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I'm a 16 year old from India who wants to learn the basic principles of investing in order to secure a better future for myself. I've been reading quite a bit on various websites but those that I have come across seem to be too simple or too complex.

I would like a list of resources that teach investing and its pre-requisites from scratch, including books, YouTube channels or websites that require no previous experience in this subject. Interesting and well-written materials would definitely be a plus!

Any recommendations?

Yashaswini
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  • Look for questions with the tag starting-out-investing, you'll find a lot of similar questions like this – some_user Nov 05 '18 at 14:52
  • @SomeWindowsUser Thanks! I'll surely check them out! :) – Yashaswini Nov 05 '18 at 16:03
  • There are a number of free stock market simulators that you can sign up for. They will let you practice trading stocks without spending any actual money. This is a good thing to do to get a feel for what the market is like. Set up an account and start making trades and keep track of your results. You will learn a lot and it doesn't cost you anything. – zeta-band Nov 05 '18 at 20:06
  • Wow, that's nice. Would you recommend any specific ones? – Yashaswini Nov 05 '18 at 20:08
  • @Yashaswini We generally don't recommend specific companies or investments. If you search for "stock market simulator" you will find many of them below the paid ads. Don't use one that charges money, the free ones are quite good. – zeta-band Nov 05 '18 at 22:45
  • The majority of free simulators are more like 'Play money accounts'. A good simulator ties directly to the market with no slippage or make believe trades. IOW, you must trade at the bid or ask and you only get a fill for the number of shares that actually trade at that price. Since it’s virtual money, it’s nothing like the emotions involved with real money. It's useful for getting familiar with order creation/placement, testing trading strategies and learning the ins and outs of a trading platform. The best ones are offered by brokerage firms which may be an access issue at your age. – Bob Baerker Nov 05 '18 at 23:26

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In order to understand the financial markets, you need to become financially literate. The best place to start is the LIBRARY. Start by reading introductory material that isn't highly technical. There are a lot of "XYZ" For Dummies books. Build a basic foundation and then, move up the food chain.

As you increase your understanding of financial markets, look into more specific books about topics that interest you (Equities? ETFs? Closed end funds? Mutual Funds? Options? Futures? Long term Investing? Trading? ). Read everything that you can here, at Investopedia, at Seeking Alpha. Listen to Bloomberg TV/radio. IMO, avoid the talking heads at CNBC. Initially, some of it will make sense, some will not. If you find something of interest, Google it for more depth. Until you're somewhat literate, you won't have a clue what's worthwhile versus what's BS.

Most people new to investing start off learning about equity markets (stocks and ETFs) because derivatives markets (options) involve more complicated strategies. After that, the next logical step is usually credit markets (bonds) which is the other side of capital structure.

If possible, find a mentor so that you have someone to bounce your thoughts off of. This will help you to work through what you are absorbing from your reading. If available, find an investment club to attend.

Understanding financial markets is like learning a foreign language. It takes time and effort, something most people don’t want to do and as a result of failing to do so, they often lose their money. Financial markets quickly take the money of the inexperienced and uninformed. There's a lot of junk on the web. Until you learn some of the language, you're going to be cannon fodder.

Last of all, beware of investment advice from anonymous strangers on the internet, especially those directing you to web sites for fee based sign up :->)

Bob Baerker
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  • Thank you for the wonderful insights! They were very helpful!! – Yashaswini Nov 05 '18 at 16:06
  • @Grade 'Eh' Bacon - While reading historical posts, I found it expedient to be able to find multiple questions and answers on topics of interest. Therefore, I felt that it was an improvement to increase the linkage and I have been connecting Q and A-s via 'mass tagging'. Since you feel that doing this is not desirable, I will be happy to cease and desist. – Bob Baerker Nov 05 '18 at 22:37
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Welcome new user.

The only way to learn how to trade is to do so with real money.

Unfortunately the trading simulators just don't do it.

Like getting in to a punch-up, having a child, or playing pinball, there's no simulation, only reality.

You'll have to somehow or other come up with about .5 to 1 lakh INR which should be enough to open some sort of online trading account.

You'll just lose this, it's a cost. (There are many cost of learning in life - cost of going to college, cost of transport, cost of books, cost of courses etc etc. It's a cost.)

This will give you a foundation for life like no other. "Investing" is just letting someone else trade markets for you. A grounding in actual trading will set you for life.

Fattie
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