Stock Market Today | Game of the Rich Investors

Stock market today isn’t only for the rich! After reading this stock market today’s topic, rich, middle class and poor people should be able to analyze if stock market investing is really their money game. This is the first time I wrote about topics under category – “stock market today”. Learn the principles of stock market investing. But before we continue this article, let us discuss first the basics of stocks. Some wise word from Mr. Warren Buffett and other stock experts will also be shared in this page. Let’s begin sharing our point of view about this “sensitive topic” – investment.

InvestmentTotal.com owner invested money in stocks, mutual funds, UITF and some real estate properties as well. The owner defined “investment”. Investment is some ”thing” you bought or acquired and expect this “thing” to bringing back more money than the amount you spent. The type of investments to discuss today is stock.

What are stocks?

Stocks means the shares of corporate capital or their certificates of ownership. If you have shares in the company or corporation, this simply means you are also a part owner of it. You can be considered as an “stockholder” of the company and you have the rights to receive dividends declared by the board of directors.

Stockholder, a person who owns shares of stock of corporate capital. If you invest even a small amount of money you may consider yourself as a stockholder. Study your obligations as an investor. You have the “investment job”, it is your job to invest your money, the stockbroker services company is only the place to invest in the stock market, unless you want someone (stock broker/agent) to do the investing for you.

As a stockholder, you have also the right to request a certificate of ownership, this certificate can be use when planning to travel abroad especially when having an interview with the consulate (example US Embassy) or as a basis to get a loan in the bank or other financial institutions.

Stock Exchange, also called as the “stock market” a place where stocks are bought and sold. Example of stock exchange are Singapore Stock Exchange, Philippine Stock Exchange, Australian Stock Exchange, NYSE, Toronto Stock Exchange, Dubai Stock Exchange, etc.

When Does the Stock Market Today Open/Close?

The stock market is common schedule: Pre-Open – 9am Market Open – 9:30am Market Recess – 12pm Trading Resumption – 1:30pm Pre-Close – 3:17pm Run-off / Trading-at-Last – 3:20pm Market Close – 3:30pm. This means, the available trading hours are 9:30 am to 12:00 nn and 1:30 pm to 3:30 pm During regular working days (Monday to Friday except on holidays) Schedule for PSE – Philippine Stock Exchange

Stock Broker, someone or a company who deals in stocks and shares. Stock brokering is the business of the stock broker. There are stock brokers in the Philippines, one example of these is the COL Financial Group Inc. You can see the share price of your stocks through your trading platform or via Bloomberg or in your local business and finance newspapers.

Stock Ticker/Code
These are the company codes in the stock market. See the blue chip stocks written below. (company and ticker)Examples of stock code/ticker;

Company: Philippine Long Distance Telephone
Stock Ticker/Code: TEL

Company: Ayala Land Inc.
Stock Ticker/Code: ALI

I will give you a lot of example of stock ticker some other time.

In my opinion, it is somehow necessary to study the stock charts, doing stock analysis and watch the stock market daily especially if you have huge amount of money invested in the market. Other experts say it is not necessary especially if an investor is doing a cost averaging.

Now you know the basic terms and definitions of “stock”, let us now talk about how to really make money in the stock market. If you are already investing in the stock market, please share your opinion by adding some information about this topic.

To win or to lose in this stock market today’s game?

My favorite quote in taking risk is “Take risk, if you win you will be happy, if you lose, you will be wise”. Do not invest if you are not confident or knowledgeable enough. You always read the phrase -“Invest only what you can afford to lose”. Why should you invest if your goal is to lose money. From now on, forget that “statement”.

The greatest rule in investing is “never lose money”. As T. Harv Eker says “Rich people play the money game to win while poor and middle class people play the money game to not lose”.

If you are a beginner in investing especially in the stock market, maybe you are searching for the stock market today’s recommendation. Investing won’t work that way, you should have a goal and learn everything since you are taking risk with your hard earned money. Learn everything and do not depend your investing by other people’s (investors) recommendation.

Stop searching what stocks to buy today, instead, investigate and search on which company you are comfortable to invest with. Make sure you invest in the company you know about and really love their products and services. You have to know if the company will still exist after decades.

It is good to know the “stock market results today” to determine if your money is gaining or losing so that you will decide if you pull out your money or stay invested.

The stock market game isn’t only for the rich. It is for the rich and for the “wanna-be” rich people. When I introduced stock market investing to my co-workers, they replied “wow!, really?”. They are amazed as if they saw a billionaire, remove in your vocabulary that “stock market game is only for the rich”. It is for everyone. It is for everyone, because, everyone wants to become rich. And one way to become rich is through owning stocks.

Okay, I am very exciting while writing this article, because I know there are many people who will read this especially investors around the world. Let us discuss this time, how does the stock market works.

How to make money on stock market today?

As a stockholder of a company, your money will grow when the company makes profits. Aside from capital gains – when the share price increase, you can also make money through dividends – distribution of cash by a company to its stockholders.

Example of capital gains, assuming you invest $10,000 worth of shares in ABC stock, the price of stock for today is $12.70 and then after few months the ABC share price is $13.10.

A total of 787 stock shares worth $10,000 today and after few months, your $10,000 will become $10,309.70. You money gain $309.70 or 3% (tax not included in this computation)

Example of dividend earnings, it might be cash dividend or stocks dividends. If ABC company declared $0.20 per share dividend, then your 787 shares will earn $157.4 (Study: Dividend dates, date of declaration, date of record, ex-dividend dates, date of payment.

Do Mr. Warren Buffet recommend what stocks to buy?

