The Stock Market For Beginners – How to Invest in Stocks series is a complete course that teaches you how to invest in stocks if you are a beginner. The complete series is entitled: How To Invest in Stocks. This is the first video in this series and breaks down the Stock Market for beginners. If you want to learn how to you invest in stocks if you are at the stage of stock market for beginners, this series is right for you. In the How To Invest In Stocks series I break down everything you need to know about the stock market and how to invest in stocks.
This series is laid out in an easy to read format from start to beginning and it is a complete course in itself. If you were to start this series and work all the way through to the end you will be very proficient at how to invest in stocks.
I have several videos within the How To Invest in Stocks series and will be continually providing more content moving forward. I hope to publish new content every week. So, make certain to follow along and sign up for the free email. And, make sure to follow my YouTube channel so you can see the new videos as they show up.
Learning how to invest in stocks is not difficult as long as you work through a progressive process that shows all of the information in an easily explainable format. This is how this process is laid out. And, there are many other videos in the How to Invest in Stocks. This is the first video in this series.
All about me: D. H. Taylor
First
, I am an economist. I have worked as an economist as the foundation for my career and what I do within the stock market. I focus on economic data as the key element that drives the stock market. In fact, to me, the stock market is actually a barometer of how well the economy is doing. By taking this approach, by first looking at the economy as the driving focus for the stock market, I am often ahead of the curve with regard to movements in the stock market.
If you understand what is going to happen next with the economy, with respect to incomes for consumers, which translate into expenditures that create revenue for businesses, this will show you what will happen with stocks.
I am also a market participant having worked within markets for over 30+ years. I have worked professionally within the markets during this time and have even worked as a hedge fund manager with $2.1B Assets Under Management (AUM) as a FX trader specializing in options trading.
This is one of the most difficult markets there is to be successful and requires intense analysis of worldwide economies as well as a deep understanding of what moves markets. And, being an options trader, taking a highly quantitative approach to positions in the market.
Further, I have contributed content to many professional sites and media outlets and have been featured in some of the most respected media outlets there is. This has provided me an invaluable learning experience to show bring you this information within this series: How to Invest in Stocks.
All About Cannabis Investing Newsletter
I started Cannabis Investing Newsletter in order to analyze cannabis stocks. I analyze some 100+ publicly-traded cannabis stocks that are pure-play cannabis stocks. My analysis is driven by seeking value in these stocks, searching for undervalued and under appreciated stocks that could potential provide value as an investment.
Cannabis stocks represent an enormous opportunity for growth potential as the industry ramps up from being prohibited for nearly 100 years. As the country and the world gear up for this opportunity, getting in early into a potential opportunity will afford an investor a significant opportunity to create wealth.
I also focus highly on the economy and use economic analysis as a method of determining what may happen in the economy and use this as a springboard for investment opportunities. No business operates on an island outside of a far more sophisticated economic environment. Understanding the economy first, and understanding the sways and flow of an economy, and simultaneously understanding what will occur next with with a specific industry.
Combining Analysis Strategies
Combining analysis of the economy with a broad understanding of when the economy may expand or contract as well as having a deep understanding of a specific industry and knowing how te industry may grow is fundamental to success.
But, I also pay close attention to Technical Analysis. Technical analysis gives an investor the ability to visually see that their analysis is playing out. While the probability factor of technical indicators is very low – mostly below 50%, the overall big picture of both technical analysis and fundamental analysis, combined, are powerful investing tools.
If you are just starting out on your journey and learning how to invest in stocks, and are looking for a continued flow of information of sage investment advice so you can learn how to invest in stocks and stock market for beginners, following my content of cannabis stocks investments will be a solid opportunity for you to learn stock market for beginners information you can use throughout your life.
Stock market For Beginners – How To Invest In Stocks
The How To Invest in Stocks series is designed for all levels of experience. Some readers and followers of my content may have varying levels of knowledge. I am laying this information out in a format that flows. The flow starts from the very first steps for someone who is new to investing, stock market for beginners level, all the way to very sophisticated investors looking to hone investment strategies and improve their ability to make money in the stock market.
Regardless fo where you are, whether you are a stock market for beginners level individual, or a sophisticated trader, there is likely some information for you in this. However, some may want to skip ahead to areas they are more specifically trying to understand.
If you are starting out wondering how to invest in stocks, one of the very first questions you may have is: what is a stock? Knowing this is the very first step in the process.
What is a stock?
