I’ve said that it is a GREAT start not to have money to Trade at first. Apart from giving you the chance to have a strong belief in what you will do, it will give you time to learn. :p I know a few people ( me included!) who did some research, thought I know everything, then started investing (stocks and real estate), and lost money. I can’t guarantee that will NOT happen to you. But at least I can warn you and give you the benefit of my fruitful experience. 😛
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It dawned on me that there are really 2 things you need Money for – in order to learn to Trade.
- Educational materials
- Actual trading, and then some
EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS
- BASICS. Online broker’s website, or Stock Exchange website, educational materials on trading is readily available. They include basic topics like What Stocks are about, Strategies, Products, Mechanics of Trading, you can all get them for free online. They are written factually so they are a good resource.
- Trader’s experience – I found though that apart from the basic information / knowledge, you have to know more from great Traders who have a wealth of experience from the market. “Market Wizards” and “New Market Wizards” by Jack Schwager come to mind. Learn from insights and experiences (plenty in here! ) I made mistakes that you don’t need to do, how good is that! 🙂
- Financial news websites (online) are also a good source of market information. The materials you read could be useful, but not 100% reliable, ok? J For one thing, markets move so fast at times, what is written could be replaced immediately by another event
- More advanced trader education about Psychology, Business Planning is also important. I have done Van Tharp Institute’s advanced workshops and courses which helped me a lot. They have free tests and games too. Check their website www.vantharp.com
- Subscribe to newsletters about the market. I like Investment University / The Oxford Club. They have free newsletters and other products that you could consider.
- Trading blogs – l like the one written by Ken Long who is also a teacher in the Van Tharp Institute. There are a lot of conflicting / different ideas in Trading. I will only recommend what I think follow principles I adhere to and is useful to Women. Keep checking the Links page
- With the Trading process I have outlined in Walk This Way and will discuss at length later, I’ve woven in some Psychology and Business Planning to start you off. We’ll get there.
Meantime, here are some links to Educational resources, tutorials, software by Stock Exchanges themselves that you can check for yourself:
Australian Stock Exchange (ASX)
http://www.asx.com.au/resources/shares-education.htm
New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)
Publications http://www.nyse.com/about/education/1098034584990.html
Investor Education http://www.nyse.com/about/education/1022630233386.html
Singapore Exchange (SGX)
http://www.sgx.com/wps/portal/marketplace/mp-en/investor_centre
The Dawn…
One of the biggest mistakes I did was to trade after learning about Trading from the regular books and Stock Exchange websites. So I hope you know now about the other things that you need to prepare for.
However after all that “knowledge”, and even after “paper trading”, you’d need to allow yourself time and money to learn to trade “actual” money. To tell you the truth, it’s different when you put money on the line. Make a mistake, then you will learn. Actual trading will crystallize the lessons. Hehehe I’ve been trading for 9 years and still learning up to now 😛
My challenges : The hardest thing for me to learn or overcome is discipline issues, keeping losses small, taking profits. These are related to Psychology / Self-Mastery. Some technical knowledge about the market also factor in, but mainly it’s those three.
Your challenges : Who knows? 😛 You will definitely know after some trades. Hehehe Some components would be the same like profit-taking, loss, etc. but it’s different set of challenges for every trader as we have different beliefs and background. Marvel in what you will be learning.
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AND? That means you have to gather funds to cover education expenses, losses (think of it as ‘miscellaneous fees’) and your capital. Nobody told me that when I started!
You are way ahead of all other beginners!
May the Fierce be with you!