It has been a rough month in local and global markets and while oil has been slipping, giving us some relief at the petrol pump, the markedly weaker Rand is taking back most of that petrol price reduction. With all the bad news flowing around somebody asked me if we were due for another market crash. The short answer is absolutely, but when? This year, next, what about next decade? Sure, some people do manage to correctly call a market crash, but you’ll typically find that they’d been calling it for years and years and if you say it often enough eventually you’ll be right.

As investors we focus on what we can control and that’s simple - the price we pay for an asset. If the price looks good according to our metrics then we should be happy to buy and even if the market then crashes – it has equally recovered from every previous crash.

In the week ahead we have a live webcast on Investment Clubs, which you can watch on Wednesday at 13h00. They are an excellent way to pool knowledge and resources, have some fun, learn and get rich all at the same time. We’ll cover different ways to set them up, how to manage the money and how to unitise them so everything is fair.

Coming up

Wednesday 6th June at 1pm - Investment clubs

Wednesday 13th June at 8pm - Sarting in FX

Monday 2nd July at 8pm -  Trading commodities without currency risk

Recent uploads

Other Relative Valuation Models

Trader's Setup

Four Important Candlestick Patterns

Money tip

I love my coffee. I have a cappuccino machine at home and get beans in from all the best spots in the world. Sounds expensive? But it isn’t, not when compared to what I was spending buying a couple of cappuccinos in cafes every day, now that was expensive. How much are we spending every week, month, year on those little costs that seem to be unimportant? The reality is that lots of small costs very quickly add up to one large cost. Know where you money goes and watch our 100-second tip - How much is that cappuccino?

All the best

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We have received a huge amount of feedback about our Investment Club webcast, which is now online here. There are also two links, one from Sanlam iTrade on setting up a trust and the other from PSG Online, which is a detailed and very valuable document on investment clubs. You can find these links on the Investment Club video page and both are well worth the read.

There are two webcasts to look forward to in the week ahead. On Wednesday 13 June at 20h00 Alwyn Burger is taking us through Starting in FX for beginners. If ever you have wanted to get involved in the wild (and dangerous) world of FX trading then this webcast is a must. Alwyn is an experienced and successful FX trader and he'll point you in the right direction to get you on the road to profit. Book here.

On Thursday 14 June at 17h30 we have the first JSE Power Hour of 2012 - Does Greece Matter? Greece votes again on Sunday and is still hogging the news and worries; but how does an economy smaller than South Africa's matter so much? More importantly, if they do default or exit, how do we profit? This is a live event, so you can book here to attend at the JSE in Sandton or book for the webcast here.

There were two great shows on MaudeStreet this past week. Keith chatted derivatives with the head of risk and trading at Global Trader and JSEDirect covered the Investec S&P500 Growth ESP IPO and for traders we include a segment from a live presentation - Unconscious Competence.

Coming up

Wednesday 13th June at 8pm - Sarting in FX

Thursday 14th June at 5.30pm - Does Greece Matter?

Tuesday 19 June at 1pm - Position sizing for traders

Monday 2nd July at 8pm - Trading commodities without currency risk

Recent uploads

Investment Club

Other Relative Valuation Models

Trader's Setup

Four Important Candlestick Patterns

Money tip

Drawing cash from an ATM is expensive and carrying cash around is a risk.

So why not keep a small amount of cash on you and always use your credit card for purchases larger than R100. The merchant then pays the fee and if you pay off the credit card in full every month you basically get free transactions.

All the best

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So the Greek election has gone the way of pro Euro Zone parties, albeit with no majority New Democracy and Pasok are going to have to try and form some sort of government. Good news, but it doesn't really solve the problem - it just keeps them in Europe.

On Tuesday at 13h00 Warren Peacock will be presenting on Position sizing for traders . This is a critical subject and we've done a couple of videos on it already, so you can get up to speed here. I always state that discipline is the most important aspect of trading, but discipline to what? Well part of that discipline is risk management and position sizing; Warren will help us understand how to ensure we have the correct position size.

Warren is also doing a two-day workshop in Johannesburg at the end of June, you'll find details here and if you are interested in attending contact him here (don’t forget to ask for a JustOneLap discount).

It has been a week of technical challenges from every direction. Our JSE Power Hour: Does Greece Matter video was of zero quality so we're going to rerecord it in the week ahead and will upload it as soon as it is done.

Alwyn did us another Starting in FX video, but he had serious system problems just as we went live and had to revert to a backup machine; the result was average quality audio, but it is manageable and still well worth a listen. That said, the content is great as he give some simple ideas around starting life as a FX trader.

Coming up

Tuesday 19 June at 1pm - Position sizing for traders

Monday 25 June at 8pm - Discounted Free Cash Flow (DCF) Model

Monday 2 July at 8pm - Trading commodities without currency risk

Recent uploads

Starting in FX

Investment Club

Other Relative Valuation Models

Money tip

What's your worst investment? It is almost certainly not a hot stock that collapsed, but it is most likely to be your car! Check out our 100-second tip: Your worst investment.

All the best

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Cash is king, always. Whether an individual or a company, promises of cash are nice but the real thing is what really counts. With this in mind Keith Mclachlan is doing a live webcast on Monday at 20h00 on the Discounted Free Cash Flow (DCF) Model. This will be the first webinar covering cash in a company situation and will focus on what free cash flow is.

In the past week Warren Peacock did a webcast on Position Sizing for Traders. This is critically important and he comments that without proper position sizing a trader has practically no chance of success. He's spot on and most new traders do not understand the power of position size and totally neglect it, and as a result a few losing trades sees them busting out.

Remember Warren is also doing a two-day workshop in Johannesburg on 28 and 29 June on Position and Money Management. Read more details here and if you mention JustOneLap he'll give you a 30% discount.

Coming up

Monday 25 June at 8pm - Discounted Free Cash Flow (DCF) Model

Monday 2 July at 8pm - Trading commodities without currency risk

Recent uploads

Position Sizing for Traders

Starting in FX

Investment Club

Money tip

We mentioned how important cash flow is, but for most people it is not about cash flow but rather about debt and credit flow. Paying off some debt every month and then just reusing the debt facility leads to an endless cycle of zero cash flow.

It's important to break the cycle and that starts with a budget. What is your income every month, what are you spending money on and what debt do you have?

Make a budget that pays off the debt over time, ultimately leaving you with real cash flow every month and ideally some free cash (cash that is not allocated for any expense). Once you have personal free cash flow you can start saving - it all starts with getting a grip on your finances and that starts with a budget.

Remember the ultimate goal is to save then spend.

All the best

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