r/valueinvesting
Just opened a new account - no idea what I'm doing
New 19yo investor seeks advice on developing a personal strategy after experiencing volatility while copy-trading.
I'm a 19 year old new trader and recently put down $250 into a dub account and I was up honestly quite a bit (30%) before it went back down. I'm not surprised or honestly shaken by the losses, but I just feel like I'm not doing enough, partly because all the investors that I see investing in something have some sort of strategy -- I don't. I just put my money, following a trader I thought would be good, but I honestly want to explore more and develop my own strategy. What are some ways you guys developed your strategies?
Dear 19 year “trader”
This is the value investing subreddit, we invest in stock for the long term and we generally don’t trade. I would suggest staying around to figure out how to get rich slow (slow and steady vs fast and maybe) or you could try the other subreddit on trading.
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Worker with dub here, I believe OP used the wrong terminology. dub is a brokerage and largely a long term investing app. on the app you can follow hedge fund managers not "traders" per say. Saw this post while looking at dub related reddit posts and thought maybe a replying here would be useful. We are not a get rich fast platform. \NOT INVESTING ADVICE\
Don't follow anyone online. Put money in every month. Buy the index and dont gamble.
Your post and my advice dont have anything to do with value investing.
Really agree -- I'd just add that if you think you'd like to be really passionate about your investing, your early 20's is a great time to learn.
Read and listen to everything you can from the greatest investors in history (anything from Ben Graham, Buffett, Munger will be the next investment you ever make!) and enjoy the journey.
Remember to listen only to those who have been successful investors for 20-30 years+ , there's only a few but they've seen multiple market cycles and survived! Not just made money while the markets are doing well (which they are now)
Last week had a lot of panick selling. Don't worry about it. The market will bounce back.
You didn't invest, you picked some random stuff and gambled.
read books until your eyes bleed or copy a legendary investor
good news: you’re learning this with $250, not $25k.
your first strategy should probably be boring. read filings, track a few companies, compare valuation, and keep a journal of every buy/sell reason.
the goal is not to feel busy. the goal is to stop making random clicks.
You are 19 years old. That is your biggest strength. You have time.
There are two parts to value investing.
Most value investors look for stock deem to be undervalue. (PEG%, Foward P/E, DCF, whatever)
Some value investors look at a stock (regardless of their valuation) and think it will get re-rated and grow from there.
Many route, no wrong or no right, you have time to train your investing acumen.
If investing was this simple by following a trader, everyone would be making money in the stock market.
The trader you are following is most likely hedging against his investment on a different account.
Either you learn how to invest in individual stocks by going studying valuation & fundamentals or stick to an index and chill
You're ahead of 99%. All you have to do is believe in mathematics. Even with disciplined investment in the SP500 for 20 years, you'd be a millionaire. You can also invest a small portion of your money in a specially selected stock. But you need to thoroughly research that stock and avoid emotional attachment. I wish I could have started this early.
If you know nothing I'd say start with index investing. If you want to get into the game of stock picking start reading & learning and moving more of your money into individual stocks you handpicked. But in reality it takes a lot of discipline and knowledge to reliably beat the index and at 19 just starting out you don't have that.
I heard this saying once kid.
I either win or I learn.
Good luck out there, you are 19 plenty of time for you to learn.
For a total beginner, i suggest investing in an etf, particularly AVLV. The reason why is because this is a “basket” of stocks that are undervalued yet profitable. AVLV already did the math for you so you don’t have to.
You are in the wrong forum for trading - if you are really serious about trading I recommend reading "Fooled By Randomness - by Nicholas Taleb; it doesn't provide you with tools on how to trade - but it will give you an understanding about statistics