Make Stock Investing Fun

During summer doldrums.

Stock investing looks harsh to me in August, even something the gods have fixed against me when I look at my portfolio and wonder, “Where is the performance?” When your investments are in the doldrums, what can you do?

Do Some Analysis

Experts say the first place to go is to the market’s overall mood; if it’s underperforming, your stocks will likely do the same. Who doesn’t want to take solace in misery? It loves company, i.e., everybody’s suffering except high-rolling investors, who have all gone to the beach.

Everybody knows somebody who made a killing, watched a stock in their portfolio split, and then split again, and they had a bullish story to tell or brag about. “When they hired so-and-so as the CEO, I knew that stock would go up!” your friend says. “So I bought another lot!”

I must figure out what stock on the horizon will make money, and nobody can answer that. I must do my homework and make a decision based on my research.

Generally, I believe the experts when they say to get a sense of where the stock market is, and that will provide a milieu to look at stocks. If the stock market is acting bearish, the stocks I own or follow will likely do the same.

Make Investing Work: How Hard is it to Buy Stocks?

The challenge in buying stocks rests almost entirely on the investor. If you hired a Robo Advisor, you’d have suggestions for many indexed funds, which many investors are happy with. Like the high-rollers, they’d go on vacation.

If your portfolio mirrors the S&P 500, it might seem like a great place to be. The elusive goal of making a lot of money, of picking those magical stocks that people get into that make them a fortune, sometimes seems like a goal out of my reach.

Will Artificial intelligence someday “create a stock market rise or fall, artificially?”

If you’re just starting, buy Stocks Online

Enough of the summer quandry. Let’s think about stocks the way beginners look at it. Buy stocks online. This is considered to be the easiest way to buy stocks. Use an online broker. Fund your account, and go ahead and start buying stocks.

Buy Stocks from a Regular broker

Whether it’s a full-service or regular discount broker, this is the old-fashioned way to buy stocks, and people still use it. A full-service broker will offer you buying advice. You can sit on a couch in a broker’s office and discuss stocks. It may be the way to go for a novice stock broker, at least initially. Full-service brokers also charge a fee, which might cut into your profit picture.

When Will You Finally Make Money?

The Experts believe the process takes several years, even though they only understand what happens with a stock market trader in her first year. In other words, the on-the-job training slope is steep. You can probably start making money after twelve months of playing the stock market, but allow yourself time to understand the market and how you can profit.

Can I Start Stock Investing with $1000?

You can invest in the stock market with $1000. Experts suggest you can do other things that amount to investments with $1000. Investopedia suggests you pay down debt, invest in EFTs or target-date funds with $1000, and other investments before buying stock.

When Do I See a Return on Stock Investing?

Companies pay dividends on a semi-annually, quarterly, monthly schedule, so depending on the company(ies) you invest in, your dividend will land in your brokerage account accordingly. Get a tracking app to monitor your growth.

Should I buy a single stock?

No. Experts suggest that buying shares of different stocks spreads the risk out. When stock investing, think strategically. Buy individual stocks after you’ve diversified. If company A fails to meet it’s earnings, then you have an index of companies to fall back on. They may all have bad earnings, but that’s unusual. Usually, you’ve spread your risk out adequately to realize a profit. Regardless, you need to spend time researching investments.

What’s a Robo Advisor

One way to start stock investing is with a Robo Advisor. A Robo Advisor offers advice from its artificial intelligence process, looking at various factors in your investment picture and arriving at stock picks.

Robo Advisors lean on passive index investing when suggesting stocks to investors, like the S&P 500, index funds, mutual funds, and other stock market indexes. If you follow a Robo Advisor’s suggestions, you could mirror these stock indexes in your portfolio and enjoy a broad market portfolio. You can still lose money, though; the advice will not come from a human being. It’s an algorithm-based robot-advisor.

What Factors Influence Stock Price?

Many factors can influence the price of a stock. The first factor experts point to is the supply and demand of a stock. If demand goes up, the stock price goes up…or down if demand goes down. What affects supply and demand? Information. For example, public perception is influenced by the news media, driving stock prices up or down.

What other factors affect price?

• Company Quarterly Reports
• Economic news: Jobs reports, government forecasts
• Inflationary pressures
• Monetary policy
• Consumer confidence
• Events around the globe
• Moves by major investors

The Tale of the Imaginary Hot-Cold Company Stock Share

So, a roller coaster ride of a single stock in the newly formed Hot-Cold Company starts with the news of the company’s stock offering. The Hot-Cold Co. manufactures toys that shout respectful words appropriate to any situation dictated by a computer algorithm. Initially, there’s an excellent demand for Hot-Cold, and Hot-Cold has a flexible workforce, so the stock rises.

Then, a knockoff appears to take advantage of Hot-Cold’s popularity, and Hot-Cold’s stock takes a hit. The knock-off proves faulty; it includes seven respectful words to Hot-Cold’s only three, but the public doesn’t appreciate the seven words much, so Hot-Cold’s stock goes back up, But the quarterly report from Hot-Cold cites continuing lag because the Knock-off interrupted the parts supplies line, and the price tanks.

Then the government reports that the oil price has plunged, and the Hot-Cold parts are arriving ahead of schedule. The stock goes up. But the Fed is still unhappy about inflation, so they raise interest rates, and the Hot-Cold stock prices plunge again. Consumer confidence in the overall economy rises next, pushing the Hot-Cold stock price back up.

The Hot-Cold Story Continued

Still, a country’s leader in the Sixth World is assassinated, who moonlights as a Hot-Cold promoter on global television. She was popular. The price drops again. But then some major investors, noticing Hot-Cold for the first time, buy up much stock. The price goes through the roof! Whee! Then, Hot-Cold’s company decided to split its stock in three weeks. The price goes up again and again!

The price of stocks is not as predictable as when a company decides to split its stock. Changes can come with little or no notice, causing havoc in your portfolio. Hopefully, you can monitor the investment news, sell at the peaks, and buy in the troughs, albeit some scoff at the effort. It’s summer! They suggest you buy blue chip stocks and check on them once a month. Forget keeping track of all the details. Anyway, that would relieve your summer headaches.

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