interviews Ian Cairns on Stocks, Shares, Investing and Redditors!

Over the last few weeks, there have been many news stories around investing, stocks, the Robin Hood app, and Redditors. Christina wouldn’t ordinarily delve into the world of ‘newsjacking topical’ subjects, but she happens to know Ian Cairns! Ian is extremely knowledgeable in these areas, so Christina wanted to interview him to share his thoughts.

Disclaimer: The content within this podcast episode is intended as general information and not a recommendation to act. Please seek independent investment advice before entering into any financial transaction. Entering into any financial transaction that involves securities or derivatives puts your capital at risk. The content creator is not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and relies on journalist exemption. The content creator is not an investment professional and is likely to have a financial interest in the company mentioned. The companies mentioned may have been held personally by the content creator. The content creator will not be held responsible or be liable for action taken by any listener of this episode. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Ian is someone that has given Christina lots of education regarding the trading world. She thought it was an opportune time to bring him onto the podcast to give you some great ‘nuggets of wisdom’.

Ian created software company Market Fluent out of a pet project of his. He based it on a book from the 40s by Benjamin Graham called Intelligent Investor, that outlined how to find undervalued companies in the stock market. It helps makes decisions and is now known a ‘value investing’.

What has happened with Gamestop and Redditors didn’t happen overnight, it started as long as 18 months ago. It was based on research and due diligence.

The internet has levelled the playing field on how we can research businesses and how they are performing. Because of that some of the individuals on Reddit have been able to do some incredible things.

Ian’s interpretation of the Gamestop/Reddit situation is that there is a big outcry as millionaires and billionaires are losing cash. He doesn’t think that things have become too accessible but he does think that there is a problem with people selling this as a dream of just buy buy buy and sell sell sell. It’s too simplified.

As long as you are sensible about investing then you will be ok. Only invest money you can afford to lose and look at investments as long term rather than a’ get rich quick’ scheme.

In the 1920s most stocks were owned by individuals not hedgefunds. Now things have completely changed and these companies actually make most of their money out of the fees they charge clients and they are buying with other people’s money. Do your research on fees-these are what will cost you in the long run.

When creating a bank account for investments ensure you open the right one as different accounts have varying tax rules. If you are unsure find a local broker/accountant and get advice on your own personal circumstances.

Do your own due diligence and think of things as a long-term investment rather than ‘trading’.

There is a wealth of knowledge on value investing on YouTube, there is so much free knowledge and information out there that you can consume.

If you choose to invest in something you know about it will be a lot easier to make conscious and knowledgeable decisions.

Quite simply, you know when is the right time to go looking to buy depending on whether something happening in the world, market, country or in a particular company is creating certainty or uncertainty. Stock markets don’t like uncertainty and this is when things will drop and you can look to buy.