Find out the latest news about InvestChat here. Thu, 28 Feb 2019 10:26:32 +0000 Thu, 28 Feb 2019 10:26:32 +0000 InvestChat https://www.investchat.com.au/community/forums/announcements.16/ Tue, 24 Oct 2017 06:01:51 +0000 https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/welcome-to-investchat.9514/ https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/welcome-to-investchat.9514/ invalid@example.com (Simon Hampel) Simon Hampel
InvestChat covers all aspects of investing, but specialises in financial planning, portfolio construction, discussion of managed funds and ETFs, using property and shares together in a complementary portfolio and structures such as trusts and self managed super funds (SMSF) and protecting your wealth using insurance.

Previously known...

Welcome to InvestChat]]> 4 Tue, 18 Oct 2016 12:29:11 +0000 https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/forums-going-offline-tonight-for-server-upgrade.9627/ https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/forums-going-offline-tonight-for-server-upgrade.9627/ invalid@example.com (Simon Hampel) Simon Hampel Tue, 27 Sep 2016 12:57:15 +0000 https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/membership-upgrades.9596/ https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/membership-upgrades.9596/ invalid@example.com (Simon Hampel) Simon Hampel
Basic forum access is free and will remain so, but we are introducing a new premium "Community" membership level which offers some additional features and benefits above and beyond the standard free membership. It also helps to cover the costs of operating the site. The main feature is the option to hide all advertising from the site - if you'd prefer an ad-free experience, our community membership option is perfect...

Membership upgrades]]> Thu, 15 Sep 2016 14:38:18 +0000 https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/new-forum-rules.9516/ https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/new-forum-rules.9516/ invalid@example.com (Simon Hampel) Simon Hampel Forum Rules.

These rules are based on a similar set which have successfully been in use on PropertyChat for well over a year now and are based on nearly 15 years worth of experience in operating the Somersoft forums. We are confident that our...

New Forum Rules]]> Fri, 16 May 2014 09:42:05 +0000 https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/server-upgrade.9087/ https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/server-upgrade.9087/ invalid@example.com (Simon Hampel) Simon Hampel
I did test it and it seemed to work okay, and this server is much faster than the old one, so I decided to take a risk and just move the site anyway.

Anyway, if you find anything on the site which is not working the way it should, please let me know so I can investigate.]]> Wed, 10 Apr 2013 21:53:18 +0000 https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/pending-forum-outage-tonight.8784/ https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/pending-forum-outage-tonight.8784/ invalid@example.com (Simon Hampel) Simon Hampel
This is a very nice upgrade, since it allows us to dedicate more memory to caching, which will dramatically speed up the performance of the site.

I can't predict exactly when the forum will be offline and for how long - we are currently approx #350 in the queue waiting for the upgrade and once it starts it will take around an hour...

Pending forum outage tonight]]> 2 Sun, 22 Jul 2012 03:01:33 +0000 https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/invested-moved-to-new-server.8489/ https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/invested-moved-to-new-server.8489/ invalid@example.com (Simon Hampel) Simon Hampel
Please let me know if you find any problems or errors.]]> Sat, 04 Feb 2012 09:41:41 +0000 https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/5000-members.4422/ https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/5000-members.4422/ invalid@example.com (Simon Hampel) Simon Hampel
(I only missed my target of 5000 members by the end of June by 8 days)

We had 2500 members in October 2007, 2000 members in August 2007, and 1000 members in February 2007 ... so we have doubled our membership in the past 8 months and grown 5 times larger in the past 16 months!

I'd love to see 10,000 registered users by this time next year ]]> 5 Sat, 17 Oct 2009 12:46:51 +0000 https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/site-upgrade.6137/ https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/site-upgrade.6137/ invalid@example.com (Simon Hampel) Simon Hampel
You won't notice most of the changes - but there are a few new features which you might find interesting. When I get a chance I'll write a post explaining what they are and how they work.

In the meantime, if you find anything that doesn't work, please let me know.

A warning: some of the new features might not look quite right yet - I haven't spent much time integrating the look and feel of the new bits into the site. Let me...

