Seeing Green will make you Scream
The stock market is an elusive beast of an information source. It's fascinating and overwhelming if you just delved into the numbers roulette. I work in the industry and for a long time market jargon intimidated me. I realized quickly there were layers to the complex economy onion. I would try to pay attention to CNBC and other news sources that talked about markets and movements, movements within a day, a week, percentage gains and losses. Green lines, red lines, and what I got in return were concepts foreign to me that highlighted my ignorance. It's daunting to learn a new language and in this language you are given the opportunity to put your money where your mouth is. I, for one, gassed out after a while of mildly attempting to understand the importance and drive others had when it came to finance but I never had bought an equity or mutual fund or even considered starting a portfolio of my own.Â
No one starts out an expert at anything. It takes time to eventually become cavalier about something but even then- that is not what you want, you want to broaden your purview about finances. You want to demystify the market and make sound investment decisions. You want to tap into your inner detective and research firms, listen to news, make educated guesses about the future of a company. You want to feel confident knowing your money is going to work for you and empowering you in your journey for financial independence.Â
First step in my demystification process was to buy an equity position. I work in finance and never owned an equity. I did just that. I bought an equity in hopes it would bring me closer to be willing to watch news and research the markets.The next morning my alarm was the opening bell of New York Stock Exchange, I could hear it ringing in my ears 2,345 miles away in Utah. I morphed into a person who wanted to read news about the company I invested in, I wanted to read their reports, see what dividends they were paying, see what other analysts said about my investment. I became passionate about the small sum of dollars that was an extension of me in a field I wanted to grasp. But, more importantly it got me involved, I wanted to talk about finance outside of work I even wanted to write about it. I came closer and closer to feeling confident about whats going on around me and enjoyed the breadth of knowledge I was getting from my own research and others. I came to my own conclusions about information and I finally knew what to do with information and how to process it.Â
Sometimes, you need to make changes and take on more than you would have when you were younger. If making a small investment is your excuse to delve head first in the markets then do it.Â
If you can glean anything from this its my hope that you make an attempt at learning something new about the financial industry. If you're a beginner like myself I hope you think about your future and where you see yourself financially years from now and if you lose in the market think about it as your cost of tuition. I hope you light a small financial spark tomorrow that can eventually burst into flames.Â
