Improve Your Investment Skills

June 14, 2010

You work hard every day, so you want your money to work for you. Maybe you are accomplishing this with investments. But, everyone can get a little better. If you are looking for ways to increase your portfolio, improving your skills may be in order. Here is some advice on how to improve your investment skills.

Investing is an art that anyone can learn if they want to. Many follow the word of analysts and a financial adviser, but they can only take you so far. They can recommend, but the best fit for you will come from making your own choices for what you need at what time in your life. To do that, follow the few steps that we are about to give you so that you can be on top of your game and increase your financial nest egg.

  • Read up on investing – What area of investing interests you the most? Start there. It could be day trading, a particular type of stock, bonds, futures or what have you. Know how they operate, the trends, how to track them and more. As for other areas, read up on those too. You may not be interested in adding another component to your portfolio now, but when you are ready, you will know where to begin.
  • Study the trends – This was briefly discussed above. Trends depend on a lot of different factors: what is going on in other parts of the world, company issues, consumers and what is hot right now. Knowing how to read the trends will help you to sell when its necessary and also to buy when it looks like things are about to take an upswing.
  • Analyze your current investment portfolio – Where do you stand now? How have your investments done? Look at the steps you have taken to get where you are now. If you have been too hesitant or conservative, you may want to up the ante so to speak, depending on your long-term goals. If you have made mistakes that have led to losses, how can you learn from them this time around?
  • Practice – We don’t mean with your own money or anyone else’s. This is a mock project that many kids do in school as an introduction to the world of investing. If you want to try a few new strategies, use pretend money. Act as if you were buying a certain stock. Begin with a set amount of “money” and see what you can make of it. This way, if you make a mistake, you don’t lose your shirt. Use real stocks but fake money to hone your skills.
  • Investing can be tricky, but also very rewarding. No one wants to lose money that they are saving for the future. To get better at it, use the suggestions above.

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