Lucky, Stupid, or Both?

[Paprika]

I feel like a world class idiot posting this here since even the newbies are using terms that are meaningless to me. However, we have to start somewhere, right?

I started investing in the stock market at the age of 20. I knew very, very little, but I went on instincts, and I did pretty well, paying down chunks of my student loans. I stopped investing in the market for a while due to some other business opportunities I had. Fast forward to last week; I decided to start investing again. I made a 35% return on my first trade and I realized that I have the freedom right now to actually sink time into learning about this.

I have learned that I need to come up with a plan and that has definitely opened my eyes. I like plans and realize a plan would help me take the emotion out of it and give me a clear understanding of my objectives.

I don't even know the point of this thread. Have I just been lucky? Is it stupid to come into the market so blindly, just operating under minimal research and intuition? I realize it would be easy to lose when investing in risky companies, but aren't there some companies that are sure winners if you wait long enough?

I do already have a couple of highly rated books coming my way in the hopes that I can actually learn something and make smart investments. I guess I'm just not even sure where to begin; is all that charting overkill for a swing trader, how the heck do you even read those charts, have I just been really lucky?!

:?:

 

[Masquerade]

Bull markets can be very flattering.

I take it you're doing AIM stock to make 35% in a week?

 

[shadowninja]

I realize it would be easy to lose when investing in risky companies, but aren't there some companies that are sure winners if you wait long enough?

Yes. How do you find the winners if you're buying blindly, though?

 

[Chartsy]

www.timothysykes.com THAT'S how to make money on penny stocks...

 

[Masquerade]

www.timothysykes.com THAT'S how to make money on penny stocks...

You're joking right? Perhaps you should research him a bit better.

 

[Paprika]

Bull markets can be very flattering.

I take it you're doing AIM stock to make 35% in a week?

I only invest in the U.S. stock market if that's what you're asking.

Yes. How do you find the winners if you're buying blindly, though?

Eh, I guess it's not completely blind, but if I said I spent an hour researching the company, it would be an exaggeration. I don't know how to read complex charts and I'm not spending hours and hours looking for what to buy.

So, given you're saying that some companies are guaranteed winners if you wait long enough, is some of the problem that people get scared and sell too soon?

www.timothysykes.com THAT'S how to make money on penny stocks...

I haven't invested in penny stocks and wouldn't feel comfortable doing so unless I did so with a very small sum.

 

[DashRiprock]

after reading 6 posts def both.

 

[tomorton]

Paprika - there are lots of ways to be a winner in the game, i.e. making money, but the only sure way to lose it is to get knocked out. Therefore, as a beginner your objective is not to make money, it is to stay in the game. So my advice would be to focus on what you do when you're losing money on a position and how you can keep those losses as small as possible.

Good luck all the same.

 

[Paprika]

after reading 6 posts def both.

Can't argue with that.

Paprika - there are lots of ways to be a winner in the game, i.e. making money, but the only sure way to lose it is to get knocked out. Therefore, as a beginner your objective is not to make money, it is to stay in the game. So my advice would be to focus on what you do when you're losing money on a position and how you can keep those losses as small as possible.

Good luck all the same.

Thanks; I appreciate the advice.