Learning about investing and stocks is no easy task, especially if you don’t know where to start. But it’s not mission impossible either – in fact, as long as you’re willing to make time for it and challenge yourself, you can learn quite a bit about investing. Here’s what you could do to expand your investment knowledge.
Read about investing
An easy way to learn about investing is to simply read about it. There are plenty of books available that can teach you a thing or two about stock markets – all you need to do is make sure it’s adapted to your level. If you don’t know much about investing for instance, then you’ll need to start with the basics. You could have a look at William Bradford’s Stock Market Investing for Beginners or just read The Financial Times Guide to Investing by Glen Arnold.
Alternatively, if you’re just looking for a quick read to learn about the fundamentals of investing, then why not check out our blogs? We make sure to cover many different topics, from investment types to pensions – and not to brag, but we think they’re very well written, check for yourself: https://www.wealthify.com/blog.
Take investment courses
Another way to learn about investing is to enrol in a course whether online or offline. The advantage of taking a course is that you’ll benefit from the expertise of investment professionals and you’ll be able to ask questions if you’re struggling with a topic. Even better, since you’ve got to pass to get your qualification, it gives you an incentive to study and learn. If you want to broaden your investment knowledge (and skills) here’s a list of courses which are available in the UK: https://www.academiccourses.com/Courses/Investment/United-Kingdom/England/London/.
Use a stock simulator
A stock simulator is a programme that reproduces the conditions of the stock market, allowing you to practice investing – think of it as a game. By using a simulator, you can test the waters without any risk as you won’t be playing with real money. It’s also a great way to see how investing works in real life and it will teach you a lot about the trading process – you may even find out what investment approach and risk level you prefer. You can find stock simulators online and there are even apps that’ll let you practise your investment skills. Even the London Stock Exchange has its own platform where you can build and manage a virtual portfolio: https://www.londonstockexchange.com/personal-investing/tools/virtual-portfolio-and-watchlist.
Go on investing forums
If you’ve got the basics down, it could be a good idea to join an investing forum where you can ask questions and share your understanding of stock markets. When you engage on forums, you’ll be able to learn from other investors and their strategies – obviously, don’t trust everything that’s being said online, especially if it comes from non-professionals, and make sure to do your own research.
Learn by doing
Finally, if you’re confident enough and feel ready, why not take the plunge and learn at the same time? It may sound scary but learning by doing can often be an effective way of acquiring new knowledge and skills. You could do everything yourself, although it can be a risky move if you don’t know much about investing. If you know the basics however, doing the investing on your own could teach you a lot about what it’s like to invest – but remember since returns aren’t guaranteed, you could end up with less than you initially put in, that’s something to consider before you start you journey.
If you’re too busy or don’t feel confident enough to use a DIY platform, you could let the experts do the hard work for you. This means you wouldn’t do the investing per se, but you’ll still be in control and actively learning about markets and investments. With robo-investors, like Wealthify, you simply need to choose how much you want to invest and select the risk level you’re comfortable with, we’ll do the monitoring, picking, and trading for you. But it doesn’t stop there as once your Plan is built, you’ll be able to check how your money is doing on your dashboard 24/7 and along the way, thanks to our regular investment updates, you should learn a lot about investing.
The tax treatment depends on your individual circumstances and may be subject to change in the future.
Please remember the value of your investments can go down as well as up, and you could get back less than invested.