Site upgrade]]> Thu, 07 Aug 2008 04:20:26 +0000 https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/site-performance-today.4575/ https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/site-performance-today.4575/ invalid@example.com (Simon Hampel) Simon Hampel
Our web hosting provider is currently trying to reduce the impact that is having.]]> 1 Thu, 05 Jun 2008 23:41:51 +0000 https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/5000-members-by-the-end-of-june.4249/ https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/5000-members-by-the-end-of-june.4249/ invalid@example.com (Simon Hampel) Simon Hampel
We have been averaging between 10 and 11 new registrations per day over the past 100 days, so with 25 days to go, that gives us 250 - 275 new registrations expected ... looks like we may fall a bit short ]]> 1 Wed, 26 Dec 2007 07:58:49 +0000 https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/new-forum-topics-trading-and-listed-managed-investments.3498/ https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/new-forum-topics-trading-and-listed-managed-investments.3498/ invalid@example.com (Simon Hampel) Simon Hampel
Trading is a sub-topic of Shares and is for discussion of various trading techniques and instruments (including shares, options, currency, etc).

Listed Managed Investments is a new area for discussion about investing in listed managed investments: Listed Property Trusts (LPTs or REITs); Listed Investment Companies (LICs); Infrastructure Funds; Exchange Traded...

New forum topics: Trading and Listed Managed Investments]]> 1 Sat, 27 Oct 2007 07:23:07 +0000 https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/site-offline-tonight-friday-for-site-move.3253/ https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/site-offline-tonight-friday-for-site-move.3253/ invalid@example.com (Simon Hampel) Simon Hampel
I expect to take things offline from about 8:30pm (wife wants to watch LoEG tonight on TV, and I've already seen it )]]> 1 Fri, 26 Oct 2007 07:23:33 +0000 https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/2-500-members.3252/ https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/2-500-members.3252/ invalid@example.com (Simon Hampel) Simon Hampel
Just thought you might like to know

Attached is a chart showing monthly new registrations since July 2006. We're not yet at the end of October, so we may still pass our record from July this month!]]> 2 Tue, 04 Sep 2007 13:55:56 +0000 https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/site-offline-sat-1st-sept-for-major-software-upgrade.2989/ https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/site-offline-sat-1st-sept-for-major-software-upgrade.2989/ invalid@example.com (Simon Hampel) Simon Hampel
As a result, the forums could be offline most of the day - from around 9am.]]> 15 Sat, 01 Sep 2007 04:43:29 +0000 https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/new-feature-linkedin-profile.2990/ https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/new-feature-linkedin-profile.2990/ invalid@example.com (Simon Hampel) Simon Hampel LinkedIn profile in the control panel, which will show an icon on your forum posts and in your member profile page.

Look for the new option in the Control Panel -> Edit Profile -> Additional Information -> LinkedIn Profile]]> Fri, 24 Aug 2007 03:41:13 +0000 https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/2000-members.2919/ https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/2000-members.2919/ invalid@example.com (Simon Hampel) Simon Hampel
We had our best month ever last month with 219 new members, plus 111 new members so far this month.

I know most people aren't really interested - but you all know I'm a sucker for stats ]]> 20 Wed, 15 Aug 2007 13:51:49 +0000 https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/extended-outage-tonight.2910/ https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/extended-outage-tonight.2910/ invalid@example.com (Simon Hampel) Simon Hampel Wed, 15 Aug 2007 05:27:28 +0000 https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/happy-birthday-to-us-invested-turns-2.2907/ https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/happy-birthday-to-us-invested-turns-2.2907/ invalid@example.com (Simon Hampel) Simon Hampel
I'm ecstatic about how well the forums have grown - with over 30,000 posts and very nearly 2,000 members signed up in that period (especially good given how slow our start was!).

I think the InvestEd forums have become a great place for discussion and learning about all forms of investing, and I'm really enjoying being a part of this community.

Thanks everyone - we (literally) could not have done it...

Happy Birthday to us! InvestEd turns 2]]> 7 Mon, 13 Aug 2007 13:27:17 +0000 https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/new-feature-premium-membership.2898/ https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/new-feature-premium-membership.2898/ invalid@example.com (Simon Hampel) Simon Hampel Premium Membership option on InvestEd.

For only $35 per year, you will enjoy a more streamlined and optimised forum experience with no banner or sidebar adverts and many upgraded or additional features not available to regular members.

Here are some of the current premium membership features:

• Hide all banner and sidebar adverts
• Unlimited attachment upload (normally...

