4/26/14
Getting into the stock market was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever made. It’s seriously NOT easy.
I initially learned a bit about stock market when I attended a half-day workshop called Cashflow 101 early in 2012. I found it interesting but due to lack of knowledge, resources and motivation, I totally forgot about it. I just thought it wasn’t for me and it wasn’t my thing.
When I got pregnant last year, I was advised to be on strict bed-rest due to some health reasons. And this was when I spent almost all the days and hours reading everything about investing, parenting, blogging, and anything that I can think of. Thanks to google for providing me the answers to all my questions and queries.
Two of my favorite blog sites that are related to investing in the Philippines are frugalhoney.com and thewiseliving.com. But there are a lot more on the world wide web. Just search “how to invest in the stock market, how to earn passive income, how to make money grow” and surely you’ll be directed to various helpful blog sites.
Reading blogs and articles online has indeed helped me in understanding not only investing in the stock market but also with other investment vehicles like mutual funds, UITFs, VULs, insurance, among others. It’s been almost a year since I started reading blogs and just a few weeks ago, I finally got the courage to open an online account for my stock market venture. And just like what I said early on, it wasn’t easy. And that’s the very reason why it took me some time to finally take on this challenge.
Almost everyone who ventures into any investment vehicle has his/her own turning point. And mine was simple. A few days before I opened my account, I stumbled upon a blog with a quote from Mike Dooley that says
“The best way to live the life of your dreams is to start living the life of your dreams today, in every little way that you possibly can.”
I suddenly felt awaken when I read this. There are so many things that I would like to do but I fail to simply because I don’t start it. Fear and pride keep on pulling me back from the starting line. I’m afraid that I might not be successful or that I might lose all my capital. I’m afraid that my family and friends would criticize or look down on me for not meeting their expectations or whatsoever. I’m always afraid of failure and that’s the reason why I just always want to keep it safe by not doing it at all.
I realized that I won’t know whether I will be successful or not if I won’t try anything at all. Most if not all successful people started from small things or even nothing before they became successful. And that’s because they took the risk.
I didn’t want to start yet because I felt that I wasn’t fully prepared and my basic knowledge about investing was not enough to get this started. And I had been delaying this for a few months already. Then I realized that there will never be enough because learning is a continuous process. It never stops thus we can never get enough of anything. But we can stick to what we have now and use it to start on this journey. We will never get close to our dreams if we don’t make the first step. And I’m glad I’ve made mine!
And I’m positive that all the rest will be learned along the way…