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The Truth About Stocks
Lawrence Briscoe
March 09, 2024
The Truth About Stocks
95% of people don't have the right idea about stocks
The Top 5% are wealthy because they do.
Everyone has the idea that stocks are either a get-rich-quick scheme or will make you rich.
In this newsletter, I’m going to tell you the truth.
I’ve been trading and investing in stocks since 2021 so this isn't to discourage you from investing in the stock market but quite the opposite.
I’m here to talk about how to be successful in the stock market.
As I send out more letters, talking about stocks and how to invest in them.
I want you to go in with the correct expectations and yield the results that you desire.
Expectations are everything in this life.
expectations easily dictate your emotions.
help perceive good or bad news.
influence your decisions.
keeps you open or closed-minded
I've talked to so many people, who have given up the idea of investing or refuse to invest again due to a bad experience.
99.9% of the time, it's due to having the wrong expectations on the Stock Market.
They chose to sell their investment when their stock portfolio was down, thinking it was crashing, instead of buying more. Not considering, stocks often just pause or experience temporary dips, they don't always move in a straight line.
Invested $1,000 expecting to make life changing money in return.
Start investing with no plan or goal. You can’t hit a target if there isn’t one. How do you know when to call a win, a win? How do you know when to buy more or when to sell? See where I’m going with this?
So I'm here to clear this up.
Because you can make money from stocks but it’s about how you do it and what to expect as you’re consistently investing.
“Consistently investing”
You have to invest consistently unless you’re investing a life-changing amount of money. This is not a “one-and-done” kind of game.
It’s an “invest your money every single paycheck for the next several years” kind of game.
Table of Contents
New Feature: Feel free to click on any topic and it’ll take you there!
Stocks are a Wealth Building Tool
Rich People Buy Stocks To
Avoid Taxes
Graduate from being rich to wealthy without working for it.
The stock market is a place to park your money when you have so much money that you'll lose a massive amount of value if you don't invest it.
Stocks aren't a get-rich-quick scheme.
I know we've all heard this before but allow me to be more direct.
If you are NOT already rich, there are only 2 ways, you're going to become rich in the Stock Market.
The Only 2Ways to Get Rich in Stocks
Trading Stocks
Invest every month for AT LEAST 20+ years
These 2 options may or may not seem unfavorable but it doesn’t matter because it can make you financially independent.
So, let’s talk about it
Trading Stocks
90% of people fail not because they can't do it.
They quit before reaching their breakthrough and becoming profitable.
It’s an emotional rollercoaster that takes 2-6 years realistically to smoothen out those volatile emotions, develop discipline & emotional intelligence, and feel confident risking your own money to achieve financial freedom.
no patience + no persistence = no results
Would you rather be old and wealthy or old and broke?
Investing for 20 years sounds terrible because who wants to wait that long?
But take this into account, you’re going to live it out anyway.
Would you rather be old and wealthy or old and broke?
It’s okay to be young and broke now because you’re still new to life but old and broke?? Trust me when I say, you don’t want that.
I can’t imagine punching the clock at 60 unless it’s a choice.
Fun Fact:
The average life expectancy in the US is 79 years old.
So guess what? if you are younger than 59 years old
You're going to live out that 20 years anyway so why not start?
The Right Expectations
The Stock Market is rigged… to go up forever.
But there’s a catch, you have to stay in for the long-term
The charts below show the S&P 500, and Dow Jones returns.
People are scared of the dips but overall it keeps going up.
In case you don’t know what the S&P 500 or Dow Jones are?
I’ll give an easy analogy first then explain what they are.
Here are the analogies:
S&P 500: Imagine you have a big box of toys, and in that box, there are 500 different types of toys. Each toy represents a big company. Now, when we want to know if all the toys in the box are doing well or not, we just look at the box itself. If the box goes up, it means most of the toys inside are doing well. If it goes down, it means most of the toys are having a tough time.
Dow Jones: Picture a very special collection of 30 cool toys in your room. Each toy is very important, they are your favorite action figures. Every day, you check if these 30 toys are playing nicely or if some are playing badly. When we talk about the Dow Jones going up, it's like saying most of these 30 toys are having a great time. And when it goes down, it means some of them aren’t doing too well.
