I have over 30 years experience investing in the stock market. If you want to learn how to invest in equities fast, without, spending a lifetime to learn I have a way that is easier than faster. It is reading a few key books on the subject and use an online quantitative screener, I have one that works for me, and it is free.

Books on investing

The following is a list of books I recommend:

• Stan Weinstein’s Secrets For Profiting in Bull and Bear Markets – this book is the best book written on investing in my opinion. It uses stage analysis. Back when it was written there was a service that provided the charts, today use charts on MSN money. I do not invest only with Stan’s Weinstein’s system but you need to be aware of it. It is technical analysis for everyone without getting to complex or too exotic.
• How to Make Money in Stocks: A Winning System in Good Times and Bad by Bill O’Neil – Again another book I do not use exactly but it is a book that gives you the base of growth investing. There is so much information in this book that it would take all day to find a stock based on these criteria. He uses a method called CANSLIM. In fact there are canslim screeners that can help you find the best stocks today.
• Market Wizards: Interviews with Top Traders by Jack Schwager – This book is for inspiration. It is a series of interviews of successful traders.

These are the three best books on the subject. If you read these books you have a good base for investing, or really trading. I skipped the classics like  Benjamin Graham’s Intelligent Investor and modern inspirational books on getting rich quick , but some are worth a glance. To be honest these books are a little data, more like 1990s but I have not come across new ones that are better or more robust in information.

Using a good site investment site

The best free investing and finance site online is MSN money.  The best free tool to use is MSN stock scouter and choose the top stocks.  They rate stocks from 1 to 10 . If you uses their top ten picks to build a portfolio then this will incorporate many of the things written about in the books mentioned above.

I also use a discount broker, I use Scottrade and never had a problem with a transaction in terms of price or execution.

If you want to be a short-term trader there are a lot of software programs out there. I am more of an investor and prefer not to trade like that. Day trading and short-term trading is an art in itself.

Can you make money in the Stock market?

Yes, expect to make about 8% return.  Does that take the wind out of your sail and demotivate you to invest on your own, in anything less than an index or manged fund?  Some trader told me that same thing, years ago and I stopped trading for a while as I was so depressed. But the reality is most people do not read the books I mentioned above nor do they invest mostly in MSN’s top stocks. This is why most people do not make more money in my opinion.  If you did you could make a lot more. I have. Some people get rich in a couple of years and retire.

Over the years I have done very well in investing. Let me know your thoughts on how to invest. My key advice is read those three books and use a quantitative firms research picks like stock scouter.

Tags: stock market