Retail investor hello
I'm very much an amateur, but I've always been interested in investing. Efficient capital allocation and identifying trends and profiting from them has interested me for many years, and I've only recently gotten serious about investing. I'm not interested in working in a fund or having a career in finance, but I am interested in learning how and why retail investors differ from professionals, both in strategies and philosophies.
http://iheartwallstreet.com/2011/07/08/deflecting-bullets/
Start there. I want you to listen very carefully.
The difference between you and the pros? Go tell Michael Jordan or pretty much anyone in the NBA you want to take him on. One on one. For $50 a basket. THERE'S YOUR DIFFERENCE. Opening an account on E-trade makes you a pro like putting a band aid on makes you a doctor. Identifying trends? THAT'S NOT INVESTING, that's trading. Capital allocations? You mean "where you put your money", yes? Ideally you'll put your money into things that make you more money. Naturally. More often, retail investors choose not to think for themselves and listen to people like Jim fucking Cramer, people whose paycheck comes from attracting viewers, not giving good investment advice. Retail investors think that every professional they talk to knows everything about every investment ever and are shocked when they can't get this information for free and it doesn't make them lots of money. Retail investors are taken in by every shmuck out there with a "newsletter" about "how to beat the pros". You're better off going to Vegas if quick riches are your goal, at least that will be fun.
That having been said, you can learn to trade, but it will cost you money and time. You can learn to invest if you want to manage your own money and wealth, and plan for the future......
Start here: http://iheartwallstreet.com/2013/04/12/value-investing-is-not-dead/
Then read the Wall Street Journal. Read books on personal finance. Go to Amazon and look up the highest rated information sources, and by 'highest rated' I mean stuff that has valuable information and not just high sales that drew in the most suckers. Start talking to people, and also LISTEN. Don't get attached to ideas, they come and go. So do companies that you could buy in to.
The bottom line of investing is that you're going to put your money on something that you think will sell at a higher price down the line. You're not "earning" money in the sense of getting a job or buying a business and doing the work. The work is here is figuring out what will become worth more. How much more, and how much time....only you know the parameters.
Good luck.
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