What’s the best way to learn about investing in the stock market? Start with free stuff: a couple of good YouTube channels, one or two blogs, a podcast for the commute, and one solid beginner book.
You don’t need to pay for a course to get going. Pay for one later, if you still want to, once you know enough to tell a good teacher from a salesman.
One thing before you start. Learning about stocks won’t make them safe. Any investment can lose money, and anyone who tells you they have a sure thing is selling something. So whether you’re investing $1,000 or you’re already a millionaire, the goal here is to understand what you own and why.
Here are the five ways to learn, what each one is good at, and where each one falls short.
The 5 Best Ways to Learn About Stocks
They differ in cost, in how easy they are to fit into your day, and in how much you can trust them.
1. YouTube
YouTube is an incredibly easy way to learn, and it’s free. Find a channel that explains things clearly and posts on a regular schedule, and you’re set.
Video is great for anything visual. Reading a stock chart, walking through a brokerage app, or following a long case study is much easier to watch than to read about.
There are two drawbacks. Video is a poor fit for a commute, since you need earphones and a data plan that can handle daily streaming, and sometimes it’s just easier to read.
The bigger one is that anybody can upload anything. A lot of investing videos are built to get you to click a link or buy a course, so be careful with any channel that shows off big wins and never shows a loss.
2. Blogs
Blogs are a fantastic way to learn. You get the ideas, and you also get to follow the experiences of the author.
That matters, because what works in theory doesn’t always work in real life. A good blogger tries things with their own money and is usually open about what failed. You can learn a lot from somebody else’s mistakes without paying for them yourself.
Many bloggers also answer questions in the comments, so you can ask about the part you didn’t get. Just remember that one person’s results are one person’s results. They aren’t a forecast for you.
3. Podcasts
Podcasts are perhaps the ultimate commute learning tool. A long drive turns into a class, and you can listen at the gym too.
There are a lot of investing podcasts out there, and most of them are free.
The catch? Podcasts tend to be news or big-picture talk. Investing is very visual, and a portfolio breakdown or a calculation doesn’t come across well over audio. So use podcasts to stay curious, and use something you can see for the details.
4. Books
Books might be the old-fashioned method, but they still go deeper than anything else on this list.
A book can take its time, particularly on the theory side of investing. There are no ads halfway through and no links to click. And where a video or a blog post covers one small piece, a book gives you the whole topic in one place.
The downsides are pretty obvious. Books cost money (your library card fixes that), they’re easy to leave on the shelf, and they don’t get updated when the rules change.
5. Seminars and courses
Seminars and courses are the most interactive way to learn. You can ask the teacher questions, and you learn next to other people who are working on the same thing. Many courses come with a private group where students keep talking after the class ends.
They’re also the most expensive option here, and the quality is all over the place. If you do pay for an online course, a Udemy coupon keeps the price down.
So be picky. Look for a course that teaches how investing works, and skip anything that sells a “system” or promises a steady income from trading. Nobody can promise that. If the pitch leans on the instructor’s car or a countdown timer, don’t bother. Be just as careful with newer things like event contracts. Here’s how prediction markets work before you try one.
Want a free place to start? Investor.gov, the SEC’s site for regular investors, covers the basics without trying to sell you anything.
Which method for learning about the stock market is best?
Whether you go with YouTube or podcasts, or a mix of all five, make your own notes as you learn. Writing something down helps it stick, and you’ll have something to look back on later.
This is arguably why reading blogs is a personal favorite of mine, as it kind of already does this step for you. You can still make notes, but it can also be convenient to build up a collection of bookmarked blog posts and organize them into topics.
Talking with other people matters too, particularly in investing. That’s the real case for a good course or seminar, if you can afford one. If you can’t, a good blog with a helpful author is a great alternative.
Bottom line: start free, and keep going until you can explain what you’re buying in plain words. And don’t put in money you can’t afford to lose while you’re still learning. Need money to invest first? Here are ways to make extra money.
