Earlier this year, Mark, a newbie penny stock investor, watched one of his investments lose nearly half of its value by the end of the day. Mark was confused. He was a newbie, but he felt he built some confidence, understanding, and learned a lot in the past couple months of trading. He wanted to know where he went wrong. And before he had the opportunity to reevaluate and pick up the pieces, his investment disappeared all together. He was pissed, frustrated and at a loss.
He asked me “What now?” “Where do I go from here?”
“What happens now?” he said.
I asked him a basic question. “What are your investing goals?”
Mark didn’t have an answer. He hesitated and then rambled on about how he was interested in the markets and wanted to make money with a small investment. He didn’t have a specific financial amount he wanted to make and he wasn’t sure how he was going to make the money. He didn’t know his goal, game plan and process. He wasn’t looking at the details, he was unsure about his next move and he wasn’t going anywhere without a strategy.
Let’s be clear and to the point. Mark’s first mistake wasn’t that he was investing in penny stocks. His mistake was that he did not have a strategy and plan. He liked the idea of investing and making money, but he didn’t know where to begin.
Having a game plan is critical to your success. If I had not had the opportunity to talk with Mark, I’m sure he, like many new investors, would have jumped ship on penny stocks. I talked with him more about the importance of goal setting, strategy, etc. There isn’t a cookie cutter plan and every trader has his/her own trading plan. It does take some experience that you will get over time, and you must do your research.
This was a valuable and expensive learning experience for Mark. Now, he is more cautious, and intentional with his plan making far better decisions and gains.
I want to help you avoid this same mistake. Well, know that you will make mistakes, but let’s hope with some tips and guidance; you won’t fall into Mark’s original investment path. I want to give you the tools and confidence to invest in a way that works best for you.
Let’s start with the basics…. What are your investing goals?
This should be a clear and detailed answer. The first part of this will give you insight into yourself, which is awareness that every new investor should consider.
Your Personality is the Foundation of your Trading
What are your goals? Are you a risk taker or do you take your time and evaluate every angle playing a more conservative side? Are you interested in growing your bank account or preserving wealth?
Start here to find out what part of the market you should focus on. In reality, there are lots of ways to make money and protect your investments. Many people have made pretty pennies and nice fortunes in buying and selling stocks, options, commodities and international investments, as well. The point is finding a segment that fits you, your personality.
If you don’t want to or don’t have time to watch and be heavily involved with your trades every few hours, then you should stay away from day trading. Also, this is not for you if you stress all night knowing that some of your investment is in a riskier growth stock.
It comes down to your very own comfort level. You need to ask yourself what is your risk level, what will let you sleep at night, what your interests are, etc.
If you like evaluating stock charts, technical trading may be your thing. If you are excited about sifting through financial statements, value vesting may be it for you. As with anything in life, you’ll have a greater ambition and better chance at doing well if you like what your are doing because it fits your interests and personality.
Who Has Time For Stocks?
The next evaluation piece is time. How much time are you willing to carve out to focus on stocks?
I see way too often newbies getting involved without a specific routine. If you are working a 60 hour work week with a demanding boss, it’s unlikely that you will have time or be able to make trades at your work desk during the day. If you don’t carve out a little bit of time over the weekend to keep up with the market news or do some research on a stock, you may want consider longer-term investments.
Now, if you do have flexibility in your schedule and you are willing to do the work, research and dedication involved, day trading or penny stocks could be perfect for you. It’s risky especially being a newbie, but the rewards have very high potential. Again, don’t jump in with all eggs in one basket expecting a huge gain. You will make mistakes and have losses. It’s about minimizing these losses, doing your research, and capitalizing on gains along the way…some of these can be pretty nice!
Whichever direction you go, start with a paper trade before investing with your money that you worked hard for. There are even some online brokers that offer paper trading to help you get the hang of it first. Also, keep an online log or journal of your plan and what happened when you win and lose. This will help you to see patterns and tune into your strategies. This will help boost your experience, preparation and confidence when you use your money for the first time.
Resources
Do your homework! Make sure you look for quality resources. These can be blogs, informational websites, and online trading tools. Take it all with a grain of salt. Anyone that says this is the next best penny stock or the hot stock is not to be trusted. Do your own research on a company.
For penny stocks, you can start with a list of penny stocks that give you the top 100 best penny stocks. You can filter the list by volume, $ gain/loss, % gain/loss, 52-week high/low. You can even put a few of your favorites in a watch list to see how they do overtime while you continue to look at their charting history, news, upcoming product releases, etc. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, even seemingly stupid questions. People on chat forums are often helpful. Make sure to reference your favorites with the penny stock list daily.
You can follow traders that have more experience, but my advice, is to get your own experience. In time and patience and research, you will be ahead of most people out there.