New feature: Premium Membership]]> Tue, 03 Apr 2007 01:50:29 +0000 https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/new-forum-topic-shares.2343/ https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/new-forum-topic-shares.2343/ invalid@example.com (Simon Hampel) Simon Hampel

I've split the "Shares and Managed Funds" forums into two separate forums: Shares and Managed Funds

The new shares forum is for discussion about direct share investing and trading, including LICs, EFTs, derivatives and commodities. Basically, anything that isn't a managed fund or unit trust.]]> Tue, 20 Feb 2007 04:32:53 +0000 https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/1-000-members.2198/ https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/1-000-members.2198/ invalid@example.com (Simon Hampel) Simon Hampel
This is great news - the more people we have on the forum, the more diverse the opinions and experiences we have available to draw upon from our membership base.

Thanks everyone!]]> Mon, 19 Feb 2007 12:47:14 +0000 https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/new-feature-hide-photos-on-forum-homepage.1193/ https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/new-feature-hide-photos-on-forum-homepage.1193/ invalid@example.com (Simon Hampel) Simon Hampel
Under the "Edit Options" area, right down the bottom under "Miscellaneous Options" you will find the option to stop the photos from showing on the forum home page.

It is turned on by default, so you don't have to change anything if you are happy with the photos showing as they do now....

New Feature: Hide Photos on Forum Homepage]]> 1 Thu, 15 Feb 2007 10:25:56 +0000 https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/20-000-posts.2180/ https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/20-000-posts.2180/ invalid@example.com (Simon Hampel) Simon Hampel
Thanks for making this forum a fascinating place to be - I'm certainly learning heaps from everyone ... and hopefully I'm able to help a few people in return.

Let's aim for at least another 20,000 posts by the end of the year ]]> 3 Tue, 09 Jan 2007 01:59:51 +0000 https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/choose-sidebar-location.2058/ https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/choose-sidebar-location.2058/ invalid@example.com (Simon Hampel) Simon Hampel
By default it is on the left. By changing the option in the control panel, you can display it on the right.

This is ideal for people running monitors at resolutions of 800x600 who normally have to scroll to the right to see the page content. Now, you can set the sidebar on the right so that the page content is on the left, and easier to view at lower resolutions.

It's...

Choose Sidebar Location]]> Tue, 26 Sep 2006 09:56:57 +0000 https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/new-news-feed-the-australian-real-estate-blog.1424/ https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/new-news-feed-the-australian-real-estate-blog.1424/ invalid@example.com (Simon Hampel) Simon Hampel The Australian Real Estate Blog have kindly granted us permission to republish their news feed on our forums.

An excerpt of their posts will display in our News Feeds area: The Australian Real Estate Blog.

You can opt-out of showing this news feed in your "new posts" and "today's posts" searches -...

New news feed: The Australian Real Estate Blog]]> Tue, 26 Sep 2006 08:45:23 +0000 https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/forums-offline-from-6pm-sydney-time-today-for-software-upgrade.1423/ https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/forums-offline-from-6pm-sydney-time-today-for-software-upgrade.1423/ invalid@example.com (Simon Hampel) Simon Hampel
Hopefully back online within a couple of hours.]]> 1 Mon, 11 Sep 2006 15:49:42 +0000 https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/opt-out-of-forum-updates.1194/ https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/opt-out-of-forum-updates.1194/ invalid@example.com (Simon Hampel) Simon Hampel
This can be applied to any forum and doesn't stop you from browsing the forums to see the posts there, but threads in those forums which have new posts won't show up in the "new posts" or "todays posts" searches - if you opt-out of updates....

Opt-out of forum updates]]> Mon, 11 Sep 2006 12:46:09 +0000 https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/forum-offline-for-software-upgrade.1186/ https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/forum-offline-for-software-upgrade.1186/ invalid@example.com (Simon Hampel) Simon Hampel
Will be back online later tonight.]]> 12 Thu, 08 Jun 2006 14:32:35 +0000 https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/forum-home-page-problem.908/ https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/forum-home-page-problem.908/ invalid@example.com (Simon Hampel) Simon Hampel
I'm working with our site host to fix it now ... you should ignore it the best you can ... only affects the home page and nothing else (that I've seen yet).]]> 1 Fri, 02 Jun 2006 06:47:17 +0000 https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/new-feature-more-searching-options.885/ https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/new-feature-more-searching-options.885/ invalid@example.com (Simon Hampel) Simon Hampel

You will notice a new search box at the top of every page. This is a site-wide search which utilises Google's search technology to (hopefully) return better quality search results. However, we first need the site to be fully indexed by Google, and the with the changes made to the site today, this may take a few weeks to complete.