Stocks, shares, or equities are a financial instrument that represent ownership of a privately held or publicly traded company that has issued these instruments. The term stock, share, or equity are interchangeable and references to either is a reference to all. When a company issues stock of its company, they are selling interest in the company.
A share of a company would represent a portion ownership of a company and this is done by a company to raise capital or allow for the transfer of ownership from one person or entity to another.
For instance, if a company has 100,000,000 shares it would like to offer to investors, an individual can buy any number of shares of this company from 1 to 100,000,00 at a specified price. If the issuing price is $1.00 per share then the company would be raising $100,000,000.00 for use within the company.
While the term stock represents the instrument, the term share represents a portion of a company. A company may have an allotted amount of shares it can issue that is different than the total shares issued. For instance, the company may have 1,000,000,000 authorized to issue.
But, the company may only issue the aforementioned 100,000,000 shares. If the company issues the 100,000,000 in that one instance, then the total number of shares issued are the shares outstanding and represent 100% of the ownership of the company.
Stock Dilution
Should the company need to raise additional funds to expand its operations, then the company may issue more of the shares authorized. In the instance above, if the company issues an additional 100,000,000 shares, the shares authorized is still 1B, but the new shares outstanding would be 200,000,000 shares.
Any individual that had shares in the first issuance, which had a 100% ownership level, now would have 50% ownership of this company. This would be termed stock dilution.
Therefore, 100% ownership of the shares outstanding would be the 200,000,000 million shares outstanding.
Share Votes
Normally, holders of the shares outstanding, or shareholders, are able to vote on important issues regarding a company. Shareholders typically have one vote per share outstanding that they hold. So, if an individual owned 10,000 shares of a company, their vote, would count for 10,000 yeas or nays in an issue.
Super-Vote
Some shares may be authorized to have more voting power per share than others. Famously, or infamously, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, has super-vote powers with his shares that he owns. Shareholders may have some multiple attached to it that allows for their votes to count for that multiple per share.
For instance, if a shareholder has a multiple of 100x their share count in share vote capability, and they held 10,000 shares, their vote would carry the weight of 1,000,000 shares. In the case of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg’s super-share vote capabilities give him the majority say in any vote for the company shareholders.
What is a stock exchange
Stock exchanges are entities for investors to buy and sell stocks.
A stock market, or a stock exchange, is a place where equities and securities in publicly traded companies are exchanged between investors. Both stock market and stock exchange represent the same things and the two phrases are interchangeable. Investors “meet” on the exchanges and trade stocks, bonds, securities, and even futures or commodities on these exchanges.
By rules, all transactions must occur within the open market and are not permitted to be exchanged outside of the market system. This is to ensure the integrity of the exchange as well as to allot all market participants the ability to participate in any transaction.
However, it must be noted that an investor is not necessarily limited to buying or selling a specific security of a respective company on an exchange. An investor may be able to contact a company directly and buy or sell their respective security through the company Investor Relations department, via the company Treasurer. This is called a Direct Public Offering, or DPO.
Types of Stock Exchanges
There are basically two types of exchanges, whether they be for commodities, futures, stocks, bonds, or any other type of security. They are:
- Open Outcry
- Electronic
Open Outcry Exchanges
In the past, prior to the implementation of computerized trading, all exchanges were a physical location that had an area where traders or dealers met and exchanged securities. These dealers offered services to outside brokerage firms for individual market participants.
For anyone to exchange any kind of security or financial instrument, this individual would need an relationship with a brokerage, which would send any orders to the respective floor to place the order for trade.
This was conducted by floor dealers who would offer or bid on a security in the hope to buy or sell that security on a specified price. The dealer making the bid or offer would call out the amount of securities needing to be exchanged. Then, the dealer would hear calls, or outcries by other dealers looking to fulfill their own orders.
Electronic Trading
Today, many stock exchanges that used to be open outcry are now electronic and orders are filled via computer transactions.
However, and notoriously, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)[1]New York Stock Exchange NYSE, or the main exchange that is referred to as “Wall Street”, is still open outcry with order flow being assisted via floor dealers and electronic computers. The reason for this is that the NYSE is owned by the individuals that own seats on the floor.
If the NYSE were to move entirely to electronic trading, such as the Nasdaq[2]Nasdaq, the owners of these seats would effectively be unemployed.
Shares Authorized, Shares Outstanding, & Share Float
There are three terms that fall together in a company: Shares Authorized, Shares Outstanding, and Share Float. The three terms are grouped together because of their connection to each other. When a company starts out, the company would authorize a certain number of shares that it may issue to investors.
