This Way to Wall St.: A Guide to Getting Started

By Mack Tuggle

This Way to Wall St. maps out the financial markets and guides investors through getting started. It covers analysis, psychology, the industry, managing risks and offers actionable steps for beginners.
There has never been a time like this in the history of the financial markets. With the advent of the internet and the proliferation of information networks, the once unlevel playing field has shifted; foggy details and delayed price quotes have given way to instantaneous data and zero-commission trades. The cost to enter has been discounted, but the price to exit whole is still just as steep. You can make money in stocks.
This Way to Wall St. guides new investors and semi-professionals over a swath of topics structured to educate and empower. If you desire to learn, are looking to increase your income streams, and have the ability to stomach some risk, you have a worthwhile journey ahead of you.
This book will help you to approach the markets, navigate the atmosphere and examine the relationship between price and value with discernment. Becoming an investor is a journey of self-discovery. This Way to Wall St. educates and empowers investors to enter with an edge and exit with profits.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Aug 27, 2021
• ISBN: 9781098389918

Book preview

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Copyright © 2021 by Mack Tuggle

This Way to Wall St.

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopy,

recording, or any information storage and retrieval system now known

or invented, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer

who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written

for inclusion in a magazine, newspaper, or broadcast.

Print ISBN: 978-1-09838-990-1

ebook ISBN: 978-1-09838-991-8

Printed in the United States of America

There is no right. There is no wrong. There just is.

To Pasqualina

Contents

INTRODUCTION

ACUMEN ANALYSIS APPROACH

1. TERMINOLOGY

2. APPROACHING MARKETS

Indices

Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs)

Company Sponsored and Retirement

Cryptocurrency

3. ANALYZING STOCKS

Built Different

Fundamental Analysis

Dividends

Technical Analysis

Moving Averages

Price and Value

Support and Resistance

Price Envelopes

INDUSTRY PSYCHOLOGY DEVELOPMENT

4. INDUSTRY

Books

Coaches

Courses

Advisors

Robo-Advisors

5. INVESTOR PSYCHOLOGY

Beliefs

Personal Development

THIS WAY TO WALL STREET

6. PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT

Risk

Limits

Stops

Money Management

7. ACTIONABLE STEPS

8. CONCLUSION

REFERENCES

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

INTRODUCTION

There comes a time in every life when the past recedes, and the future opens. It’s that moment when you turn to face the unknown. Some will turn back to what they already know. Some will walk straight ahead into uncertainty. I can’t tell you which one is right. I can tell you which one is more fun. —Phil Knight, Nike Founder

These are incredible times. Access to stocks, bonds, cryptocurrencies and trading platforms are no longer the privilege of the one percent; the playing field has been leveled. A new and emerging generation of investors have jumped into the arena with vigor. Right now, is your moment.

With the invention of the internet, and the subsequent proliferation of smartphones and mobile devices, stocks and an array of financial instruments are now literally a fingertip away. At no point in human history has there been a time like right now; this is an entirely new era. Fractional shares, which are fractions of a share of stock, are new inventions that have recently lowered the hurdle to entry; these new fractional shares allow rookie investors with young money the chance to garner a piece of the action. Because you are reading this book, investing in mental equity and being intentional, you are prepared to take advantage of these spectacular times.

You have already set out on your journey. Before ever reading this book or even buying your very first stock, your education, experiences, personality and beliefs have brought you to this juncture. These are all contributing factors that influence the way that you think, guide your actions and affect your expectations. The road to intelligent investing and disciplined trading is a long journey. But in reality, you are several miles into this trek before ever making your first investment. You have already begun.

There will be a learning curve. Mistakes are okay, and being kind to yourself while training is critical. Making mistakes shows that you are trying new things, stepping outside of your comfort zone, and, most importantly, learning. Lifelong personal development and a passion for self-improvement are the traits of the most successful investors.

