It is no doubt the world has changed very rapidly since 2020. A quick scan of financial, political, and policy news and you can rest assured what worked before 2020 might need updating. At best you might be able to tweak a few things or adjust this with that. At worse you might need to reinvent yourself. It is always in the downtime that new opportunities arise. Or better, in a famous movie quote from 2005, The Day the Earth Stood Still, "Only at the precipice do we evolve."
The precipice is here, standing as a wave or tsunami at the beach while most sunbathe without care. Just like a riptide that might have debris and dangerous elements ready to carve out the beach, the proverbial precipice brings its level of chaos in the form of inflation.
You can do your research as to where the inflation came from, why, and how. While that can be debated endlessly with more than one side believing its rhetoric, the reality is higher milk and gas prices.
The only way to beat inflation is to increase your revenue and make more money. If you're wondering how that can be achieved, the answer is to be financially independent. While there is no shortage of ways to be financially independent, we're going to focus on Wall Street.
STOCK INVESTING
While most people unfamiliar with investing might think it's similar to a casino, and gambling, this is incorrect. Similar to buying chopped beef and turning it into a burger and fries for sale, the same is true for real estate and investing. Here is the point, most things in life are investments.
Using the time value of money to your advantage, investing can yield more than inflation or 2x-6x depending on if you're seasoned or new at investing. The best way to lose money in investing is to do it blindly, without the right tools or in this case charting software.
There are many charting software out there. Some are free, others paid. While I don't work for TD Ameritrade, or get any kickback, my experience with the software is entirely personal. It is by far the zenith of free technical analysis tools for stock investing.
I write this because unless you've won the lottery, or scored big money in life, you're trying to get ahead and concerned about the rising tide of inflation. Your $15 per minimum wage a few years ago might have looked fantastic, but today it's relative to the new inflation. This means you're making the same money as before because things are now expensive.
THE BASICS OF INVESTING
People often wonder how to invest. Investing is simple; you buy something, anything, and sell it at a higher price. The simplest way of putting this is if you bought 100 dollars worth of chopped beef and sold it for $150. You just made 50% of your money on an investment! This can seem like superman stuff, but what you don't realize is how much time and hard work went into that $100 chopped beef.
What happens if the price of beef goes down to $50? Then you just lost half your money! This isn't a comforting thought. That's why most people need to know how to invest properly and also study the economy and how it works to understand things at a macro level.
STOCK INVESTING FOR BEGINNERS
At this point, if you're thinking, "I don't have 100 dollars, let alone $150," then this is the perfect article for you. The unfortunate reality of investing in stocks is that most people buy stock in companies not realizing that companies are made of individual stocks. This is one reason why people often fail at investing, the other being they don't buy low and sell high.
If you do this by hand it's extremely difficult to make money. While sites like E-Trade automate this for you, you still need a way to track your portfolio or watch list efficiently. This is where software or sites like TD Ameritrade become invaluable.
THE DIFFERENCE OF CHARTING SOFTWARE
Some charting software is paid, others free. While it's true that much charting software creates beautiful stock charts, they're often hard to use as a beginner and lack the necessary bells and whistles of the best free charting software, which is what am going to cover here.
Intuitive enough for a beginner about 60 seconds into usage but packed with features that even pros will enjoy using, Think or Swim has made many lives easier when analyzing stocks for investing purposes.
TOS works on Windows XP and up including Windows 10, 11, Android phones of all versions. Start by opening a free TD Ameritrade account, and then download Think or Swim. Play around with it and see for yourself. Beat inflation and spend more time with your loved ones.