The number of shares authorized is a number issued by the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors may imagine is necessary over the course of initiating the business enterprise. Then, the Board of Directors, specifically, the Treasurer, would be authorized to issue shares of a company and raise the funds necessary to initiate the business.
If, for instance, the Board of Directors authorizes 1,000,000,000 shares to be issued, then this is the set number of shares authorized. This, however, can be changed, should the Board of Directors deem it necessary to increase or decrease the shares authorized. Then, from this, the Treasurer would set out to bring funds into the company by issuing, or selling, shares to investors.
If the Treasurer issues 100,000,000 shares at a value of $1.00 per share, then the shares outstanding is the 100,000,000 shares. In this instance, the total shares outstanding and in existence are solely the 100,000,000 shares outstanding.
The company could issue more shares outstanding and sell more of a portion of a company. The initial 100,000,000 shares issued would represent 100% of ownership of the company. But, should the company issue more shares, they would dilute the ownership of a company. This does happen from time-to-time with new companies.
Share Float
When a company is a publicly-traded company, the share float is the number of shares that are freely allowed to be bought and sold by individual investors. Shares that are issued by the company to either private investors or personnel with the company may have what is termed a lock-up period.
While these shares are “issued’ by the company, the individuals that hold ownership to these shares may not be able to exercise ownership of these specified shares until certain conditions are met such as high level marks for performance or a pre-determined period of time.
If a company had issued 100,000,000 shares and is a publicly traded company, the shares outstanding are the 100,000,00 shares. But, there may be a number of shares that are not permitted to float freely, such as 10% that are held in custody of the company. This would mean that the “float” is 90,000,000 despite its having been 100,000,000 shares outstanding.
What is the SEC
The Securities & Exchange Commission The SEC[3]sec.gov is the governmental body that regulates the trading of securities throughout the nation. First, a company originates inside a state and is licensed in a state. Then, when shares are offered to either private investors or traded publicly on exchanges, the SEC would regulate the sale of these securities and how a firm operates and reports its financial information.
What is Wall Street & How to Invest in Stocks
Regardless of the method of type of transaction, the notion of Wall Street is any exchange that would be the in New York and where financial transactions of securities are conducted.
Wall Street itself is an actual street in Manhattan, New York. The Exchange is considered America’s center of financial power. Both the Nasdaq and NYSE, despite being different exchanges, are considered part of Wall Street. However, the NYSE is an actual place that has a physical address on Wall Street.
Nasdaq, being fully computerized, is exactly that: A computer system and has no physical address.
Publicly Traded Stocks
To be certain, there are two types of offerings that a company may employ. And, if you are going to learn how to invest in stocks, understanding the process of stocks becoming tradable is a key step.
When a company goes “Public what they are doing is transforming themselves from a private entity where one or more investors own the company into a company where shares are sold to the common public. When a firm starts out, they may have one investor which could be the individual starting the company.
But, a company may want raise capital. And, this company could offer shares of the company to other individuals in order to raise money. This may be done as a Direct Public Offering, or, DPO. And, the company may add stipulations to the sale of these shares such as limiting the sale of the shares in the future.
When someone owns shares of a privately-held company, they hold the rights of ownership of their portion of the company. But, privately-held shares are sometimes difficult to liquidate if an individual would like to sell their respective shares. While doing a DPO has its benefits, there are also drawbacks related to share ownership with a DPO. The big drawback to privately-held, or closely-held shares being that transfer of ownership could be difficult.
Going Public in an Initial Public Offering
Eventually, the firm may want to raise even more capital or, the company may want to enable an transfers of ownership smoothly and quickly for its investors. The benefit of this is that early investors or employees who are vested with stock ownership, may want to cash out. Going public, or doing an Initial Public Offering, would entail listing on one of the various stock exchanges.
What a company is doing with this process is offering to sell ownership via stock to the broader public. The first time a company does this is called the Initial Public Offering. This is the first time that shares of stock would have been offered for sale to a company. If the company wanted to sell additional shares afterward, this would only be termed a public offering.
Typically, when a firm offers share in an IPO or additional shares to the broader public, the firm may enlist the help of an investment banker such as JPMorgan or Merrill Lynch. These entities with their vast customer base would offer shares of the company to its customer base prior to actual trading of the stock. Then, when the stock is formally listed and traded, the owners of these shares would have the ability to trade these shares.
Stock Sectors ETFs, Indexes, Mutual Funds
An exchange traded fund, or ETF, is a security that acts similarly to a mutual fund and tracks any of a number of types of securities, commodities, or indices. Unlike a mutual fund that trades once per day at the end of the day for valuation purposes, an ETF trades throughout the day just like a stock traded on its respective exchange.
