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The timhobill.com.au site features blog posts and gathers info from around the web with the hope of enhancing an aspiring investor’s market education.

Q: Why a blog site?

A: IMHO some of the investing info that is aimed at our youth is fairly generic or simply marketing spiel. Whether my “thought bubbles” will be any better is certainly open to debate. That said I will be linking more than enough great articles.

Q: You think so?

A: Absolutely. I subscribe to some fabulous news and letter sites from around the globe, trawl twitter and have my own light bulb moments. There will be some teething issues but my goal is to make my commentary a bit of a laugh, in addition to being irreverent, logical and relevant.

Q: How are you qualified?

A: I’ve been a trader/investor/punter since I was 12 years old. I know the pain of personal loss; that is in comparison to some big insto traders whose biggest risk was only ever losing their job, not their own cash.

Q: So?

A: What I really mean is that there are multiple ways of gaining investing expertise. Large financial institutions certainly do not have a monopoly on this. However with marketing expertise and budget they dominate the market.

Q: Are you a quant?

A: Hell no, I wouldn’t be so presumptive! However, I do quantitative research and construct trading models, and study markets…a lot. I am not educated enough and have limited coding skills to consider myself a quant.

Q: You’ve got some grey hair, why is the site aimed at younger or 'keen to learn' investors?

A: Do you want the lies or the truth? In a nutshell I have accumulated a few folk that I mentor, so it seemed logical to document the info. However the real reason is that I want the information and logic posted to be a gift for my kids and any investor (gen y or otherwise) who is keen to develop common sense that will help sort useful investing info from the plethora of infomercials we see daily.

Q: You have a link to a commercial site?

A: This site is for information purposes only. However only for those interested I do provide a link to my AFS licensed affiliate website where you can learn more about my managed account offerings.

Q: How do I know these blogs aren’t just infomercials?

A: Well, my ‘thought bubbles’ are purely for education and information purposes only. I don’t intend to post anything here that will upset anyone too much except maybe some index hugging fund managers, who charge too much.

Q: What if I am no good at pulling the trigger?

A: You are not alone there. This site is only meant to be helpful. Hopefully you will learn something about the markets, your weaknesses, and some useless but interesting info.

Q: This site doesn't sound like it's for me; I am an Industry Fund member.

A: Excellent. Just make sure you read all your PDS fine print very, very carefully. See, you’ve already learnt something.

Q: What’s the thing with Paulinho as your twitter photo?

A: I think it’s a cool photo and great football teams always have an excellent no.8 and 6. For me football (or soccer for the old school) is like a game of chess with constant intra-game tactical changes. I’m a huge fan of Marcelo Bielsa and his protégé coaches like Mauricio Pochettino.

Q: Honestly, are you a good trader?

A: I was/am an above average trader. I have strengths, weaknesses and I try to be free of bias, but I’m not always. I try to be rational, and mostly am. However I have survived, and am certainly aware of my own limitations. I’m a much better investor than I am a trader.

Q: What constitutes a poor investor and bad trader?

A: Essentially being a good investor or trader is about having a solid plan and sticking to it. An example of a below average investor is one who sells or switches investments when the market is in a drawdown whereas a losing trader usually has bad money management and blames the market. As Dirty Harry said, “a man’s got to know his limitations”. That is we cannot fight the market, but we can look to ourselves to see what really needs changing.

Q: Do bad investors always lose money?

A: Everyone’s a genius in a bull market. But as Warren Buffett said “only when the tide goes out do you discover who's been swimming naked”.

Q: Is this a rort? Only if you're not involved.

A: The content on this site is free of any charge. It might be worth what you are paying for it, as some of it is recycled anyway. However I do know one thing is certain - that almost nothing is certain. There will be multiple attempts to overcome a myriad of behavioural issues including our own ignorance, biases and emotions. Everything posted is simply a collection of ideas in an attempt to overcome these obstacles.

Welcome.

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If I receive other FAQ’s I shall add to this page 

The information on this site is not to be construed as personal investment advice; it is for information purposes only. Investments or strategies mentioned on this website may not be suitable for you. This material does not take into account your particular investment objectives, financial situation or needs and is not intended as recommendations appropriate for you. You must make an independent decision regarding investments or strategies mentioned on this website. Before acting on information on this website, you should consider whether it is suitable for your particular circumstances and strongly consider seeking advice from a financial advisor of your choice.