I want to know more about the stock market
Alex de Pablos Lopez8 min
The other day a friend told me “Hey, and this stock market… how does it work?”. That is the reason you are reading this right now 🤫
First of all comment that it is not far, but very far from being any expert in the financial sector.
However, for some time I began to be more interested in the world, and I found resources that got me deeper into it.
Here I am not going to do more than group and organize these resources, hoping that they can be useful to you if you are looking to start making contact with investments and the stock market.
Investment reading
I leave you here the different books that I have read about finances and investments.
Personal finance books
My first readings on the stock market, finance and investment came from the books of Gregorio Hernández.
Gregorio is known for being a benchmark in long-term investment focused on dividend-paying companies.
His books are only in Spanish. So sorry about that. Anyway, I will leave below the links just in case sorted in order from most basic to most ‘advanced’:
It teaches the most basic concepts to understand personal finance.
It is an introduction to long-term investing. He tells it in a direct and above all simple way. With examples that always help to better visualize situations.
It goes into a little more detail on companies, their analysis and ultimately on the world of the stock market.
Another book that I also struck down early on was the famous Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki.
Books to learn how to invest in the stock market – Basic level
If you have some interest in learning how to invest in the stock market, you should take some time to read the following books. They are classics.
One Up On Wall Street
The great Peter Lynch helps you learn about his investment strategy.
Among other things, you will find the keys that made him one of the best investment fund managers of all time.
Spanish
English
The Intelligent Investor
Its author, Benjamin Graham, is considered the father of the investment strategy that is so well known today, Value Investing.
If you want to know more about Value, this book is a ‘must’ of your readings.
Spanish
English
The Little Book of Value Investing
Again focused on the Value strategy, in this case its authors Carlos Bellas Sánchez and Vladyslav Marcos Nagay review the works and styles of the most important investments in history.
Again another great book to get into long-term investing.
Spanish
English
Books to learn how to invest in the stock market – Basic level
I have not yet jumped to that level, so I would not feel good recommending readings that I do not know.
However, again, on Google you will be able to find a lot of literature of whatever level you are looking for.
Choose broker
This is a point that I would give to write as much as I wanted, but again, I will only put here my experience and what I concluded after reading and listening to here and there.
Trustworthy brokers
Interactive Brokers
It is the broker with which I operate today. So you know my recommendation.
It is considered the best online broker for the international market. I am not saying it, investigate and you will corroborate it.
It gives you access to 150 markets in 33 countries, all accessible through a single account.
In addition to the possibility of operating in 23 currencies.
Today they offer two types of accounts:
IBKR LiteIBKR Pro
If you want to know the differences in detail, take a look at their website.
In my particular case, (resident in the USA, but with the idea of returning to Spain in the future) I have been told that it is a good option, due to the facilities they provide when managing the change of tax residence.
Are you decided?
If you decide to open an account with them, and you do it through the button below, you will help me financially.
It is my referral link.
Degiro
DEGIRO is another German-Dutch online broker. Also serious and trustworthy.
It was born in 2008 by former employees of another brokerage company in the Netherlands.
It merged with flatexDEGIRO Bank AG in early 2021, creating the largest online broker in Europe with its own banking license.
It offers one of the lowest commissions you can find and they say that it is very easy to use both in its web and mobile versions. Instead Forex is not available, and its research tools are limited.
My mentors
As I commented in the reading section, my first contact with this world was through Gregorio’s books, who was probably the one that opened my eyes the most.
Beyond the classic readings, I began to be interested in having a more current and day-to-day opinion.
Here I leave you the sources that I follow today to keep me informed. Sorry again because all of them are in Spanish.
Value investing Fm
Paco Lodeiro and Adrián Godas help you in their weekly podcast to ‘make profitable that money that costs so much to earn and save’ as they always say in their lead.
Followers of Value, which they consider to be the ‘most sensible and profitable method’ of investing.
They do interviews, comment on current events in the world of the stock market and answer questions from listeners.
El arte de invertir
Alejandro Estebaranz’s youtube channel is probably the largest finance channel in Spanish language.
Alex exposes in each video a summary of the current situation, with advice to learn to invest for ourselves.
He manages True Value, among other investment funds, and for me he has always been a serious and reliable person.
Despite the titles of his videos on YouTube, where it seems that the world is always ending (he does it because of the YouTube algorithm), his content is always tempered and consistent.
Tu dinero en acción
Another podcast, in this case relatively new, and by Javier Acción.
I personally loved it from its first chapters. It teaches how to manage your money in a simple way and with a language suitable for all audiences. All the concepts that are uncommon, he explains from the base.
He also manages another investment fund and takes advantage of the podcast to comment on his investment decisions and philosophy.
Highly recommended.
Iceberg de Valor
Every two weeks in this investment podcast you are presented in a very direct way the summary of the world of investments.
Nudista inversor
This time in a membership site format, Nudista presents what he himself calls ´The house of financial porn´ and with a totally different tone from the rest of the resources that he presented above, a place to learn how to improve your finances.
If you don’t like direct and slang language, this is not your place.
If you accept it, inside you will find information on personal finance in the form of emails and cameos (articles written by people who are very expert in their field).
You will also have access to his community and a series of tools for ‘fuck you money’.
When I read that this guy knows how to value good beer (mil nove), I had no doubt that it was a good choice to take a look at what he had assembled 😝
My personal advices
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Never invest in the stock market with money that you think you will need in the near future. I started to get interested in this world when I saw that the money that came in was much more than what I needed to live.
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Read and read. A lot. And don’t stop doing it.
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Do not let yourself be convinced by private opinions, not even those that may come from your referents. Analyze for yourself and always look from different points of view.
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Spend all the time you need to analyze to create your stock’s portfolio, whatever it is. Don’t rush this step. But don’t fall into analysis paralysis either…
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It is essential that your portfolio allows you to sleep well at night… Risk is always there, but it can be minimized by investing in good companies at a reasonable price.
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Be patient and trust yourself and what you analyzed to build your portfolio and plan.
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If your analysis is good and reliable, you should buy when people sell, and sell when people buy. Is the way to earn future profitability. Very easy to say, very difficult to carry out. You will need a lot of mental strength.