When I first started investing, I was entirely focused on stocks and made that choice without looking at the alternatives. Stocks are a great way to invest your income and receive a return, but they're not the only way. – John Border Chapter 1 Investment Options It helped that I had read a lot about stock market crashes and boom cycles to get emotionally attached to either one. However thanks to my wife who helped me stay focussed. My focus was always long term though you tend to get swayed by the next big wave like the internet boom of the 90's and the social media boom currently. I quit my job several years ago to devote full time to my stock market endevors. I wish you happiness and prosperity – in equal and generous quantities. Don’t spend more time or money than you have, and if you find yourself worrying about your investments, remember that even the world’s greatest investors often call it wrong. Investing became fun and emotionally rewarding, as well as bringing me excellent financial returns.Īpply what you learn here to develop your own investment style. As I learned more, I discovered that my background as an engineer gave me an advantage, and I found myself applying my analytical and math skills in a new way. I invested very conservatively and did a lot of practice investing on simulator websites until I felt more confident. In my confusion, combined with my engineer’s tendency to overcomplicate things, I made a few beginner’s mistakes and worried far more than I needed to before making a decision.īut I persevered and learned, partly by studying, and partly by doing. Plenty of books define investment terms like market cap, ETFs, and IRAs, but understanding those terms in isolation from each other didn’t help me one bit. I’ve read numerous books for beginning stock investors, and too few of them do a good job of explaining the big picture and where someone like you or me fits in. The biggest challenge for me over the past nine years was simplifying the process. Even if I had been dumb enough to do that, Nedra would have brought me up short in a big hurry. And I didn’t bet the farm on my stock investments. I didn’t figure out how to beat the market, although I wasted a lot of time and energy trying to. Or the more pessimistic of you are wondering if I bet our life savings on a dud IPO and lost everything. I know you’re thinking, What’s next? You’re wondering if I figured out how to beat the market and became a millionaire. So I bought a couple of books on stock investing and became a retail investor.

The United States economy was doing decently. Our children were grown and their college was nearly paid for. My wife, Nedra, and I owned our home free and clear.

I had a nice retirement package and years of savings built up. When I took an early retirement from my job nine years ago, I knew I wanted to try my hand at the stock market. Knowledge is power – power that allows me to maintain complete control over my investments and not be taken in by the latest and greatest investment fad without examining it for myself and seeing whether it passes the smell test. That advice has stayed with me and spurred me to keep learning.

My first accountant told me, Evan, nobody cares about your money as much as you do. I do include some methods from the experts in Chapter 6, but only so you can compare different approaches and examine them with a critical eye. That's because I don't follow financial gurus, and in my opinion, you shouldn't either. I don't recommend particular stocks, and other than some time-tested strategies that every investor should know, I don't recommend a particular technique or philosophy. My goal is to leave you with a practical working knowledge of the stock market with a minimum cost of time and frustration when you finish this book. This book is written for the retail investor who wants an overview of the market in easily understandable terms and a clear explanation of how the pieces fit together. In fact, I still believe that online stock charts are the greatest thing to happen in the financial marketplace since the New York Stock Exchange opened its doors. When the internet started making information about the stock market accessible to ordinary people, I started reading the online financial gurus. During my years as an engineer for one of the Big Three automakers, I began to pay attention to the financial markets and started faithfully reading the Wall Street Journal. I have always had an interest in business and investing.

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