The dreaded stock market is a siren call that beckons all who yearn for the salad days. It has been the lure of many a great man and clever woman, each seeking to reap a financial whirlwind, and more often than not merely reaping the whirlwind. So it is that the common investor — or the would-be investor — finds himself (or herself).
Who manages your money? While there are enough people uninterested enough, or cowed enough, to let other people manage their money, there is a tenacious breed of investor known as the “day trader” that simply will not submit. To their credit, they are confident they know best how to invest and divest their fortunes. While their bold surety is to be commended, it can tend to be foolhardy at times.
Divesting from a stock too soon could be futile, while investing too late could be ruinous. Timing is everything. Knowing when to hold them, as Mr. Rogers crooned, and when to fold them are more than fashionable skills — they are crucial. Of course, it is not necessarily an innate hunch — timing is as much a result of the proper training and experience.
While stock trading online has been kind to some, it has been cruel to others. Those who enjoy some moderate modicum of success have, in all likelihood, learned through the veritable school of hard knocks. The fact that they are still engaged in a viable livelihood has more to do with investing conservatively, graduating incrementally to larger and larger sums of capital.
In the end, it is the slow turtle that wins the investment race. To be sure, the hare makes for a dynamic spectacle, but more times than not he or she is relegated to a meager, pathetic existence. Wise investment, copious research, and a penchant for knowing what will be the next “big thing” will serve your well. The trick, of course, is honing each of these in tandem.
For the bold, there is always the promise of stock trading online. Indeed, the lure of the Market knows no bounds and no common sense.