young person looking to invest more

hi, I'm 22 years old and work in a underground mine earning anywhere between $130 000 -$150 000 a year (contract rates). I currently have a Investment property in innisfail north qld which i paid $245 000 for 18 months ago current value would be around $300 000. Its rent return is around 15000 pa. I now live in townsville and i need help on where to go from here. I am making a lot on money and doing nothing with it how should i invest it. i would like to buy another house with in the next 6 month because i do no see the point of paying 400 a week in rent when that could be paying another house off for me. I do not know much about share and stuff like that but would like to get into it but i need to know what to research first so any help would be great.

With a wage like that, I would be inclined to really make a go of it. You could have some serious money when you get older.



Johny.

I agree - if you are earning that kind of money, the banks will love you. I'd buy more property.

If you are looking for a bit of diversification, have a look at low cost index funds or ETFs. They aim to replicate the market performance of your chosen index (eg ASX200), so only ever do "average" returns (ie no better than what the broader market does), but the management fees are low and you get good broad exposure to the sharemarket - over the long term, it should provide a good mix of income and capital growth.

eg. buy some shares in STW (SPDR ASX200 index tracking exchange traded fund) - gets you exposure to the shares in the ASX200, weighted the same way that the ASX200 index is weighted. You watch the evening news, they say the ASX200 went up 1% today, that means your shares went up approximately 1% too

... but real estate is great too.

thank you for that . Its taken me 4 years to relies that i should be doing more with my money then just spending it on cars and toys. I m not the smartest person in the world but if i put my full attention to something i can really achieve things i just need to study all this investment stuff as it is very new to me. the only reason i have the other house is because my folks made me buy it a few years back. So what other things should i be looking at to improve my knowledge of investing any good books that i should buy or anything.

There's a lot of books on investing out there - some good, some pretty average.

One thing to be careful of is that there is so much information out there on different strategies, it is easy to get overwhelmed by choice and get scared into not doing anything at all.

My general advice to people starting out is to start with what you are comfortable with, start simple - there's always time to learn more sophisticated things later once you are more confident in how everything works.

Have a bit of a search on this site for some of the threads where there have been lists of recommended books made.

My advice is to read lots and ask lots of questions - that's what we are here for! There's a heap of information on this site you can access for free as well - and if you are unsure about anything you read here or elsewhere, just ask!

thanks sims, i have been coming on this site every night for a couple hours and just reading threads an articles and the glossary even lol findind it very interesting

the simplest and easiest thing you can do will be to salary sacrifice as much as you're allowed into super.
This way you save the 40% tax and it will be another investment vehicle for you..

Do you have any savings?
I'd borrow to gear the savings and invest in managed funds.

Property could also be a good option and particularly in areas which have lost value or have stagnated since the GFC

from 0-130 properties in 3.5 years by steve mcknight is a great book for someone just starting out it goes throught his story and how he did it and also tax,realestate agents,goals,and motavation very good read!

yea i just finished reading it . it really opened my mind

While your still young, a good piece of advice is to get rich slowly (remember the story of the hare and the tortose). Make small decisions and learn from those. Find and talk to people who have been successful. Good luck.