So don't be too disappointed by the search...

New Feature: More searching options]]> Fri, 02 Jun 2006 01:30:09 +0000 https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/announcing-the-new-invested-website.878/ https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/announcing-the-new-invested-website.878/ invalid@example.com (Simon Hampel) Simon Hampel
The site has a whole new look. But more importantly, from this new platform we will be able to provide you with a large range of new features, such as: an expanding glossary of investment terms; downloadable audio files on investment topics; an archive of tools and utilities (eg. spreadsheets) for use by investors; and a live chat room where you can discuss investment topics with experts and other members. We are...

Announcing the new InvestEd website]]> Thu, 01 Jun 2006 04:00:02 +0000 https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/site-outage-this-afternoon.877/ https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/site-outage-this-afternoon.877/ invalid@example.com (Simon Hampel) Simon Hampel
I expect to have the site back online later tonight, but if it takes a little longer than I had anticipated, then I might need some more time tomorrow morning as well.]]> Thu, 04 May 2006 01:19:52 +0000 https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/preview-invested-2-0.812/ https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/preview-invested-2-0.812/ invalid@example.com (Simon Hampel) Simon Hampel
But I've also completely redesigned the look of the site, including a shiny new logo that we had designed, which we think is really cool.

Now that I'm almost done with the rebuild, I thought I would post a screenshot giving a sneak-peek of what the site is...

Preview: InvestEd 2.0]]> 2 Mon, 23 Jan 2006 02:11:44 +0000 https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/site-upgrade.573/ https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/site-upgrade.573/ invalid@example.com (Simon Hampel) Simon Hampel
Unfortunately, while the forum upgrade itself worked without a problem, there were some major problems with other parts of the site. I did expect there to be several things that required additional attention, but there was some rather fundamental problems that I simply couldn't work out quickly - and I didn't want to leave the site offline for that long.

I've reverted back to the way...

Site upgrade]]> 1 Tue, 15 Nov 2005 01:54:47 +0000 https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/happy-three-month-anniversary.405/ https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/happy-three-month-anniversary.405/ invalid@example.com (Simon Hampel) Simon Hampel
With 200 members and almost 2500 posts already, I'm very happy with how things are progressing.

Well done everyone !!!

Over the next three months (and indeed, beyond that), we will be working hard to get more content, to write some more great articles, and to add more value to this already valuable site. Your feedback has been very useful, and we will certainly use many of those ideas.

The value that our members themselves are...

Happy three month anniversary]]> 1 Tue, 20 Sep 2005 08:13:27 +0000 https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/announcements-forum-decommissioned.268/ https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/announcements-forum-decommissioned.268/ invalid@example.com (Simon Hampel) Simon Hampel http://www.invested.com.au/blogs/sitenews - or follow the links from the blogs menu.

A summary of the latest news entries will be shown on the home page http://www.invested.com.au/portal]]> Mon, 05 Sep 2005 13:19:40 +0000 https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/1000-posts-by-6pm.210/ https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/1000-posts-by-6pm.210/ invalid@example.com (Simon Hampel) Simon Hampel
I know it's a bit of a furphy - many of the posts are actually by the management team in our administration area - but it's still a bit of a milestone.

For the record, the post counts you see in the "members" area are only for posts in the publically visible forums. Any posts we might make in our private admin forums are not counted towards personal stats, only towards the overall stats.]]> 7 Thu, 25 Aug 2005 11:06:30 +0000 https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/polls.174/ https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/polls.174/ invalid@example.com (Simon Hampel) Simon Hampel
Originally, any vote in a poll (even if there was no actual reply posted in the poll thread), would cause the poll thread to move to the top of the recently updated threads list. This had the benefit of keeping the poll visible and attracting more people to vote ... but the downside was that it became annoying to have something marked as new when all there really was - was a new vote.

Now that I'm only allowing one poll...

Polls]]> Sun, 14 Aug 2005 20:26:37 +0000 https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/site-launched.1223/ https://www.investchat.com.au/community/threads/site-launched.1223/ invalid@example.com (Simon Hampel) Simon Hampel