RECOMMENDED READING FIRST
- Millionaire teacher (post on top of this)
- The 5 Rules for Success
- The Little Book Of Common Sense Investing
- Investing for Dummies
- Money : Master The Game
- The rest of the Boglehead books
From a request thread on /pol/ . Here are some books to get you started on investing. I'll also add in my 2 cents and a few dos and don'ts
=DO : =
- Save up before investing. You need money to invest. You definitely need money to cover any losses. And remember to save some cash for a rainy day. Be thrifty.
- Research, research, research. Read books, market news, annual reports and learn the terminology. If you don't know the difference between a stock, etf, bond and CFD you have no business investing. Read and research and eventually it'll all become clear. Then research some more.
- Find a brokerage with low fees. You may have to research a bit on that one. See above
- Learn your trading platform. Remember what I said about terminology? Right. You don't want to accidentally click on 'Sell Contra' when all you want to do is 'Sell'
- Understand that there are only 3 facts in the market : It goes up, it goes down and everything else in between is unpredictability. Make sure you are disciplined enough not to panic sell when you're investing in the long term.
- Buy low and sell high.
- Understand that past performance is not an indicator of future performance.
=DON'T=
- Buy on margin. That's literally borrowing money from the casino to gamble.
- Day Trade unless you're a pro. And even then, they lose quite a bit to commissions.
- Believe all information, especially inside information (courtesy of Jesse Livermore)
- Treat your broker like a friend. He's not. He's just acting nice so he can sell you shit. Whether you win or lose, he gets the commission.
- Chase after losses. If the market is crashing, wait till it hits bottom before buying. That may take experience. If you're a day trader, definitely do not chase losses but cut them.
- Get too excited to start investing. Educate yourself first. Know the pitfalls and rules and have enough LIQUID cash first. That means saving up. Remember : the market will still be around long after you're gone. Today's stock can be tomorrow's shit and there's always something new and exciting coming up. Be Patient.
- Trade in overseas markets till you're experienced. There are hidden fees, and taxes and worse, foreign exchange (aka currency spread). That's right, the cut goes to the money changer.
That's all I can think of at the moment. There are probably other rules but you'll understand when you do your research.