Ways to Invest Money in the Stock Market — Our JourneyMy wife and I are in our mid-thirties with two little boys. Investing for the future — retirement, college savings, etc. — was something we always thought was a good idea, but we always struggled putting it into practice.
We took the route most people interested in starting a nest egg take ..... we handed over our hard-earned money to the "experts" to invest for us. The "experts" seemed to be doing decently for a while, but when we look back now, so did the entire stock market at that time. Then came the bear market and stock indexes started plummeting. Our portfolio started shrinking at an alarming rate. But we were assured by the "experts" that this was just temporary and it would soon rebound. We wondered if they would still charge us for handling our money during this time. After all, they were losing our money. But charge us they did. That's just how the system works.
We were enraged and felt cheated. We suspect you have felt that way, too, at some point, or perhaps you are feeling that way right now. It was a helpless situation since we didn't really have a background in finance. Our careers were focused in Engineering and IT and we didn't have any clue about investing.
So we did the only thing we knew to do at that point ..... research and homework. Teaching ourselves the basics of the stock market, then experimenting with small amounts of money till we came up with strategies that worked.
Like any endeavor worth mastering, the beginning was rough. Progress was frustratingly slow. We literally had to weed through a ton of junk before we could find material that actually made sense. If you've tried to research stock investing on the internet — or search for books — chances are you were overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information out there. A lot of this information comes with fancy titles and lofty promises, but once you dig in you find it hopelessly lacking in substance. It seemed like there was a glut of people with all kinds of theories on ways to invest money. And all kinds of products to sell us, we soon learned. We quickly found that most of the material out there preys on our basic human desire of instant gratification — make boatloads of money... fast! And of course with minimal risk and effort! As seductive as these messages were, we somehow clung to our belief that we would do well if we were willing to work hard and smart, experiment with different strategies, and keep persevering. We absolutely weren't going to hand over our money to someone else to manage.
We started with small, simple steps. We made several wrong turns, learned from them and quickly corrected our course. We were determined to stay the course and keep at it. We knew it wasn't going to be easy and did our best to prepare for it. After all, what was in our control was hard work and an attitude of perseverance. Gradually, we amassed a wealth of valuable information from some of the best investors of our times. And, to our delight, we started seeing the fruits of our labor.
Our research and experimentation lead us to invest exclusively in individual stocks. This was what suited us best. Our approach was very straightforward. We would spend a lot of time reading about investing in books and the internet. We weren't looking for random strategies; instead, we were seeking a sound investment philosophy to practice. Over time, we found what worked best for us and stuck with it. We were now making our investment decisions entirely by ourselves. We realized that there was really no one to blame anymore if we lost money. But now, we had some idea of what we were doing. Warren Buffett once said, "Risk comes from not knowing what you're doing.” There was this wonderful sense of pride and accomplishment to see our portfolio inch upwards Okay .... so how did we do once we took the reins in our own hands? Click here to see our performance from 2008 to 2011. You Can Do It! We hope our story motivates you to take charge of your own investing. It is NOT as complex as it appears. There's no doubt that it's going to take hard work and persistence. More than likely, you will experience some setbacks as you get into this. But as long as you approach stock investing with a learning mindset and start out with small amounts, that's just what it will be ... temporary setbacks.
This website is our attempt to communicate our learnings — several years of trial and error. The majority of this material is absolutely free! We've organized the material logically in an easy to read manner. If you're a beginner to stock market investing, this material should prove especially beneficial to you. We hope it enlightens you to develop your own, independent thinking when it comes to investing your money.
We would love to hear your feedback, your comments or questions. Perhaps you have your own story you would like to share? We encourage you to write to us. Looking for tips on how to get started? Why not subscribe to our Free Newsletter for regular installments of motivation and ideas?
Good luck in your journey! You can't afford to waste anymore time. After all...... no one, absolutely no one, has a bigger stake in your financial future than YOU do!
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