Stock Market – Basic Principles – Part 2

We are now on the second part of this series. This is a discussion on the principles of investment in the stock market. We have already discussed the first principle. The first principle dealt with realizing that the stock market is just another investment vehicles. Before deciding to invest in the stock market, you must know about other vehicles of investments. Let us proceed by discussing the next two principles. If you wish to view the article in its entirety, visit my blog.

2.) You must know that investing in the stock market is a roller coaster ride – One of the advantages of the stock market is that there are times when it really climbs up then really big profits are made. However when it really goes down then really big losses are also made.

Bearing in mind that the stock market is a roller coaster ride it is generally best to sell when the market goes up and buy when the market goes down. When I started investing in the stock market about 2 years ago, the Philippine Stock exchange index was about 2000 + points. It went up to 2500 points and then down to the 2000 level in the middle of 2006. Slowly and steadily it climbed up to the 3200 level during the 1st quarter of 2007. It then went down in a very short period of time during the final days of the 1st quarter of 2007. It steadily climbed to a high of 3700+ points in July 2007 but went down below 3000 points a month after. It rose steadily to its highest at 3800+ points by October 2007, but after a month dropped to 3600 points.

There is only one conclusion that can be drawn here, that is it is really a roller coaster ride. Huge Profits and losses are made during those times that the market is up or down.

3.) Long term or short term ? – You should determine what type of investor you are. Ask yourself the question on whether you are a long term investor or a short term investor. This question is very important and should be asked by every serious new investor. The reason for such is because it affects whether you should buy or sell a certain stock.

Long term investors hold their stocks for 5 to 10 years. This means that that they believe in the company that you are investing in. This also means that and that they have extra money for other things because they can afford to put in their money for a long period of time.

One of the main benefits of being long term investors is that you do not have to worry about monitoring the day to day technical analysis. There is no problem if the stock is held for a long period of time since what is considered is the strong fundamentals of the company. On the other hand, short term investor,who decide to cash in within a months time to 6 months time, will have to monitor the day to day market activities to ensure that they are making a profit.

Similar to the the long term investors, short term investors have to make sure that they can afford to put in their money for a long period of time. But such time is not as long as that of the long term investor. One of the main reasons for doing that is because during the short period wherein you plan to invest and pull out your stocks, it is possible that you might incur losses. With this in mind you might decide to wait a while.

Most of the stocks I hold are considered as medium and long term investments. This is because when I started out I determined to be more of a long term investor. There are stocks that I hold that I consider as short term investments. However majority of the stocks that I hold are considered as medium to long term investments.

Would you like to know more about investment strategies ? Visit the blog of Zigfred Diaz where he blogs about several interesting topics such as investments, financial management, business, making financial online and Stock market investing