A former colleague sent me a private message on facebook this morning. I was surprised and flattered upon knowing that she’s following Pinay Investor and she has already read most of my posts. She’s also interested to invest in the stock market but she doesn’t know how and where to start. She read my articles about my stock market venture but it was kind of “nose bleed” according to her. 🙂 She finds it challenging because she’s not familiar with the terms and she doesn’t really know anything about stocks.
Actually, one of the items on my long to-write list is something similar to this post. That is, to write an article on how to start investing in the stock market. However, it has been delayed due to varied reasons. Then suddenly, I got inspired to finally write about this topic after our conversation this morning.
Everything that I will share here is based on my personal experiences and I think that’s what makes Pinay Investor unique or distinct from other blogs. Other investors and bloggers out there may have different suggestions and tips on how to learn and invest in the stock market. It’s good to learn from different people and resources to widen your knowledge and learning experiences, but it’s your responsibility to choose who and what to follow based on your personal needs.
Investing in the stock market was tough for me in the beginning because first of all I know nothing about it. Secondly, I don’t know anyone – a friend, relative, or colleague whom I can ask about the stock market and how to invest in it. And third, it was my misconception that the stock market is only for the rich people or those who have a lot of money like the businessmen and politicians.
So I started reading blogs and resources on the internet about investing in the stock market. Everything was a jargon but I tried my best to understand it by searching for the definitions of the terms that were unclear and unfamiliar to me. Then I began attending seminars, forums, and expos related to the stock market.
I thought I was ready to invest in the stock market because I already learned a lot from what I’ve read and the seminars that I’ve attended. But I was wrong. I lost money on my first few trades. Then I began thinking that the stock market is not for me and I almost gave it up. But I continued and I slowly realized that losing is really a part of learning and experience is indeed the best teacher.
It’s been only five months since I started investing in the stock market and I’m continuously learning. I don’t claim to be an expert on this matter but I’m happy to share with you some of the things that I’ve learned along the way. I don’t want you to experience some of the challenges that I went through when I was starting or at least avoid the same mistakes and do better than I did.
And because part of my advocacy is to spread financial literacy, I will share some tips that will make it a lot easier for you to learn and understand more about the stock market…