Get Started: The Beginner's Guide to the Stock Market

In the fifth and final episode of the Get Started series, you'll learn how to:

• Find your very first stock.
• Build and diversify your portfolio.
• Spot the common mistakes that all investors should avoid.
• Know when it's time to sell.

A company is only as good as its ability to make money. In this episode, we show you how to start analyzing companies from a financial point of view so you can better understand the businesses and the long-term opportunities. 

Some of the things we cover include:

• How to accurately assess the different ways in which a company makes money.
• The importance of margins and profitability.
• What to look out for on a balance sheet.
• The different metrics used to value a company.

In the third episode of our five-part series, the MyWallSt team shares our time-tested techniques that you’ll need to know to go about identifying great investment opportunities.

Some of the things we cover include:

• How Peter Lynch's 'One Up on Wall Street' is the greatest investing resource we've ever encountered.
• How to spot companies with great culture and visionary leaders.
• Why competitive advantage is crucial for long-term success.
• Some of the industries we think are set to grow over the next decade.

In this episode of the Get Started series, you'll learn about all the basics that you’ll need to know before you can get started so you can invest with confidence, including:

• What a stock actually is.
• How to accurately calculate the size of a company.
• The reasons why you should avoid penny stocks, margins, and short selling.
• What indexes actually are, including the Dow Jones and the S&P 500.