An ETF tracks the price movements of individual companies that are held within the ETF. Or, the ETF may track the respective index or commodity performance if the ETF is derived by an index or commodity. By trading such as a security, costs are minimized compared to mutual funds.
Why are ETFs good investments?
ETFs are a great way to hold a position in an entire sector if that is what an individual investor is looking to do. For instance, if an investor felt that a sector would perform well and instead of acquiring a basket of stocks in the sector, an ETF that already has a basket of stocks that is within the sector may be an easy method of getting involved in the sector.
There are several ETFs that track the overall performance of the cannabis industry that may give an investor the opportunity to get into the sector without buying any one individual stock.
Mutual Funds
Unlike ETFs, mutual funds do not trade throughout the day but, instead have a valuation period at the end of the trading day which values the entire portfolio of the mutual fund. A mutual fund will work similarly to an ETF but, getting in and out of a mutual fund is unlike buying a security as an ETF through a brokerage firm. Instead, mutual funds
How to Make Money In Stocks – How to Invest in Stocks
You have goals and objectives for investing. In this section I am going to break down how to make money in stocks. Understanding how well the overall stock market performs will give someone a solid foundation to work with in creating goals and objectives to invest in.
Investing Timeframe & Objective
The very first thing you need to ask is: What is your overall objective. Then, you must also consider what your timeframe for achieving this objective is. Most of us would love to end up on the Forbes Fortune 500 list[4]Forbes.com Fortune 500 List. But, being realistic is one of the most important things you can understand.
Understanding what could be possible is a good start to understanding where you can end up.
Investing Environment
The very first thing to understand is that the stock market is something that is an indicator itself. When you put the pieces together it is easy to see that the stock market is the end result of the US economy – or, whatever country you are investing in. If you want to know what is possible with an investment, you need to understand where to start and how to look at the possibilities with the stock market.
On average, the stock market increases some 6% annually and has done so over many years. Given that, looking at a practical return on investment would start at that 6% figure as a benchmark to gauge your performance and goals.
But, it is important to understand a few things:
- 6% increase per year is an average for the indexes;
- You can achieve above-average returns
Also to note, the above average is derived from an index of multiple stocks. The chart above is the Dow Industrial Average over the previous 40 years. There are 30 stocks within the Dow Industrial Average.
What is an average
If you would like to outperform the averages then you first need to understand what an average is. Let’s look at some examples.
First, if there is one year that increases, say, 5%, and the next year the increase is 7%, the average return for these two years is 6%. But, if there is one year where the increase is 11% and the next year there is an increase of only 1%, this is also a 6% return on average for the two years. Finally, if one year there is an increase of 12% and then the following year there is a decrease of -6%, the average of these two years is also 6%.
So, when stock market pundits talk about the average return, it is important to qualify what this means.
An average within the average
In the above examples I talked about the averages for one year to the next. But, within any one year, there are also averages. Some companies outperform other companies in any given year. So, looking at the above information on averages, it is important to also understand that the average return for the year is based upon an average of companies traded in an index or indices.
Some of the companies within the major indexes have outperformed the overall average and some have underperformed the overall averages. Separating the two types of companies will allow an investor to better understand what might be a winning investment strategy.
How to Analyze Stocks & Companies
When you consider that there are a multitude of types of companies to invest in, you may also want to understand that there are a multitude of ways so analyze each company as a potential investment.
There are two basic schools of thought with looking at a stock, index, future, commodity, cryptocurrency, or FX currency. They are:
- Economic Analysis
- Fundamental Analysis
- Technical Analysis
Fundamental analysis breaks down the individual company and asks the question how well does a company perform financially, and how well does this company compare to all other companies. Next is Technical analysis which, this analysis negates how well a company performs financial, wether it is the best or worst, and only looks at the chart patterns the company’s stock makes (Or, commodity, future, index, crypto-currency).
Which is best? Actually, individual, neither work full-proof. But, together, they are information that can be used by an investor to make a confident investment decision. However, it is also important that no matter how well a company is performing, nor what the charts tell, these indicators are secondary to what is happening in the overall economy. This is the first place to analyze.
Understanding Economic Analysis
No company lives in on an island. Because of this, understanding the basic tone or tempo of the economy will empower an investor to time their investments appropriately.
