Whether you are going to invest through online banking services Malaysia or an online trading app, you may know well enough that research is the first step to take, and it can take time to finish researching because you want to know as much as you can about the world of investing and the market or entity that you want to invest your money into.
Although researching is a smart step to take, it solely depends on the sources you look into and how deep you have to dig to learn and obtain information. The term research alone is broad and whatever details that define it can be based on what you have found. If you fear that you might stumble upon sloppily painted signs instead of professionals, then worry not.
Avoid social media and forums
Social media and forums can be informative, but it depends on how truthful or experienced the posters are. If this is your first area to research, then tread cautiously. It is already hard enough to find and determine people’s expertise on the subject of investing. Everybody has their own ideas and methods to invest, and so will you.
Take everything with a grain of salt, or you can do the alternative by ignoring social media and forums at all. In fact, social media is the last thing that you want to resort to as your research tool. Places like Reddit and YouTube are not reliable because there are so called financial gurus that offer advice or encouragements about investing that may be questionable at best.
Typical users, on the other hand, are pretty self explanatory. Would you really trust a rando’s advice and gamble based on it?
Besides, hype is one aspect that makes information sporadic as you have schmucks implementing the FOMO principle by telling you to quickly invest while the market is heading “to the moon” and it will be a matter of time before you miss. Many amateur investors fall into this trend only to lose their invested funds or earn less than the initial sum when they sell.
Speaking of hype, here is a tip that you can also keep in mind right away. Never buy during the hype, because by the time you make up your mind and invest, it is already too late. Worse, hype can be associated with scams like pump and dump schemes as the organization or developers have already bought the shares and positioned themselves from there, then sell when the prices reach their peak during the ongoing trend.
Books
The Internet isn’t your sole source of research, you know? Digital or physical books are also useful resources to dig into. Find a title, look into reviews and have a sneak peek of the contents if possible so you can see whether the book is suitable to read or not.
Since you are likely new to investing, the books that you should read should fit beginners. If you are worried that you might not understand all the financial jargon, corporate speak and just advanced English in general, don’t sweat. There are books that are friendly to anybody with zero experience with finance and investing.
Of course, if you can get the gist of those wordy books, then nobody is stopping you, but those noob friendly books still can help you understand investing faster, especially with a language and tone that is relatable to you.