Too Chicken To Buy Stocks
February 16, 2007
Does it make sense to read books and magazines on building a stock portfolio but not actually have one?
Theoretical Investing
I loved reading the Intelligent Investor and am just starting on A Random Walk Down Wall Street. I look forward to getting the latest Smart Money and Kiplinger magazines in the mail every month and enjoyed breaking down corporate financial statements in my graduate classes. I know the concepts and fundamentals so what’s my problem?
Risk Averse
I lost several thousand dollars in the technology bubble during my introduction to the stock market in the year 2000. I learned some valuable lessons but since then have bought mutual funds and haven’t purchased a single share of stock. I know a lot more about investing now, I just can’t seem to get myself back in the saddle.
Easing Back Into Investing
I ran across a virtual stock game today at eFIPO that I’m going to use as my launching pad back into investing directly into stocks. The Virtual Stock Exchange by MarketWatch will let me practice analyzing companies and seeing how their stock performs over time. I’m not planning on making individual stocks a large portion of our portfolio. My goal is to hone my financial analysis skills to the point where I can find a few quality stocks for the long haul.
Back To Reality
Of course, this is just an exercise to strengthen my knowledge and grow my experience. Sooner or later I’ll have to suck it up and put my money where my mouth is. When I do, I’ll be sure to checkout the different brokerage reviews over at Generation X Finance to help me determine where to get started.
I lost more than just a few thousand in the bust and blame most of it on myself. I wasn’t really informed about stocks and bought because everyone bought and was making a killing. I started to get back into it a few years ago by investing in funds and I slowly got back into buying individual stocks after the funds didn’t do too bad.
P.S. Great blog, i’m a first timer.
I was the same way. I bought B2B companies because they were “hot” and hung on every word of Squawk Box. Hopefully I’ve learned my lesson
[…] Stock Market Behavior I’m definitely not savvy on stock trading but am in the process of learning more. Jeremy at Generation X Finance tells us about the importance of broad market behavior when trading stocks. “Each day before you make the first trade it is important to take a look at what the markets are doing. Identify if the broad markets are trending up or down, then determine what individual sectors inside the market are doing. This top-down approach will help you focus your trading strategy and allow you to filter out potentially poor trading ideas.” […]
[…] Carnvial Roundup Stock Market Beat hosted both the Carnival of Investing and the Carnival of Personal Finance this week. My entries were Too Chicken to Buy Stocks and a post about buying more insurance once you have a baby. […]