Greg Faulkner, Financial Advisor

If you are a beginning stock investor, there are certain steps that you will want to take in order to choose those stocks that you want to invest in. Just remember is that purchasing, selling, and/or trading stocks does not have to be as difficult as what many people might tell you. Just start out slowly and take some time analyzing the companies and their stocks before making your move. Here are 15 steps to consider before making your decision:

Educate yourself – read up on accounting, finance, publicly traded companies, and the stock market

Read the business section of the newspaper – better yet, subscribe to Investor’s Business Daily or the Wall Street Journal

Consider only those industries that you are familiar with – less education time means getting into the fray quicker

Think about stocks in companies or products that you like – take overall popularity factors into consideration

Research the companies you are eyeballing – get to know the company, its industry trends, and how its stock has performed in the past few years

If possible, check out the company financial statements – you will need to learn how to analyze these in order to minimize your risk when deciding on a stock to purchase

Familiarize yourself with several online investing informational websites – this will provide you with knowledge regarding a company’s:

- balance sheet
- dividend records
- growth or loss of earnings
- free cash flow
- number of stable shares
- revenue growth consistencies or inconsistencies

Decide on the amount of money that you want to risk – the first rule of thumb here is never invest more than you can afford to lose

Follow the stocks for a couple of weeks on a daily basis – this will help you decide if you want to order a specific quantity of shares or pass them up

Educate yourself on stock identification – certain criteria or information may indicate a potential price appreciation in the future

Calculate when to purchase, sell, or trade stocks – determine a method or technique for doing this so that you will know better timing on purchasing, selling, or trading stocks as well as when you should just walk away and not risk any more or your money

Consider learning how to use technical analysis – stock charts are invaluable where this is concerned, so are other tools such as candlestick charting, EMA, or MACD in order to learn and better time your entries and exits

Pay attention to the more reputable and respected stock analysts and experts – again, this is all part of your stock market investing education

Read up on all of their strategies – if a person is a published successful investor, you would be wise to read what their stock investment strategies

Think logically before you settle on the stocks you are thinking about purchasing… where are you hoping to go with your investments? Do you have a short term investing goal or a long term goal?  If you are just starting out, you’re at the bottom and the only way is up. Make sure that you always keep an eye on market trends as well.