Is it possible to make money on investments: the main conclusions of the challenge participants for six months

What's happening?

Six months ago, Lifehacker's publisher Alexei Ponomar and development director Rodion Scriabin challenged each other in the Lifehacker's and Tinkoff's investment challenge. They invested 100,000 rubles for a bet, putting their beard on the line. Very soon, the one of the participants who earns less will have to part with it.

At the beginning of the month, Rodion and Alexei traditionally tell the readers of Lifehacker where they lost money and where they made money. And closer to the middle, they make a forecast for the next two weeks.

Last time both participants showed good results. Rodion spent his time dynamically buying and selling assets, while Alexey took profit on gold and took an observant position. Now we will check whether the experience gained over six months helps investors to choose the right strategy, and find out what conclusions they made during the challenge.

If you are also thinking of starting to make money on deposits, after the interview, read the answers of the Tinkoff expert to the most important questions from novice investors.

Interview with heroes

To begin with, as usual, let's check: have your expectations been met this month?

I was betting on the growth of oil and even bought something about this, but the rise is still insignificant. I expected gold and China to neither rise nor fall - and so it happened.

I had big problems with Apple stock, for which I sold almost my entire portfolio. But in the end they grew and I came out on top. If I know anything about expectations that have been met, they are.

Did you do something unexpected in December? Or stuck with the plan?

I haven't done anything yet. I come to the conclusion that some of the commentators were right: you need to fuss less and play for a long time.

It seems like I do everything the same way. And even the criticism of Cyril could not lead me astray. I repeat: they won't cut his beard, he doesn't have it at all.

What's your worst investment this month? Who disappointed you?

Both of my dollar acquisitions - Baidu and Chevron - are very misbehaving and barely growing. Maybe you just need to wait a little. 🙂

It's Netflix for now, but I believe in it. We had to sell assets a little to average the strong drop since the beginning of December. But everything seems to be getting better there. Here's what's important: firstly, Netflix has become the leader in the number of nominations for the Golden Globe, and secondly, the premiere of The Witcher will take place on December 20. I'm waiting for the rocket.

The challenge has been going on for six months. Please remember your loudest success and most offensive failure.

The biggest success is by far the gold investment at the start. It has grown very well and made our game interesting. I also managed to get out of it in time. A serious failure so far is NLMK, which fell by 17%, but now it has slowly begun to grow back.

Uf. The loudest success is to manage to buy and sell Alibaba several times a day and make money on it. In short, micromanagement is mine. The loudest failure - Cisco and Blizzard (so far nothing worse seems to be).

If you could go back six months, what advice would you give yourself from the height of your current experience?

We should have used Yandex's temporary fall! You could earn so good there that the beard issue would have been resolved ahead of schedule in my favor!

Oh yes, I would recommend! I would advise myself to purchase Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals Inc., Target, Apple and Alibaba for everything and wait until December to buy the car. Ha ha ha ha. You cannot ask such questions. Painfully.

What are your plans for the remaining two weeks?

In the remaining couple of weeks I plan to passively observe, perhaps I will sell something at the end of the year. I will hardly buy anything.

I sit out Netflix, buy presents for New Years, look at the revived Blizzard.

Investment FAQ for beginners

Tinkoff expert Kirill Komarov continues to answer our questions about investments. Use his tips! Perhaps they will help you start making money on your investments.

What else can you buy besides stocks to make money?

Bonds, ETFs, and much more. But in general, stocks and bonds are enough for an ordinary investor to create a normal portfolio.

What is the minimum amount you need to have to start investing? If I only have $ 50 in my pocket, is that okay?

This is normal, but not enough for investment. The average share price in the S & P500 index is about $ 130. To collect a diversified portfolio, you need at least 20 securities. We get a portfolio of stocks worth about $ 2,600. If we add bonds in the standard 60/40 ratio (60% of shares), then taking into account the minimum lot it will be two bonds - we already get a portfolio close to $ 5,000. If you collect it from Russian securities, you can get by with a smaller amount. But $ 50 is still not enough, not enough even for a Lukoil share. You can, of course, buy ETFs on the Moscow Stock Exchange, but the mountains of gold will have to wait for a very long time.

How quickly will the first profit come?

It's better not to wait for a quick profit. In general, you should not consider investments as a source of income. They need to be treated like savings. Quick profit is only in a mousetrap. A good and correct investment is long-term and boring. As George Soros said, “if investing is entertaining, if you’re having fun, you’re probably not making any money. Good investing is boring ".

How much does a good investor earn from his investments per month?

A good investor does not go into too dangerous and volatile stocks, diversifies the portfolio, keeps part of the assets in bonds, reinvests coupons and dividends, and rarely trades. Such a cold-blooded and long-term investor will be quite happy with a 10% return per year, and everything above will be celebrated with a bottle of champagne.

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Do not miss the results of the year in Lifehacker's investment challenge and look for answers to investment questions in the following materials. Until then, place your bets! Who will be left without money and without a beard?

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