Stock Market & Business

I'm looking to start learning how to invest in the stock market effectively to make money with the least risk. I want to understand how the stock market works. I've played on MMOs such as World of Warcraft which virtually simulate an economy of making investments in items by buying low and selling high; while I feel this is the fundamental value (buy low, sell high) of the stock market from my understanding, I don't think it'll be quite that easy. :)

Also, I'm currently a high school student, which would mean that my parents would be the ones making investments, or I'll learn the ins-and-outs of the stock market so that in a couple of years I'll be able to make some educated business-related decisions. I'm in a few AP courses and I'll be taking some AP tests on those courses to accumulate some college credits.

I'm interested in the fields of Law, Business, and Psychology. I was wondering what courses I should take in particular that would help in any of those careers, but particularly business as that's why I've come here. Next year I will be taking AP Statistics as a math, but should I study any other subject on my own so I can try to get college credit through the AP tests?

15 Comments
 

Does your school offer AP Econ? If so take Macroeconomics and Microeconomics. If you had to choose between the two, take Macro. Oh, and pay attention in statistics.

Money Never Sleeps? More like Money Never SUCKS amirite?!?!?!?
 

Does your school offer AP Econ? If so take Macroeconomics and Microeconomics. If you had to choose between the two, take Macro. Oh, and pay attention in statistics.

Money Never Sleeps? More like Money Never SUCKS amirite?!?!?!?
 

Civics and Economics are covered but my AP Government class will replace those. I will check into AP Econ, however, as I've heard about people in my school taking macro/micro-economics. Thanks for the response! :)

 
Best Response
LLcoolJdon't take macro without taking micro first....

Why not? I remember my macroeconomics class had nothing to do with my microeconomics class.

In microecon you learn about the individual and how he maximizes utility and makes decisions. You also learn about the classic supply/demand graph and what happens with taxation, subsidies, price floors, etc. (in a nutshell)

In macroecon you learn about the economy from a bird's eye view. This includes aggregate demand/aggregate supply model, IS-LM model (they're the same one really), interest rates, labor supply and labor demand, etc.

In neither of these classes did I learn anything about the stock market, though. It wasn't until I took a class called "Financial Markets" my sophomore year that I really got a good grip on how everything works.

And even THAT won't make you a good investor. By the way, if you are looking to make money in the stock market with the least amount of risk, you are playing the wrong market. Go look at the market for treasury bonds if you want low risk.

The #1 rule of investing is: higher risk = higher potential returns and higher potential losses. So if you want to make a lot of money you have to take risk.

Wall Street leaders now understand that they made a mistake, one born of their innocent and trusting nature. They trusted ordinary Americans to behave more responsibly than they themselves ever would, and these ordinary Americans betrayed their trust.
 

Beef, when you say you took Financial Markets in your sophomore year, do you mean high school? If so, wow... my craphole school didn't even offer Stats or AP Econ.

I agree that econ courses will probably not DIRECTLY teach you how to invest in the markets, but Macro will help build some of the fundamental knowledge of the economy that any good investor has. Micro, on the other hand, helps build a framework to understand how rational business decisions are made. At the high school level, these are usually the most relevant investment-related classes you will find.

Money Never Sleeps? More like Money Never SUCKS amirite?!?!?!?
 

Beef, when you say you took Financial Markets in your sophomore year, do you mean high school? If so, wow... my craphole school didn't even offer Stats or AP Econ.

I agree that econ courses will probably not DIRECTLY teach you how to invest in the markets, but Macro will help build some of the fundamental knowledge of the economy that any good investor has. Micro, on the other hand, helps build a framework to understand how rational business decisions are made. At the high school level, these are usually the most relevant investment-related classes you will find.

Money Never Sleeps? More like Money Never SUCKS amirite?!?!?!?
 

high risk high return. that's the rule of the street. there is no low risk high return.

I have to say though, you are exactly where I was in high school. Ahhh, I remember the days in high school of skipping class to sit there...and staring at bloomberg.

Well, I recommend AP Stats/AP Econ/AP Psych as good fundamentals to your fields of interest. Those are necessary building blocks to start in the more advanced courses in your field.

As for stock investing, I recommend you play on a simulator until you can consistently get at least 20-30% returns minimum before you start investing your parents money.

Otherwise, good luck to you on your interests!

 

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