steps to get started investing in stock market
Determine your investing Strategy
The best strategy is the one that works best for you based off your financial risk tolerance and objective
Investing in the Stock Market?
Individual stocks: You can invest in individual stocks 'IF' you have the time and desire to thoroughly research and evaluate stocks and companies on an ongoing basis.
Funds: If things like quarterly earnings calls and complex calculations on company's performance don't sound appealing to you, invest in Funds (INDEX, ETF (Exchange Traded Funds) ) which track a stock index like the S&P 500, FTSE 100, CAC 40, SET COMPOSITE, HANG SENG etc. This way you invest in every stock in an index. I.e. S&P 500, owns the biggest stocks of top 500 companies in the US
ETFs and index funds are usually intended to track and match the performance of a particular market index.
Index funds typically have significantly lower costs and are virtually guaranteed to match the long-term performance of their underlying indexes.
These funds typically vary based off management fees, minimums to invest, taxes, liquidity when available to buy on the market
Decide how much to invest?
You should consider that the stock market may not be a place for money that you might need within the next 3-5 years, at a minimum.
Don’t neglect to ensure your emergency/runaway funds are in full effect as well before you put all of your money towards investing and you are in control of your debt repayment plan.
If your credit card APR is higher than the historic stock market return rate of 7-10%, you should tackle your debt as you are loosing more by being in debt than investing.
Rule of thumb is to invest at least 15% of your income for retirement
Open an Investment Account
Opening a brokerage account is generally quite easy nowadays, consider the costs/commissions and available features
Continue investing #smartwomenfinishrich
The best and most recommended way to make money in the stock market is to buy shares of good and strong businesses at reasonable prices and hold on to the shares for as long as the businesses remain great (or until you need the money).