Wednesday, May 23, 2007

investing in the stock market

As a financial planner, I have to dispel a lot of myths that people believe in. Everyone is looking for the best deal. Everyone wants to get rich quickly. It is not just a selfish dream, either. They want the best for themselves and for their families. When people think about investing in the stock market, they picture instant fame and fortune, or instant financial ruin. They do not realize what it is really like to invest in the stock market. These dreams of instant fame and fortune, while appealing, are ultimately self-defeating. If you want a successful stock market investment, you must proceed from a levelheaded position. You will make money, but you have to be willing to make it slowly and safely. Otherwise, you can lose it all.

My specialty is investing long term. Short term trading, it is true, can be lucrative, but it can also be dangerous. This is where most of the danger of investing in the stock market comes in. Although there is no such thing as a completely safe investment, there are some that come pretty close. Investing in mutual funds market, for example, if they are carefully chosen, is almost a sure bet.

The problem is that the more risk that you take, the bigger the payoffs. When people first start investing in the stock market, they do not want to sit on their money and watch it grow slowly. For many, this is much more agonizing than when it was in a bank account and did not move accrue any interest at all. I always advise these people to diversify their portfolios.

When you invest in the stock market, you should invest some of your money in high-yield, short term trades. Basically, you buy low and sell as soon as the stock hits a certain point. For long-term investing in the stock market, a much different approach is needed. You need to find stocks that will continue to do well for years to come. You can make a lot of interest off of investing in stocks like these. The point isn't really to sell them when they get high – although you certainly don't want to sell low! The point is to make money off of the interest that you accrue from the stocks. You can use the money that you make for further investing in the stock market, or you can put it away as profits.

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