As you guys all know, I ‘ve been reading up a lot on stocks lately. This has lead me to learn a lot about the money market in general. It is a bit complicated and hard to understand in some sense but as you keep reading and re-reading you will start to understand the gist of it. I remember taking a banking and money market course in college and at the time, I thought registering for the class would be interesting for me. Little did I know that I would be falling asleep every single class to the sound of my teacher’s monotone voice. At the time, I could not understand anything about the topic. I don’t remember whether I failed the class or received a really bad mark for it. Either way, I don’t remember learning anything from that course other than how important it is to pick the right teachers. Now, close to 7 or 8 years later I am reading and trying to learn about it on my own. I never thought I would ever find myself sifting through articles about finances on my own time as self-development. Clearly, my mindset and my priorities have changed.
Anyhow, I still don’t know much about the money market but one thing’s for sure. I am a lot more knowledgeable about it than I was 7 or 8 years ago. Like I said, the topic is quite difficult to understand especially if you don’t know much about finances. But I assure you, if you keep reading it over and over again you will start to comprehend it little by little. I didn’t know there were so many ways to invest your money. I’ve heard of all of the possible investment vehicles but I never actually read into them in great detail. All I can say is keep reading it repeatedly and you will begin to process the information easier. Remember, repetition is key.
Now, I am not going to start getting into explaining what every investment vehicle means simply because it is beyond what I can explain. I do not know enough about this topic to start paraphrasing it in this blog. If you want to know more about it, make sure to check the websites I have listed below. Most of the content I learned is from Investopedia (again, I highly recommend you to subscribe to their email newsletters). It is such a broad topic to discuss. From Mutual Funds to CODs (certificate of deposit) to Treasury Bonds… I just won’t get into it and frankly, I don’t want to provide you with the wrong information as well. Just know, that there are many other ways to invest your money apart from just putting your money into a savings account.
Some of the different investments vehicles are listed below (not all are listed; check the link below for more).
- Mutual Funds
- Certificate of Deposit (COD)
- Bonds
- *Common Stocks
- Money Market Funds
- Futures Contracts
- *REINs
- *Real Estate & Property
- Stock Options
- *Treasury Bonds
*I am interested in learning more about it
On a side note, ever since I heard Robert Kiyosaki and Dame Dash saying how “saving is for suckers,” I’ve been trying to find ways to make my money work for me. So for those out there who don’t plan to use your money to build a business, invest in real estate or make your money work for you somehow then these are the other alternative investment vehicles available. Stocks are good to invest in but of course, it involves risk and especially now that I know there is technology available that can allow you to trade in milli and micro seconds is pushing me a little away from investing in stocks. Also, the fact that the stock market is manipulated by the government (the Plunge Protection Team) is a major turnoff which I will get into at another time. Regardless, I will still probably invest a bit of my money in stocks, just not my whole life savings (though I wasn’t planning on doing that anyway). Just one thing to keep in mind is that regardless of the risks you can still invest in stock markets. The only difference is to just be highly selective in choosing the companies that rise with the market. You want to buy stocks when the stocks prices are falling and to invest them in the long run. Also, you can educate yourself about different strategies such as short-selling (when the stock prices are falling) and stock options (“renting” out your stocks to other investors as insurance if the price rises). Again, I will get into those topics at another time. Think of buying stocks like you are shopping for bargains. You want to buy the stock at a good price. Don’t forget to look at the market capitalization too and not just the stock price. In addition, invest in companies that are innovative and constantly changing with the market such as Netflix and Tesla Motors.
I don’t know if I already mentioned this but there is a cool simulator tool that you may use if you want to start getting comfortable investing in the stock market created by Investopedia. I will post the link below.
The reason they say that “saving is for losers,” is because they would rather spend that money that they make to invest it into something that will pay them back their money and more. The key is to take risks, make mistakes and then learn from those mistakes. “Make mistakes faster,” is what Robert Kiyosaki says. But making money does not come easy. If it were that easy, everyone would be rich and poverty would not exist. So to recap, if you are the type of person who just wants to keep your money in the bank and let it grow on its own then put it into money market funds, index funds and so on and so forth.
To reiterate, I started this blog as a way to retain the information I learned on a daily basis because in psychology the best way to learn something is through explaining it to others. In Alexandre Clerment’s video, he was talking about how he started blogging because he was a shy person and wasn’t good at public speaking. By starting to film himself, he began to feel comfortable in front of the camera. I admit, I filmed myself once for fun and it was very strange staring at myself speak. I wasn’t in any way comfortable watching my own video. But I found this to be a very good tactic. I then remembered learning in school that the best way to learn was through explaining it to other people because it forces you to think and to reprocess the information to deliver it to someone else. So just bear that in mind every time you are learning something and want it to stick in your head.
I feel like I have A.D.D. in writing my blogs sometimes.. different ideas keep jumping in as soon as I start talking about something and then another topic comes up and then I just want to talk about that topic too. I need to organize my thoughts clearly so bear with me if ever I occasionally go off topic.
X.O.X.O.
-Fifster
