3 simple steps to start stock investing (Guest post)

In a previous article titled ‘5 reasons why stock investing is so difficult to start’ (see here), I’ve mentioned the reasons that often become excuses, serving as inhibitions to the journey of stock investing. Many people have asked me how to address these reasons and the answer is simple: confidence.

However, not many people notice that it is their lack of confidence that affects their first step to investing, as opposed to risk appetite.

These are the 3 simple steps to boost your confidence, which will help you make your first investment.

 

 

1. Acquire financial literacy

Financial knowledge and literacy is essential for anyone to start investing. The fundamentals of stock investing are best found in their original state: books. Learn financial terms, explanations, logic and theories traditionally at your own pace. Grab a coffee and start hitting the books like you’re a student again.

The only drawback? There are many financial books out there that are similar but different. In that case, maybe just textbooks will suffice?

Alternatively, you can also go for courses conducted by stock educators. Most courses require a fee to attend, but some are free. The SIAS and SGX Academy both provide some basic investing courses for free. You can check them out here www.sias.org.sg or www.sgxacademy.com. Otherwise, there are many organizations and stock educators out in the market that charge a substantial fee for advanced courses.

Also, start reading business and financial news that often highlight the more important things. For example, what affects the distribution per unit (DPU) for Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs)? How do companies restructure in recession to sustain equity value? How does economic data like purchasing managers’ index (PMI) and non-farm payroll affect markets and stocks? What stocks are most affected by currency and interest rates?

News will highlight the important things that every investor should know. While saving you a fair amount of time, it also lets you familiarize with the myriad of financial terms and jargons, and keeps you updated on market happenings.

 

2. Practise through simulation

Regardless of whether you choose to get the basics via the traditional way of reading books or by attending some courses, the overall learning process is incomplete without practice. What better way to practice other than simulation?

Simulation boosts your confidence by allowing you to mimic the actions you would take in reality, without having to bear the costs.

Practising through simulation is also particularly useful to gauge your own investment decisions. If you’ve predicted the stock price to either go up or down, simulate the trade. This way, you can know how accurate your analysis is.

There are many websites that allow you to simulate trades, like Marketwatch.com and Investopedia.com. Start trading with virtual money based on real stocks. Other than simulation, you can also make projections on a stock, on platforms like InvestingNote. Rather than just fluctuations ups or down, you can estimate a stock’s final price based on your own time frame and target. A notification will be made if it’s a hit or a miss within stipulated time, for you to gage your own judgment. Simulating and estimating trades based on stocks in real-time will definitely speed up the learning process and build confidence.

 

3. Learn from experts

The last step for your journey in learning how to invest is to learn from professionals or experienced investors themselves. Start attending free talks, seminars and fairs. Invest Carnival, Invest Fairs and private seminars are often held by ShareInvestor, SGX and brokerage firms like PhillipCapital. Attending such talks and seminars given by experts will give you a better idea of the significant things that are relevant to beginners.

If you’re the keen learner who’s always asking questions, try leveraging on the experts found on social networks like Facebook discussion groups or the social trading network InvestingNote. Being within a social network not only allows you to see what experts are thinking when they post, but also includes you as a part of the stock investing community. Never be afraid to ask questions and interact with the experts and the experienced. Learning is at its best when transformed into a two-way interaction. Information becomes communication and it empowers personal learning. Also, keeping up to date with the latest financial news and trending insights will give you that edge which traditional textbooks won’t.

It becomes a virtual classroom. It’s almost like you’re having a tutor at your fingertips, except that there isn’t only one but many. By tapping on social networks, it will expand your personal network and interaction with experts and the experienced who are otherwise remotely located.

If you’re lucky, you just might find an expert whose investment style suits you the best and doubles as your mentor. Mentorship is equally as important when it comes to stock investing.

After you’ve taken these 3 important steps, you will gain more confidence to start investing, and build good investing acumen.

At which step are you currently at now?

P.S: This write-up was reproduced with permission from InvestingNote (www.investingnote.com), written by Ethan Ho.

The social network exclusively for stock investing, InvestingNote is a free, social network platform designed specifically for crowdsource investment ideas, news and interaction for the stock investing community. Besides having access to stock data, users can upload research reports, utilize technical charts and make stock price targets that will be visible to the entire community. Users can also gain reputation points when they have followers, likes and posts. 

www.investingnote.com