10 Steps to Take Before Investing in Bond and Stock Market

If you are looking for a quick and easy means of amassing wealth, investing in stock market could work for you. However, you need to learn about stocks and understand the stock market.

Get your house in order before investing in good stock. It’s fun to make stock market investments, but not much fun if you’re going to lose your money in the share investments.

Read: Stock Market Crash: How to Keep Your Cool in a Falling Stock Market

Investing in Stock Market – A Serious Game

Stock market investing is not a game to be played lightly. Here is a checklist for stock market investments that you need to walk through. It will help you successfully ride the ups and downs of this precarious market and locate the best way to invest money.

Before learning how to invest in stocks, take time to prepare yourself and learn about the top stocks to invest in.

Why and How to Invest?

If you believe that a company or its products/services are good reason for making an investment, that’s enough reason to become a stock market investor. That’s the ‘why’. As for the ‘how’ – you need to prepare yourself to answer basic questions like:

• How to invest in stocks
• How much money do I require
• How to limit risks as a beginner

1. Financial Preparation

If you are not financially well prepared for trading stocks prior to venturing into share market investment, you could face with selling newly purchased stocks at an unfortunate or inopportune moment.

Profits in the stock and bonds market are all about buying and selling the best stocks to invest in, at the opportune moment.

Buy when it’s cheap and sell when its high is the thumb rule when you start investing in stocks.

So, first things first! Get your financial house in perfect order before reaching out for the best companies to invest in.

Check Out: How to Diversify Your Portfolio: 4 Easy Tips to Maximizing Investment Potential

2. Identify Avenues

Nothing happens overnight! It could be years before you reap the harvest from your stock trading investments.

Before getting your feet in the water, make an outline of your plans and identify the avenues that you would like to invest in, these could be:

• Mutual Funds
• Bonds
• Real Estate
• Stocks

3. Financial Footing

Create a steady financial footing by searching for a good bank, before investing in shares.

Prime institutions will offer excellent services, whereas other banks might charge higher fees or an inability to optimize the savings potential.

Opt for two accounts, a checking account and a savings account, before you begin bond and stock investing.

Checking Account

You could begin by opening a checking bank account for monthly expenditure. This could be an Internet banking option or the regular bricks and mortar one.

Saving Account

In addition, you need to have a savings account where you can put your short-term savings from money earned through your bonds and stocks.  This will ensure that your money grows a bit, thanks to the interest. Take care to build up a sufficient amount of funds in the savings account. Allocate these savings for emergencies.

Also See: 10 Essential Tips for Learning How to Trade Forex Successfully

4. Get Your Priorities Straight

You could also invest in government I bonds along with keeping money in the savings account.

If you make any big withdrawals, the priority should be replacing the money first, before making further investments in bonds or stocks.  It will come in handy for a rainy day. Here also, an Internet bank or a bricks and mortar one will do just fine.

5. Financial Advisor

If you feel a little apprehensive about going it on your own, a financial advisor wouldn’t hurt. He can assist you in important decisions.

This doesn’t mean that you can be free of all responsibilities. You need to learn the ropes of stock and bond investments. There are many tutorials on the Internet dealing with stock market for beginners.

Yet, a professional could guide you and provide that secure touch. You can consider him like a kind of conscience, as he can steer you from tempting stocks that could actually be quite risky.

6. Create a Budget

I for one am a real stickler for this. Just sit down regularly and track your investments and expenses.

You can make the necessary adjustments and trimmings, so that you don’t find yourself facing sudden financial trouble.

First, get rid of all debts and do plan and keep some savings for a rainy day.

Must Read: How to Start Investing Without Looking Like a Rookie

7. Insure, Insure and Insure

Though it sounds obvious, not everyone thinks of insurance before delving into bonds and stocks.

Ensure that every valuable in your house is insured in case of financial emergencies.

Insure your house against theft and fire and flood. Get a life insurance policy, a car insurance, travel coverage and so on.

8. Invest Surplus Money

When you first begin to invest your money in the stocks and bond markets, invest money that you might not need for the coming few years.

Financial markets can prove to be volatile. You wouldn’t want to make an investment of $20,000 and then find that you need the money to make a down payment for a new car within a year or so.

The value of your $20,000 in the stock market could have dropped to $15,000, which means it doesn’t make sense to sell your shares at that time.

9. Go Through a Stock Market Tutorial

Learn the basic concepts of stocks and bonds:

• What are Stocks?
• Types of Stocks
• How do Stocks trade?
• Owning Shares
• Investment
• Speculation
• Companies to Invest In

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10. Take Your Time

This cannot be emphasized enough. Do all the preparatory work mentioned above. Get insurance, get rid of debts and do all the necessary research. Be patient and you will see your investments yield harvest.

No doubt, investing money in stocks and bonds is an exciting path to becoming a millionaire overnight.

There are some great stocks to invest in out there, but don’t get carried away by the idea. Before making investments read all about investment in mutual fund for beginners.

To Conclude

Now that you’ve learned the ropes in the game, get started! – What’s stopping you from taking the plunge in the stock and bonds investment?