ASX Sharemarket Game

Game 2 for 2006 is now open for registrations in the ASX Sharemarket Game. The game is due to start on August 3 and should be a bit of fun, even if it's just a bit of an eye opener. I played in the first game of this this year, which ran from February to June. I performed dismally, however, and need to give it another go. It takes a bit to get used to some of the games finer points, including the diversification restrictions, but there's still a lot to learn about the ebbs and flows in the daily market, even if you never plan on being a day trader.
One of the major reasons for my downfall in the last game was because I was always experimenting, and not sticking to a trading plan. My other problem with the game is that it doesn't truly match the trading style I'm aiming to have in the market, when I eventually just jump in there and start investing that is. I've been doing a lot of reading in the last year or so and I have become quite the fan of Warren Buffett, and also of his mentor, Benjamin Graham, who put into words the concept of value investing. Value investing sounds like the only true form of investing to me. Although it has it's critics, I can't see how researching companies thoroughly until finding a small number of bargain priced, low risk (as much as possible, generally due to the companies inability to be replaced in the market, and often due to a strong well recognised brand or something) companies before making any investment. Warren Buffett's puts accross that if you think a company is worth investing in, you should be willing to stake a large amount of your wealth on it, so you need only hold shares in a small number companies (5-10 Max). Also you should only sell when those companies become overpriced, or if you find another company that is of much better value. Why invest in your fifteenth best company when you could just put more money into your best one. Sounds pretty solid advice to me, especially looking at where it's gotten him. You've got stock market players like George Soros out there, but he is more attuned to the swings of finance than I'll ever be, and there's just too high a chance of losing everything with his kind of futures game.
Anyway, if you wanna give investing in the stock market a risk free trial, get on over to the ASX website and give it a go. Also the ability to start off trading with $50,000 isn't too bad either.