The other day, J. Money posted about how he’s planning to start buying stocks again. I commented that buying stocks scared me a bit, but it got me to thinking. I’m not in a position to start heavily investing in the stock market, but I think it might be a good idea to take a little bit of money, do some research, and start buying stocks.
I didn’t put much thought into it, and then I was reading Smart Money magazine on the way to work (got a free subscription, so I thought I’d try it out), and I started thinking about stocks again. But I didn’t know how much money I wanted to invest.
Turns out I planned this without thinking about it. When budgeting for my Dollar a Day plan in YNAB, I put the funds into the “Investing” category. I’m not sure why I didn’t re-name this category, as all my other categories are personalized, but for some reason, this money was termed “investments.” I was pondering earlier this year what the best use of this money would be, and I think I have the answer. I’m going to take about $350 of that money and put it into stocks. What stocks? Not sure yet. There will be much research to be done.
I won’t get rich on this plan, and I’m sure I’ll lose some money, but if nothing else, it’s a good learning experience. It seems like a good time to buy, with the market low, and I’m not looking for a get rich quick scheme, but rather a long-term investment plan, so here goes nothing!
Megan is a 30-something government employee in the Washington, DC area. She got interested in Personal Finance when she got out of college and realized that her paycheck wasn’t going to go as far as she had hoped. Since starting this blog, she has managed to buy a house and make a solid start on her retirement goals, and hopes to help others do the same. Here is her story:
In 2007, I was a gainfully employed 20-something with no debt but not a lot of knowledge about personal finance. It was a co-worker’s comment about Roth IRAs that sent me to the internet, searching for information. It was then that I realized that I really didn’t know a whole lot about personal finance and that my current financial situation was due a lot to inherent frugal tendencies, generous family members, a fear of debt, and good luck. While that was working for me, clearly I needed a better plan.
While I had no debt, I was also pretty much living paycheck to paycheck and not worrying about going over budget (I say this as if I had a real budget) because I had an emergency fund set aside to cover any overages.
Except that’s not what an emergency fund is for.
So I did a lot of research, read a lot of blogs, and decided that I needed a plan. I needed to budget. I needed to know what I was spending my money on. I needed to prepare for the future.
I decided to create a blog not only to make myself accountable to others but also to share the knowledge that I gained along the way. I’ve learned so much from my fellow bloggers, and I hope that my readers can find something useful in what I have to share as well.
Definitely read “A Random Walk Down Wall Street” by Burton Malkiel. There are many philosophies for investing out there. I favor Modern Portfolio Theory vs Technical Analysis (forecasting through charts).
I say we turn the DC PF blogger happy hour into an investment club. What do you think? (Even if we don’t invest money, it’s a good discipline for looking at stocks.)
I think that’s a great idea. I’ve been thinking about also testing my stock picking skills using one of the virtual markets (I’m actually checking out Virtual Stock Exchange right now). Could be fun to set up a challenge for ourselves.
Yikes. You all are braver than I am! I’m sticking with my mutual/index funds.
yeah girl, let’s go get them stocks!!! i just picked up some GE the other day – my first go at it 🙂 so far i’m up a few dollars! haha…maybe you should head the club.
You can also start with different indexes if you rather be more conservative.
Wall Street is a scary world, but at least you have a fighting chance right now! If you’re interested, Investors Business Daily offers a free few weeks of website and newspaper prescriptions. They have a lot of great information.