How well is the economy doing? Before any investment in either stocks or bonds, an fair understanding of how well the economy is performing is the most important first stop. For instance, if the economy is booming, is that a good time to invest? After all, stocks would be moving higher and higher simultaneously since the economy drives the stock market. The truth is, not necessarily.
There is an old saying that plays out very well: Be fearful when others are greedy; be greedy when others are fearful.
It all depends upon the future outlook of the economy. If the economy is showing signs of too much inflation from a booming economy, interest rates may move higher and the economy could suddenly sputter lower. This would drive the stock market back down, and you would have bought at the very high.
On the flip side, if the economy is selling off precipitously, others may be fearful and this may be a good time to buy undervalued investments.
Understanding the economy
All of this boils down to understanding economy and having a fair grasp of the economy either expanding or contracting. This is an endeavor that is ongoing, but is necessary.
Understanding Fundamental Analysis
Fundamental analysis is the idea that if you have an understanding of how well the financial performance of a company is doing then you can predictively understand what may occur in the future for any one company.
For instance, if I company is consistently printing increasing revenue, and the company has done so for many, many quarters, setting aside outlying factors such as a faltering economy, then an analysis could reasonably assume that the company could continue to print increasing revenues – all else equal. It is that all else equals that is so important to quantify.
All else equal
When considering a company to invest in, an analyst will need to factor in all of variables that could occur with a company. You will need to consider what may or may not occur within the industry itself.
For instance, what about new technology on the horizon? Any typewriter repair man would tell you that new technology could mean lower future sales.
The use of Fundamental Analysis
Fundamental analysis Is the basis of analyzing a stock individually for its financial capabilities. A fundamental analyst would sift through all of the various components of a company’s financial data. From this, the analyst would determine fi the company has future growth prospects.
Using fundamental analysis entails looking at the economy, to start. And, the individual would also look at the respective industry. Then, the practitioner of fundamental analysis would analyze each of the individual stocks one by one.
By understanding the basis of the economy, the sector in general, and then moving to the individual stocks, this give the fundamental analyst the capability of looking to invest in a stock that may be growing significantly, but may also be undervalued.
Comparing stocks
I cannot stress the importance of comparing individual stocks to one another. And, individually, looking at both the sector and the economy prior to looking at any individual stock. Yo may look at any one sector because that sector typically brings in tremendous capabilities of growth. But, which stock is the best within a sector?
Comparing stocks to each other is the hallmark of a value investor. By comparing individual stocks to one another you are able to really bring in a lot of key analsis.
Types of companies to invest in
There may be three different types of companies that you could consider with an investment. While other types do exist, these three main types are going to be found frequently and I will cover here. Regardless of the company, whatever the product of service is sold by a firm, in economics we call these widgets.
The Ford Motor Company
The first type is a manufacturing company. A perfect example of a manufacturing company is the Ford Motor Company. They make cars. But, think through the process of manufacturing a vehicle. It is very intensive with parts, materials, and labor. This is a major factor in the price of a vehicle. And, every time the Ford Motor Company wants upgrade the look and component of a vehicle, they need to completely retool the entire line. This all adds up to significant costs in the production and sale of a vehicle.
Coca-Cola Company & Coca-Cola Bottling Company
The next type of company does not manufacture anything. For example, the Coca-Cola company makes Coke – one of the most recognized products on the planet. But, the truth is the Coca-Cola company does not make anything. The Coca-Cola Bottling Company makes all of the product and distributes these products.
The Coca-Cola Company effectively “licenses” out the production, distribution, and sales of Coke products. And, Coca-Cola Company gets a small piece of the pie every time a bottle of Coke is sold. But, the effort for this is minimal as all Coca-Cola really does is marketing. Nonetheless, the ability to scale up marketing is very easy. And, every single bottle of Coke adds profit to the efforts of marketing the sale of that product.
The Apple Computer Company
The last type of company is a good example of a company that makes one product and resells this product over and over again to consumers. For instance, the Apple Computer Company sells computers and cell phones & tablets. But, Apple does not manufacture these products. Instead, Apple merely contracts FoxConn to do all of the manufacturing of the hardware for Apple’s computers, laptops, iPhones, and iPads.
But, Apple does provide the software that comes with every product sold. This software is created once and resold within the products over and over, again and again. But, Apple also is a reseller of all of the software applications you can buy for your device. This gives Apple the ability to create a product and consumers continuously acquire additional functionality for each respective device. And, Apple gets a small percentage on every transaction without any further input.
Which company type is best?
