Matthew Galgani is co-host of IBD’s How to Make Money in Stocks radio show, editor of the IBDextra! Newsletter and host of the Daily Stock Analysis video at Investors.com.
Amy: Matt, while I was writing my book How to Make Money in Stocks Success Stories, you were working on a complementary book called How to Make Money in Stocks: Getting Started.
Matt: It’s inspiring when you read the stories in your book. It got me pumped up. These people literally changed their lives simply by learning how to invest. So I think the next question folks will have is, “How can I do that too—and how do I get started?” They may also wonder: “Can I really do this? Do I have the time? Can I learn what these people learned?” That’s where my book comes in. Using simple, step-by-step checklists, I walk you through the three basic things you need to know—what to buy, when to buy, and when to sell.
And let’s be honest. People come to investing with the hope that they’ll make lots of money, and the fear that they’ll lose their shirt. I know I did. But I’ll show you how to set realistic expectations that are absolutely achievable, and I’ll also give you two simple rules that will make sure you never suffer a big loss. So if you’re ready to jump in but are a little nervous (and, by the way, that’s completely natural and healthy), the buying and selling checklists in my book will get you started in a safe and sensible way.
Amy: You also worked closely with IBD Chairman and Founder Bill O’Neil on the 13-part IBD Meetup Investor Education Series, which is available exclusively to IBD Meetup members. Can you tell us about those lessons?
Matt: In retrospect, I think the Getting Started book was inspired by that experience. Our goal was to create easy-to-follow lessons that would walk Meetup members through the must-know concepts of investing. Bottom line is, we wanted to make sure people understood how to both grow and protect their money. So lessons cover all the key things: When to get into and out of the market, what telltale traits to look for in a winning stock, and how to use charts to give you an extra edge by pinpointing the best time to buy and sell.
After I finished each lesson, Bill and I would go through it slide by slide, word by word. Sometimes I felt like I was working with Steve Jobs to design an Apple product—we kept cutting and cutting, until we got the lesson down to its most simple and tightly-focused form.
One thing really hit home as we were doing this: Investing is a skill best learned in stages. You can’t dump everything on someone all at once and expect them to understand it, let alone use it effectively. So we broke the lessons up into bite-size chunks that people could wrap their heads around. When one stepping stone was in place, then we moved on to the next.
The Getting Started book takes a similar approach. Step by step, you’ll learn what to look for in a stock before you buy. Then, you’ll see how to determine the best time to buy that stock. And then you’ll learn a specific selling game plan to decide when to lock in your gains or nip any losses in the bud.
I’m a very hands-on learner. I can’t just read—I have to jump in and start doing it. That’s just how things sink in for me. So both the IBD Meetup lessons and the Getting Started book reflect that. At the end of every chapter, I have “action steps” that give you specific, easy-to-do tasks that reinforce what you just read. It could be watching a 2-Minute Tip video on the same subject, or using certain tools to put together a watch list of top-rated stocks. Whatever it is, it gives you that hands-on experience you need to start putting the rules and checklists into action in the real world.
So, Amy, I guess the bottom line is this: Now that folks have been inspired by the remarkable stories in your book, the next step is to start creating their own success stories. I realize I’m a little biased here, but I know from my own personal experience that what you learn in How to Make Money in Stocks: Getting Started can help anyone create lifelong, financial peace of mind.