Buying Into Hiccups

@porwest Yes. And I can also say "slots, here I come."

@lovebuglena Sure. Why not? Gambling never hurt anyone. I mean, unless they have inserted their rent checks into the machines. But mostly it is a healthy form of entertainment.

It would be nice, wouldn't it? Can you say shopping spree? lol

@porwest Okay, wow that's interesting.

No charts necessary. All one need do is research the fundamentals of any company they are interested in investing in and make a decision as to whether or not that company fits well in your portfolio, and can be expected to meet your performance goals.

@janethwayne I have been doing this for a very long time.

Different times call for different measures. You are wisely in "protection of principal" mode. I would not stray from that.

@porwest I don't plan on it. I no longer make X number of dollars a year and would pitch a fit if I lost a substantial amount of our retirement funds.

@LindaOHio I don't like losing my money in any situation and I endeavor to avoid it at all costs. But it does still happen. Never an enjoying moment when it does. lol

Many days I wish I was much better at it than I am. lol

@Nevena83 Yes. But I could be happier too. lol

@porwest But I'm sure you're happy even now.

Post by post. lol. There are actually some posts I have on the subject if you can find them.

@porwest thanks I will look for those

@Butterfingers Looking forward to knowing your thoughts.

For a beginner those are some pretty impressive gains. That being said the markets for a while have been sort of a "dartboard market." In other words, you could put a number of stocks onto a dartboard, and whichever company the dart lands on will be a winner—because the entire markets have been wildly up for a long period of time, and we are in perhaps one the longest running bull markets in history. Sites like Robinhood (and even eToro) are good in that they encourage younger people to become interested in the markets, but does not necessarily encourage them to learn about how they work, and how to properly research stocks, and thusly, when they make "picks" and only see gains they get this light bulb moment where they think, "this is easy. I'm good at this," and then start making riskier decisions that in the end may burn them, only to then shy from investing in the future. Not saying that is YOUR situation. Just an observation from one who has been in the markets for 30+ years, and who learned often times the hard way.

@porwest I know what you mean. A year ago, you could hardly fail to make money, but it gets tricky when markets are looking uncertain. My portfolio finished last week all red, which isn't fun. But I think that's a good reason to be cautious and have lots of small investments in assets that are well-established. I see things like crypto being hyped and I just think that's a sure way for a lot of people to lose their shirts. With everything else that's been going on in the world lately, we wouldn't want to get into another Wall Street Crash type situation.

@porwest yes I did notice that!!

And today the markets are making a comeback. Just the nature of the beast. lol

Nothing scary about the stock market at all. Once one knows the ins and out it makes every bit of sense and money gets made more often than lost. What scares me more is having to rely on a paycheck alone to make a living.