I’ve always wanted to know how the stock market worked and all of that good stuff.
It wasn’t until several years ago when I had that interest to learn more about it.
Like most people, I wanted to get in there to make more money, while providing me with a stable source of income.
It’s possible to make great money by investing in the stock market.
But, it’s never easy.
If it was that easy, everyone would be doing it, and we’d all be rich and prosperous.
That’s what I want to discuss in this post.
I decided to get into the stock market back in 2019 (now 6 years ago).
I was excited to get some exposure to it, and see what type of returns I would get overall.
Once I invested some money in there and saw how it worked, I was intrigued.
I was in the mindset of wanting the stocks to keep going up, which is what most investors aim for these days.
The problem was that it’s never the case.
The market has its ebbs and flows-
It goes up, it comes down, and it can go sideways at times.
That’s the true nature of the market, especially today.
After putting in some money into individual stocks and index funds, I was doing well.
But after some time, I started to see my performance go down from there.
There was a part of me thinking that maybe it was not worth it after all.
Yes, I started to doubt my ability to keep going.
After seeing the value of my money go down, I decided to throw in the towel and no longer participate.
Yes, I sold my stocks for some losses and moved on from there.
Not the best move to make, and it’s one I regret right now.
The problem with me was not being patient and sticking it out a little longer.
In the long run, those investments could have made decent returns.
Reflecting back on that time I had, I knew I could have done a better job.
What I didn’t do enough was the research component, and asking myself a fundamental question such as the following:
Not asking myself that question was a mistake, and one I’ve learned over the years.
Some other things to keep in mind include the following:
At the time, I didn’t do any of that.
If I did, I may have been better off if I continued down that route. But there are no guarantees at all.
Luckily, what I do now is much better than doing the traditional route of investing.
If investing in stocks is something you’ve considered for some time, it’s worth doing your research and ask yourself those basic questions.
If you do, you’ll be much better equipped as an investor.
I go over whether it’s appropriate to invest in the stock market in my latest post.
I break it down further and lay out some things to keep in mind.
If you’re on the fence or need to learn more about how to invest your money, this post is a great starting point.
If you want to check it out, here’s the link to the article.
There’s a lot of good information to review.
Also, while you’re there, I lay out a better alternative to stock investing that may be more appealing.
It’s much more appealing than going down the traditional route of investing.
But that’s up to you. In the meantime, enjoy reading the article.
Until tomorrow,
-Eric
Want To Invest In Stocks? Hold Tight was originally published in Coinmonks on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