Breaking down these individual company styles will show that some companies have tremendous inputs in order to produce a product, such as the Ford Motor Company and Coca-Cola Bottling Company. Other companies, such as Coca Cola Company & Apple, are less intensive to produce and the efforts can literally be resold over and over again without additional future efforts.
The type of company and its costs will potentially dictate how profitable a company can be. Building on this framework will ensure that an investor has a guiding future goal as to what kind of company to invest in. Breaking down when to get in to stocks is the next step in the process.
Monopoly Power and How to Invest in Stocks
Another factor to consider when trying to decide if a company is a potential investment opportunity is their pricing power. The above types of company examples are excellent in understanding how pricing power may affect the future ability for a company to profit. If company is dealing with a commodity product, then perhaps their pricing power is limited.
But, if the company has monopoly pricing power, this could be a powerful investment opportunity.
Using Ratios
One of the most powerful tools an analyst can utilize is the use of ratios. If you are looking to analyze a company versus another company, but these stocks may have varying degrees of metrics, using ratios will allow for powerful comparisons.
For instance, ratios give the analyst the ability to compare a $1B company to a $100B company. If the first company sees an increasing rate of growth in revenue versus a much larger company, this could be the basis of a more profitable investment opportunity.
Understanding Technical Analysis
Technical analysis is the predictive ability that chart patterns occur within specific charts and that this gives a “technician” the ability to invest in a stock when they see a visual signal. The problem with most technical chart patterns is that their success rate is less than 50%. Some, if not most, of the chart patterns only measure in predictive ability with a success rate of approximately 25%.
Should you consider using technical analysis versus fundamental analysis as a trading strategy? Perhaps yes, no, and why not all of the above?
Chart Patterns & Technical Analysis
The excellent book: The Encyclopedia of Technical Analysis, has run 100s of thousands of scenarios using all of the known chart patterns, most technical signals fall far short of capabilities to predictive powers.
But, technical analysis certainly has its place.
When is the best time to buy?
Any company, despite its chart patterns, or the financials it is printing, this does not necessarily mean that a company is set to become wildly profitable and that the company’s stock will head higher continuously. The first thing you want to understand is that the economy expands and contracts continuously.
And, because of this, the ability of a company to generate revenue is driven by that company’s ability to increase or decrease their revenue within any particular timeframe. The best part of this is that when an economy is contracting, it may be time to start shopping for future investing opportunities.
Technical analysis could signal when it is time for certain price moves to occur that are coincidental to fundamental analysis.
Trading Options for Strategic Investing
There is a sector of investing that is opaque to some. This is options. Options are tools that give an investor the ability to control a stock and take part in its performance without necessary owning the respective stock. Options are a very big tool that can accelerate your performance, or protect your portfolio.
I will have an entire series on trading options for strategic investing.
Conclusion – How To Invest In Stocks
For the complete course on How To Invest In Stocks, here is a continuous playlist from my YouTube channel.
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Investing is a popularity contest – How to Invest in Stocks
The biggest thing to keep in mind when you are learning how to invest in stocks, you being a stock market for beginner seeking to learn how to invest in stocks, is that stocks are a popularity contest. The fact is, you can devise the most sophisticated model there is. But, if the market does not know of any one particular stock, they would not necessarily find it to invest in it. And, there are thousands of stocks.
This is one reason that makes earning money in the stock market so difficult to be successful at.
Be Realistic in Your Goals
As mentioned, keeping realistic goals are the first key to success. If your goals are too far out of pragmatic reality, you would never truly succeed. Your goals could be something as simple as outperforming the major indexes. This is the first achievable goal of the best professionals in the industry, the biggest money managers.
Understand Your Timeframe
Coinciding with a realistic goal would be the timeframe of achieving that goal. Time is money, is the old adage. And, it is no truer than with investing. Give yourself an appropriate timeframe to achieve what goals you are trying to accomplish.
Know where to start
Understanding the economy is the first starting point. From the economy, you need a solid understanding of an individual sector, and then the respective stock in question.
Line up your analysis
Looking at everything when contemplating stock investing is a strategy that could yield solid performance. If you are certain of the future of the economy, and the given sector is going to perform well under present economic conditions, and you have found a stock that will likely outperform the individual sector, this will go far in your quest to learn how to invest in stocks, and how to make money in the stock market.
Invest for the long term
The most successful investors are typically those that have invested for long term objectives. This would entail having a very broad outlook and economic cycle in mind. Determining if you are a trader or investors is also something that will narrow down your investing style. As you learn more and more about what it takes with how to invest in the stock market, you will learn more about how to succeed.
