How to Start Investing? Lose $100 Playing Poker

1. Economics and Investments education Firstly, get a Master’s degree in Economics in just under an hour by watching these four videos (and two of them are Raps) so very enjoyable: Keynes vs Hayek – Episode 1 Keynes vs Hayek – Episode 2 Ray Dalio’s How the Economic Machine Works Ray Dalio’s Holy Grail Then, start reading about conflicting successful styles of investing so that you can spot patterns and figure out what works best for you. Below there are a significant number of books. If you don’t have time to read these, guess what? You shouldn’t play. Therefore, if you can’t make the time, just buy an index fund. Job done. That’s what most pension funds are composed of anyway. If otherwise, you want to deepen your understanding and abilities, I’d recommend to start with the basics and then move up. As in cooking, sequencing is as important as the ingredients, so if you jump straight to Ray Dalio, you will probably struggle to understand much. 2. Start investing via Paper trading: Not real trading yet Select a hypothetical portfolio over 2 years by picking stocks and how frequent you’d invest and track their performance. Notice when you’re inclined to sell or buy more and take note of what happens. There are also apps that allow you to play this way such as Bloomberg, Moneybox and Invstr. Now you can decide the type of investor you want to be, how long you’re holding your positions (day trader, monthly, yearly, long-term), and how you’re going to analyse them. Choosing the stocks is not job done. You haven’t made your ROI until you liquidate. Knowing when to sell and have planned for selling is just as important as buying. Analogously, a good poker player knows when to walk away with her chips. This exercise will make it clearer what it takes to be a good investor.