Now the actual definitions:
S&P 500: The S&P 500 is like a big basket containing 500 of the biggest and most influential companies in the United States. When people talk about the S&P 500 going up or down, they're basically talking about the overall performance of these 500 companies combined. It's often used as a measure of how well the stock market is doing overall since these companies make up the value of the market.
Dow Jones: The Dow Jones is like a snapshot of just 30 big companies in the United States. These companies are leaders in their industries and are considered important indicators of the economy's health. So, when people talk about the Dow Jones going up or down, they're referring to the average performance of these 30 major companies. It's one of the oldest and most well-known stock market indexes.
I hope that made sense.
The charts below show the S&P 500, and Dow Jones returns.
People are scared of the dips but overall it keeps going up.
As you can see the market always goes back up, it’s physics at this point.
You just have to keep your money in long enough without losing your shit when a recession or a drawdown comes.
As a matter of fact, do the complete opposite of everyone else who isn’t successful instead of selling your shares when the market is down. I dare you to view it as clearance or discounted stocks, buy twice as much then wait 11 months.
Why 11 months? That’s the average length of a recession in the US before the market bounces back.
Think Long-Term
Everybody wants to get rich quickly.
But take it from someone who tried to get rich quick..
Build your empire brick-by-brick and be patient.
One thing about money the more there is, the more it makes. it's exponential.
exponential meaning progress is shaped like a hockey stick, it’s slow and stagnant at first but once it takes off, it’s off to the races.
Open up a brokerage account with Robinhood, M1 or whatever app you like best. Invest as much as you can without sacrificing your current living situation and give it 2 years, that's all I'm asking.
Watch, it will take off before your eyes.
If you’re living on a tight budget and don’t have much room to invest, I talk about how you can create Financial Breathing Room in my other newsletter:
Click here to Read: Financial Breathing Room Newsletter
How to make more money by becoming more valuable:
Click here to Read: Unlock Your Hidden Value Newsletter
If you need 1-on-1 help book a free 30-minute call with me by clicking the link below:
https://tr.ee/MxPd1gcayR
Lazy Investors
If you're a lazy investor and don't care to learn about companies or study every stock known to man, I don't blame you.
Here's what you do.
Invest in all of the best companies by investing in ETFs.
An ETF is a basket of the top-performing companies in one stock.
Here's the beauty of it...
If a company is no longer a top-performing company, it will be replaced with another company, that is.
This will keep your investment more safe than investing in individual stocks.
It will reduce the volatility you'll see during a market downturn.
Invest Early And Often.
Invest Early & Often
There's a popular phrase we investors use,
"It's not about timing the market, it's time in the market."
Remember when I said, the market is rigged to go up?
The longer you're invested in the market, the more money you'll make. Through ups & downs, keep investing.
During the downs invest twice as much.
I've given you undeniable data, that it goes back up.
It's a no-brainer to double down during recessions, and bear markets.
When there’s blood in the streets, everyone is panicking, the economy is in shambles and you hear nothing but bad news. It’s time to double down and buy up everything!
Worst case scenario: If the economy goes to 0 or ceases to exist, you’re money will be worthless anyway.
If it recovers like it always does, you’ll be that much richer.
Here’s the gist of it all:
Stop gambling.
Don’t put all of your money in one individual stock or penny stocks.
Don’t listen to what people are saying because noone knows for sure.
The news is lying to you, they don’t want to see you win if you haven’t figured that out by now.
Only pick ETFs such as $SPY, $VTI, $QQQ.
Pick the best companies in the world. Companies that would change millions of lives and the world if they disappear.
Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Waste Management etc.
Pick 2 Tech Stocks & 2 ETFs INVEST IN THEM RELENTLESSLY!
Have a well thought out plan so you can know when to call a win, a win.
Make more money so you can invest more money and your money can make you money but you have to give it time.
Build your wealth strategically and slowly.
If you don’t know how to, I offer a Wealth Building Program!
Schedule a free 30-minute call to see if this program is right for you!
Schedule Here:
https://tr.ee/MxPd1gcayR
If you enjoyed this newsletter, Do me a favor and share it with your family and friends.
You never know, who you might inspire.