So I’m sitting in bed and thinking how happy I am that I decided to invest in S&P500 AU200 and stuff like those ETF’s because it’s been working out really well so far
BUT I was thinking I want to start looking into single companies rather than ETF’s or looking for things with higher potential return but also higher risk (Not to put everything into things that involve more risk)
But because I would like to do stocks as almost think of it like a job to make some serious returns, I’d only start with what I can afford to lose but I am curious how you become someone who just “does stocks” as a job
Any advice welcome and appreciated and yes I will be sticking to my day job but want to see if I can gain success with this
Posted by 1kczulrahyebb
19 Comments
Start off with a nest egg of say 7 million dollars and invest all of it into dividend paying stocks. That’s a really good way to making trading into a full time job
If you have knowledge in a certain industry from your career start there. Research new technology, companies leading in those fields, and make an investment thesis that includes a reason for why the stock would go up or down, a timeline for the investment, and exit price on when you would take gains or losses. Thats how I do it and have had good success in tech/aerospace since those are fields I have knowledge in. there will always be losing picks but stick to your thesis to exit and dont trade on emotion
Only “gamble” what you can afford to lose. Investing is about making money over time. It’s not a slot machine. Nobody invests with the idea of losing.
You can start with industries you are familiar with and companies you use daily, try small amounts first, select individual stocks by combining news, financial reports and industry trends, and at the same time keep ETFs as the core stable allocation.
Reddit
Also buy some RDDT so your time spent on Reddit will be profitable.
Start with industries you already understand, then screen for solid fundamentals and read a few annual reports. Treat it like a skill, not a shortcut. Small size, long horizon, and a lot of patience.
Finviz is probably the easiest.
Googling after hours market movers will have a variety of websites.
And Fidelity has a stock screener where you can choose industries, dividend pay outs, market cap, and a lot more.
I’m sure other brokerages have this option.
Three points on this:
1) Never put more into an individual equity than you’d be willing to lose.
2) If you buy something you have confidence in, leave it be for at least a couple years. Don’t panic and sell if it drops 10%; don’t get elated and sell if it rises 10%. Just hold it.
3) if you’re looking for long term growth look for platforms. That is, companies that have an established, profitable business which can be used to launch new businesses. Examples: Amazon built an online store to sell books, but then realized they could sell anything. Facebook and Google established their businesses and then used their enormous user bases to launch new businesses. Costco and Walmart have done it in the real world. Apple has done it in a few areas. Pharmaceuticals are also in this realm: once a company has the ability to invent a drug, test it and distribute it, the possibilities for launching new drugs, even entire new classes of drugs, emerge, as we’re now seeing now with MAB therapies and GLP1 agonists.
I make more money (on average, and as unrealized paper gains) from my stocks now than from my job. I work as a software developer and I have about one million USD in Tesla.
I don’t plan on selling but the next money is probably going towards Nvidia. Otherwise maybe Google or just a house.
Basically I want to answer the question of how I can get a piece of the AI growth, because I believe it is the future. I am not currently looking at the application layer, as I think it is risky and the winners are not obvious yet. There are some obvious winners in the model and the compute layers though.
The way i made my first money was to have very little expenses and just invest 60+% of my paycheck into the same stock for 2 years and then watch it take off. And not selling. It’s easy to hold if you have a thesis with high conviction.
I gave you another reply but I was talking more about my ways of investing, and I wanted to also just answer the question of “how to find new stocks”.
Basically I listen to business podcasts, like BG2, keynote speeches like NVIDIA, or just drop in to random earnings calls. Whatever aligns with the interests you already have is probably best. There are many ways to go about it so you probably have to find out what works for you
Swapping from market ETFs and funds to single stock exposure can be done successfully, I have been crushing VOO for a while.
If your picks are limited to one Zachs report very bad things can happen.
I have gone from ETFe and funds to stock exposure but it was never only one. At worst 4 or 5. Use a paid analyst service like Morningstar and diversify your risk.
Stocks as a job…is when you should give up.
Become an investment Analyst and go to uni to get there.
Just to throw in my 2c….
What has worked reasonably well for me is to use many different resources, and be skeptical of ALL of them!
For example – I may watch a few youtubers occasionally, and listen to what stocks they are currently focused on……but ONLY so far as ” ok maybe ill look into stock XYZ further…” but that’s all. Same goes for Reddit, or media, or that friend at work, or whatever….only ever use it as a starting point!
Learn how to do a good quantitative Analysis (if you dont already) – that you can use to at least determine the more fundamental and basic financials for yourself, and understand what they mean.
That way you can take the stocks your hearing about or being told about – and at least have a basic starting point grounded in statistics.
On a related note/tip, I feel like one of the most common mistakes I see endlessly is – not having patience! A stock will be identified say on here for example and your QA analysis shows that it is in fact currently priced really well/undervalued. Well time and time again I see people pile into it, thinking it should go up because its undervalued – but when it hasn’t moved 2 or 3 weeks later – they are posting about how its “shit” or “what’s the deal with XYZ stock” and they bail out and move on to the next hottest thing.
Often times in my experience – if you just had some patients, you would have been rewarded. If the stock was a “good” buy 3 weeks ago…….and *nothing has changed about it or the macro environment since then* , then there’s no reason to bail on it! but people get really impatient and want to be “doing” something when they really should just be waiting!
Good luck
Agree with starting in a familiar field, starting research in an industry you know sounds practical.
Look up new tech that you see solves a problem. Find the companies developing and manufacturing the product or service and their market share.
If you’re moving from ETFs to individual stocks, the biggest shift is having a repeatable way to find ideas instead of chasing whatever’s trending. What helped me was narrowing my focus and using a screener to filter stocks before doing deeper research.
I use moomoo’s stock screener to scan based on things like revenue growth, profitability, market cap, and valuation ranges. It’s useful for cutting the universe down to a manageable list so you’re not just guessing. From there, I’ll read earnings reports and understand the business before putting any money in.
Treating it like a job is the right mindset, but consistency matters more than trying to swing for home runs. Starting small, documenting why you buy something, and reviewing your results over time makes a big difference.
I read other people’s posts on reddit or Twitter and then look into those companies and buy stock if i think it makes sense
Look at ETFs you like, search their top 10 holdings, but buy only the 1 or 2 or 7 stocks you prefer.
Use reddit, youtube and X for growth stocks. I am also a higly technical individual so I am able to determine what makes sense to me. That has worked well for me. It’s a journey, I have been messing around with stocks since the pandemic went high risk high reward in 2024. This year is the first year where I started understanding how various economic reports affect stock outlook. I love the financial world.