How to Invest in the Stock Market: Beginner Tips
Understand the Investment Before You Buy
Before you invest, you should fully understand the investment asset and why and how it will make you money. Learn as much as possible about the investment from trustworthy sources, like prospectus or disclosure statements. Consider asking a trusted financial professional for help before investing if you are still confused about the investment. The rule of thumb for most successful investors is to never invest in something they don't understand.
Don't Expect That Investing Will Make You Rich Overnight
There are rare opportunities to make quick money, but there is an abundance of "opportunities" for quickly losing all of your investments. Avoid "get-rich-quick" and fad investments, like recommendations for the latest "hot" stocks or unproven blockchain technologies. Again, understand all investments before you buy.
The text of an actual ad for a penny stock recommendation service in Google search results: "Learn how you can turn $800 into $356,900." When you see similar promises, understand that making this much profit is only possible by scamming novice investors.
Understand the Difference Between Investing and Gambling
For some people investing in the stock market is the same as gambling at a casino. Bet on a stock and see if it makes you rich. Investing in the stock market indeed involves choice and risk but it is not the same as gambling. Gambling is a zero-sum game where someone's profit is the loss of the others. But when you buy a stock, you're buying a piece of a company. If the company grows, your investment grows, too. In addition, you may receive your share of the company's profit in form of dividends.
But if the company underperforms, the stock price goes down. A company may go bankrupt and you can lose all the money because its stock will be worthless. This is the reason why diversification is important.
Diversify and Reduce Risks
Diversification is the practice of spreading out investments in different sectors of the market and different types of investments. The goal of diversification is to limit the impact of market volatility on an investment portfolio. It is typically not a good idea to pour all investments into one company, one asset type, or even in one sector. This is often referred to as "putting all eggs in one basket".
Diversification may be as a complex strategy as one desires, but a simple example would be investing in thirty different companies by buying stocks in various sectors. There is much less risk that all of the thirty companies will flop. If some companies don't grow the way you hoped they would, the many others companies in your portfolio can make up for them.
It is difficult to successfully pick stocks to outperform the markets over time, even for professional investors. For that reason, investing in just a few individual stocks may not be a good strategy for a beginner investor. If you are just starting, it's possible to invest in individual stocks with a small amount of money but you won't be able to diversify and still buy stocks cost-effectively.
Investing in mutual funds or index funds may provide better protection from negative impacts on individual companies and even entire sectors. When you buy a share in a mutual fund, you are buying a collection of either stocks, bonds, or other securities. You may own hundreds or even thousands of companies or bonds across different sectors at the price of one share. With mutual funds, it may be easier to build a diversified portfolio with a mix of investments appropriate for your situation.
However, diversification does not guarantee profits or complete protection against loss. Be prepared for downturns.
Read more: Diversification: Important Concept in Investment Management
Be Prepared for Downturns
The market will go up and down and there will likely be significant dips along the way. Historical data shows that the positive years far outweigh the negative years and the stock market constantly appreciates over the long term.
But the past performance is no guarantee of future results. When you choose to invest in the stock market, you must understand that you could lose some or all of your investments. As Waren Buffett said, "You don't know whether the stock exchange will open tomorrow morning." Hopefully, the stock exchange will continue to open, but you need to assess your risk tolerance.
Know Your Risk Tolerance
In investing, risk refers to the degree of uncertainty and potential financial loss. Risk tolerance is the degree of uncertainty and potential loss that you can handle. Taking on risk may potentially result in greater investment returns. Investors with a high-risk tolerance are willing to risk losing money to get potentially better results. Investors with a low-risk tolerance prefer investments to maintain the original investment. Some investors fall in the range in between.
Investors can potentially make more money by investing in higher-risk assets, such as stocks or bonds, and holding them for a long time. However, lower-risk cash investments may be more appropriate for short-term financial goals.
Only you can evaluate your comfort zone in taking on risk and what risk capacity you have.
Don't Try to Time the Market
You probably already heard that one should buy low and sell high. This advice is seen by many as a call to "time the market". This is not what it means for an average investor. Following the short-term price fluctuations and trying to buy low and sell high is called trading. Active trading is not the same as investing and could be a loosing game for inexperienced investors. Buying low, selling high is a rebalancing strategy for shifting money from asset categories that are performing well, in favor of asset categories that are not doing so well. This strategy forces you to buy low and sell high.
Not even the best investors can predict how the market will behave in the future. And although Warren Buffett is sometimes called the Oracle of Omaha, he often said, "I don't believe anybody knows what the market is going to do tomorrow."
Investing in the stock market is unlikely to make anyone rich overnight. Don't chase short-term wins, instead, focus on your regular savings program, consistent investing, and the long-term gains. For most average investors, investing is a long-term strategy.
Consider Dollar Cost Averaging
If timing the market is not a good idea, then when should you invest? Consider dollar cost averaging. Dollar cost averaging is the long-term investment strategy when regular investments are made with a similar amount of money over a long time, regardless of the ups and downs in the market. This strategy can protect you from the risk of investing all of your money at the wrong time, especially in a volatile market. This strategy may also help with the temptation to time the market.
Avoid the Fees as Much as You Can
Watch out for the fees that can eat up your profits. If your investment portfolio goes up 6% for the year but you pay 2% in various fees, your actual return is only 4%.
Investment costs might not seem like a big deal, but they could add up to hundreds of thousands of lost income throughout your investing career.
For example, if you invested $100,000 in a portfolio that earned 6% a year for the next 20 years without the need to pay any fees, you would end up with about $320,000. But if for the same initial investment you paid 2% a year in fees - after 20 years you would only have about $219,000. The fees you paid every year would wipe out more than 45% of your final account value. Two percent doesn't sound so small anymore, does it?
When choosing a brokerage service, learn about all commissions, transaction fees, expense ratios, and other fees to lower costs.
If you want to invest in individual stocks, learn about the commission trades and brokerage fees. Some brokers charge fees when you buy or sell stocks. The fees range from $0 up to $10 per trade. To avoid spending extra money on fees, you may want to limit the number of trades or look for commission-free investing. Keep in mind that brokers that offer commission-free trading may still have other hidden fees.
If you decide to invest in mutual funds, pay attention to expense ratios - annual fees charged as a percentage of your investment in the fund. A high expense ratio may hinder the growth of your investments. Some mutual funds have transaction fees or sales loads, which are brokerage fees charged when you buy or sell mutual funds. There are plenty of brokerages that have low expense ratios and do not charge transaction fees and sales loads.
Actively managed funds usually have management or advisory fees. These fees are typically a percentage of the invested assets, paid to fund managers or robo-advisors for their work. The management or advisory fees are similar to the expense ratio of a mutual fund, but typically are much higher.
Related: The Hidden Costs of Investing: How Fees Can Devour Your Returns
Rebalance Along the Way
Your investment assets will grow at different speeds and your life situation may change. It's important to keep your asset mix diverse to lower the risk of investing. Learn how to align your portfolio with the level of risk you wish to take.
You will need to open a brokerage account to buy and sell investments. Learn what a brokerage account is and how to open one.
Don't Forget About Taxes
Keep in mind that you will need to pay capital gains taxes on stocks you sell for a profit and on dividends you earn. The rate you pay on capital gains will depend on how long you've held the investment and your income level. Learn about how to pay taxes on investment income and research tax-deferred accounts such as an IRA and 401(k), as well as tax-advantaged accounts such as a Roth IRA.
Don't Neglect Your Other Financial Goals
Make sure that you have a plan that prioritizes all of your financial goals. This plan may include paying off high-interest credit card debt, creating and maintaining an emergency fund, and building up your savings.