Investing isn’t as complicated as it seems. But getting started can be really overwhelming, even when you know the basic rules. To make it less scary, try a mock portfolio before diving into the real thing.
Photo by Chris Potter
Over at LearnVest, financial advisor Brad Klontz says a mock investment portfolio can help people ease into investing. First, pick some investments — stocks, index funds, target date funds — whatever you’d like to buy in real life. Then, keep track of those assets over several months.
“Ideally, [this exercise] will teach you the value of a passive approach to investing,” Klontz says, referring to a low-maintenance strategy that doesn’t favour much tinkering with your investments. “The sooner you realise that you can’t consistently predict the market, the less [real] money you’ll lose.”
Really, the idea isn’t to see how well you do. You simply want to see how the market works so you can get comfortable with it. Knowing what you’re dealing with can make the whole thing less intimidating.
For more detail, check out the full post.
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One response to “Try A Mock Portfolio To Get Comfortable With Investing ”
Terrible advice. You won’t learn how the markets really work until you are in them and start experiencing the gains and losses for real. Otherwise it is just a game. If you can’t handle losses, and you will have plenty of them, don’t invest/trade.
Investing is actually a lot more complex than it seems, and it takes a long time to really learn your market. Paper trade for a short while to learn the mechanics, particularly if you’re trading derivatives or commodities, but then get into the market with a small amount that you are prepared to risk. Learn money management and always work to a plan – and never ever break your own rules once you’ve set them.