I joined some investors group in social media (Facebook Group) and I have read that Mr. Warren Buffett is not recommending what stocks to buy. Learn from Mr. Warren Buffett’s stock investing tips today.

• Avoid being a compulsive buyer of stocks. Buy only undervalued stocks.
• Do not buy those stocks which everyone else is buying.
• Buy stocks of companies which has simple & recognizable products and services.
• Use your own methods to evaluate good stocks.
• Buy stocks of companies doing monopoly business.
• Only confused people diversify their investments.
• Buy stock to hold it for life.

What About Blue Chips Stocks?

If the rich and successful investors aren’t recommending what stocks to buy, then, you have to decide if you will buy a blue chip stocks or not. They call it as the high-quality and usually high-priced stock. Examples of blue chip stocks (in USA)

Company                        Ticker
International Business Machines Corp. IBM
Exxon Mobil Corp. XOM
Chevron Corp. CVX
Procter & Gamble Co. PG
3M Co. MMM
Johnson & Johnson JNJ
McDonald’s Corp. MCD
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. WMT
United Technologies Corp. UTX
Coca-Cola Co. KO
Boeing Co. BA
Caterpillar Inc. CAT
JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPM
Hewlett-Packard Co. HPQ
Verizon Communications Inc. VZ
AT&T; Inc. T
Kraft Foods Inc. Cl A KFT
E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co. DD
Merck & Co. Inc. MRK
Walt Disney Co. DIS
Home Depot Inc. HD
Microsoft Corp. MSFT
American Express Co. AXP
Bank of America Corp. BAC
Pfizer Inc. PFE
General Electric Co. GE
Intel Corp. INTC
Alcoa Inc. AA
Citigroup Inc. C
General Motors Corp. GM

If you really love to play the stock market game you should have to know which strategies are effective and proven. Do a cost averaging, lump sum investing through buy and hold strategies or the combination of both.

What is the rate of return of your stocks?
ROI – return on investments. You have to analyze if you are really making money with your stocks or not. Some of my experience, my stocks gain almost 4% every 3 months or an average of 12% per year.

Stock market investors continue learning and growing. Learning in a sense that they will make sure that they are equipped with knowledge in investing. They are making a risk profiling every year or two. Risk profiling will help you to decide if investing in the stock market is still fitted in your capability or age. Growing in a sense that their mindset in investing is to win. Their mindset turns into a millionaire or billionaire mindset.

What does experts says about stock market investing?
As Mark Twain once said, “OCTOBER: This is one of the peculiarly dangerous months to speculate in stocks in. The other are July, January, September, April, November, May, March, June, December, August, and February”. This means you don’t have to guess which stocks to buy, you must study and do a research.

My Personal Experience in Stock Market Investing
Do not repeat the same mistakes. During my first month in stock market investing, I am very excited because I fund my account and buy stocks. I don’t know which stock to buy that time, I bought company A and after few days I sell my company A stock. My money loosed at that moment, it was only a small amount but still it is a money. It is funny that I don’t really know what I am doing that time. Until I learn, learn and learn so much things by reading in books, blogs and learn in my experiences every month.

Lessons from other Successful Stock Market Investors
Excerpt from the book, You Can Be Rich by David King, pp, 85-86

“Anne Scheiber is a former auditor for the Internal Revenue Service in USA. She earned only $3,000 annually but as she pored over other people’s tax returns, she discovered that one great way these people became wealthy was through stocks.

Anne Scheiber (at 49) invested $5,000 as her entire life savings in the stock market, buying small stakes in companies with products she liked and industries she understood.

When Anne Scheiber died in 1995 at 101, her $5,000 investments had grown to an astonishing $20,000,000”

Another Successful Story – Young Investor
“A 16-year old living in a rundown New York tenement decided to invest in stocks when he won $1,000 in a contest. 8 Years later, his investment brought him $200,000 which he used to set up a car-rental company which made him a millionaire in just two years.”

I know there are successful and inspirational stories out there about investing in stocks. Stock market game is their secret. They play the game wisely, and they are confident enough because they know the value of time, compound interest, dividends and capital gains. They are successful because they know the effect of procrastination – delayed investing.

What to Do Before Investing in the Stock Market Today

1. Make a specific plan – how much, which stock, chose stock broker
2. Know your investment horizon – what amount of returns do you want in a specific period of time, it is the starting to finish point of investing
3. Have a cash reserve in case of emergencies
4. Do not forget your life insurance – as your family’s income protection
5. Study along the way, be happy and get rich!

In Summary:

• To become a successful stock market investor, one must…
• Learn the basic of investing especially how does the stock market works.
• Learn from the successful and experts investors.
• Have the right mindset to win in the stock market game.
• Have a specific goal, know why you invest and when to achieve financial freedom.
• Have self-disciplined and equipped yourself with knowledge and skills in investing.
• Attend seminars, get a stock mentor or coach if necessary.
• Do not delay your investments.

Conclusion:
Investing in the stock market doesn’t need to be complicated. You can learn even today on how to start investing in stocks. It is easy to invest but investing itself required hard work and patience especially if you are expecting higher returns. The secret to become a successful investor is to “learn”. Invest in education by attending seminars and reading books.

I hope you find this stock market today’s topic at InvestmentTotal.com very useful. I hope you will have a successful investing and may you achieve financial freedom. God bless you prosperity and happiness.

Ask yourself! 
Is stock market investing today is only for the rich people? The answer. Not totally for the rich. Consider yourself as a rich investor so that the stock market game is also for you.

Next Best Thing to Do in the Stock Market Today

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