Investing can take many forms and isn’t only confined to the stock market, with brokers in the middle. It can also be lending money (with interest) to a start-up directly or investing in precious metals and other valuables.
Movies such as “The Wolf of Wall Street” did an awful lot to make people interested in the stock market, and investing in general, but not as nearly as regular newspaper headlines that tell us how someone has managed to make (or lose) amazing sums of money by investing.
Have Enough Starting Capital
Investing can take many forms and isn’t only confined to the stock market, with brokers in the middle. It can also be lending money (with interest) to a start-up directly or investing in precious metals and other valuables.
Though it usually still boils down to how the stock market is moving and learning how to feel it, how to interpret it as quickly as you can.
Beginners are a far way away from such nuances and should instead focus on some basic and crucial things first.
As is with small businesses, having enough money, or capital, to start with is key.
Undercapitalization can quickly return with diminishing results for any type of business, and in investing it’s very similar.
Simply put – the more you invest, the more you will earn.
This rather crude piece of knowledge is not really linear, as investing smartly, buying, and selling in the most favorable moment can bring about an exponential increase of value in your portfolio.
While at the same time – the starting capital can be just played back and forth for years with very little change if you don’t pay attention.
Some laws state a minimum of $25000 to enter certain types of trading on the stock market, though with the advent of the internet you can easily find brokers and places that will “let you in” for as little as $10.
Most people decide to start with a capital of around $1000, though it should be more if you want to see some serious profit.
Always Be Up To Date
Investing has everything to do with knowing the right information at the right time.
Using an investment research platform to gain insight into the investment market is needed if you don’t have any other source to use.
Sure, you can read tens of different newspapers every day and be subscribed to business magazines, but the fast, digested version of the news is far more easily found online.
Huge investment funds and international think tanks have the advantage of employing people to spread out their nets far and wide, so they can get the freshest possible news at all times.
They use this to their advantage all the time.
So if you’re trying to be serious in this game –
you too should have various sources like stock alerts through a subscription service to inform you, and try to make friends at appropriate places to kick-start the entire thing.
Patience Is Key, Remember To Hold
We’ve seen it all over the news recently, how those who held onto their Bitcoins for long enough have become rich just for having enough patience not to sell when many others were selling.
This simple human virtue, patience, is very important in the world of investing, as rash decisions and a quick temper almost always lead to either a net loss or smaller gains.
Holding refers to refusing to sell your assets when there are buyers asking for it, as even if the price is going up you might judge that others will sell and that a certain asset will bring in more profit in the next wave of demand.
So remember, unless you urgently need to liquify your assets to get to some cash – don’t sell, or buy, based on rash judgment.
Don’t Go All In One
Diversification is the final crucial thing any beginner should pay attention to.
As we learn from the biggest stock market crashes, having only one type of asset in your portfolio means playing a very dangerous game, as you risk losing all of your invested capital as that entire branch comes falling down.
Some crucial resources, such as oil, gold, or real estate, will inevitably affect the entire economy if they start oscillating, but some areas may remain surprisingly stable despite that occurrence.
For example, if you plan to invest a lot into real estate, invest also in something that is a completely different field, such as food, or cosmetics.
That way you will always have an independents field that will oscillate at a different frequency, hopefully not with a loss at the same time.
Investing is a game, and the prize is great.
So if you are a really careful player, who dedicates their time to learning the rules of the game and how to avoid some common mistakes – you can easily make a living, or even a small fortune, by investing.
Photos: Shutterstock
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