Sunday, December 7, 2008

Stock Market - Basic principles - Part 4 of 4

By Zigfred Diaz

In this article we will be discussing the last three principles of investment in the stock market. In the past articles we have already discussed the first seven princles. If you want to see the entire article, visit my blog.

8.) Take time to study- Investing in the stock market requires that you should take time to study what it's all about. You can't expect to succeed if think that you can just place in your money and hope that it will somehow grow by itself. Studying a lot of books and materials on the stock market will certainly help. When I first started investing I searched for materials in the internet regarding the stock market especially the Philippine stock market. I bought the "investor's primer" from the Philippine stock exchange. This is a great material for those who are new to the Philippine stock market.

You can also attend seminars on how to trade in the stock market. Several brokerage firms have conducted free seminars for those who are new to the stock market. I attended a 2 day seminar by CITISEC Online last year. CITISEC online is one of the most innovative, well managed and most active brokerage firms in the country. The information that you could learn is astounding. Studying the stock market requires continual study. You should not stop learning.

Read all the materials you can and attend all the seminars you can in order to learn. Don't be discouraged when there are terms you could not understand. For example just reading this post alone, you would probably raise your hands and tell yourself not to invest anymore since there are some terms you could not understand. You don't even know what "points" are when I was talking about them in point number 2. You don't even know what the heck is the Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi) or what does "Blue Chips" or "Bull run" mean. Worse you don't even understand what a stock is and how it basically works. But so what? I started out not knowing what some of these things are.

Most of these things were never taught in school. But I learned slowly by reading and experiencing it myself. You should watch the movie "Pursuit of Happyness" You will be inspired on how one man's struggle to learn the stock market has led him to make millions through stock market trading.

9.) News Clues - Know today's news and use them to your advantage. There are a thousand factors that are in the news that will definitely have an effect as to which direction the market will take. The most important page that an investor should read is the business page. This will give you an idea as to which stock should be bought or sold. My preferred daily news reading is the Philippine Daily Inquirer. I get ideas here on the possible directions the market will take.

10.) Don't delay today is the best day to start - Experience is the best way to learn. You may start small but the most important thing is that you start right away. Put off procrastination. Study how to go about it without rushing, but don't delay. If you already know the basics about investments start buying your first stock. Making your first profit from your first sale is truly rewarding. - 15224

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