Taking notes, keeping a journal, and maintaining good records are the defining behaviors that separate an investor from a gambler. Although, their actions may look similar, good records are the primary distinction between the two. Keeping notes and periodically reviewing them helps you keep things in context, track your progress and close the necessary gaps you require to become informed and intuitive. Markets can be noisy places, and they can quickly drown out your thoughts as you navigate the boisterous crowd. Maintaining records helps you to keep track of your decision-making process, analyze your performance and begin to make informed decisions.

You can make money in stocks. You can make money in ETFs. You can make money in cryptocurrencies. People before you have succeeded mightily at this, and people after you will become rich as well. The markets naturally attract intelligent, savvy, curious people that think a little more outside of the box than their peers. Reading and reviewing this material is an excellent indicator of your mindset. This book is by no means the holy grail of stocks, bonds and the financial markets; there are many brilliant people with good information and invaluable wisdom. But this is one intentional step, one marker on your journey to becoming an informed and intelligent investor.

As you read, take notes, ask questions, highlight areas and markup this material with notations and comments. Interacting with your material in this way can help you to access a higher level of engagement and learning. You have an incredible journey ahead of you. The time is now. The moment is yours. The future is limitless.

I should be afraid of afraid. —Nipsey Hussle, Businessman

ACUMEN ANALYSIS APPROACH

The stock market is a device for transferring money from the impatient to the patient. —Warren Buffet, Investor

A share of stock is a fractional investment in a company. If you buy ten shares of stock in company XYZ, you are now a part-owner of that business, a shareholder. The price of those shares or stocks fluctuates. When buyers are more optimistic and energized than sellers, they bid the cost of those shares up, increasing the price of each claim. Conversely, when sellers are more pessimistic and frantic than buyers, they push the cost of those shares down, depressing prices and decreasing account values.

Investors come into the marketplace for several reasons, some rational and others irrational. All of these participants take the initiative and make investments at various prices resulting from differing considerations. Long-term investors factor in tons of incoming data and take stakes in companies they believe have intrinsic value and outperforming potential. Short-term traders bet on near-term price fluctuations combined with economic information and market sentiment to make positive expectation bets. All the while, smart and scared money sits on the sidelines, waiting to get in on the action and join the prevailing crowd.

Being a shareholder has never been more accessible to us. With technological advances has come increased awareness and savvy. The stock market has more participants, from a wider diversity of backgrounds, than ever before. You can make money in stocks. It has been done before, is being done now, and will continue to happen for those who put in the work, and manage the risks.

Keeping good notes and accurate records will be the litmus test for any serious investor. Rookies focus on analysis, squinting at charts, and sifting through mountains of information. Serious amateurs and semiprofessionals operate three-dimensionally, spending just as much energy managing their exposure and documenting their business. Show me good records, and I will show you a good investor. Gamblers, by contrast, shoot from the hip without any real target and gradually spend out; oftentimes, this fall from heights is preceded by immediate or short-term success, which exacerbates their behavior even more.

An investor without any documentation is more than likely in it for the excitement more than the money. A compulsive gambler that cannot stand to see a paper trail of their results, stands no chance amongst the crowd. They watch the news and scroll through their feeds seeing the markets reach new highs, pile into the hottest stocks without a game plan, and subsequently buy the peak and sell the crash. These types of new investors wash out at the bottom, exhausted and without any learning to accompany the pain, selling into smart money and strong hands. 

A recent example of this is the GameStop fiasco that dominated the news feed winter of 2021. Unquestionably, there were some rags to riches results for the ground floor speculators involved. But on the whole, the majority of the public caught wind of the move too late and ended up losing money on that play. By the time a phenomenon like this reaches your living room television, the early participants are in the distribution phase, selling the headlines and transferring the risk to the latecomers.

The stock market attracts intelligent people. Even compulsive gamblers have layers of intuition and savvy. They just suffer from neurotic behaviors. People that are alert, motivated, and have self-control have a fantastic opportunity to own assets and create wealth. But intelligence can also be defeated if not tempered with humility and managed with risk control. When not bracketed by money management rules, extreme confidence can lead to unwarranted conviction and the pernicious ownership effect. Being right isn’t so much as important as being careful. Having proper risk control and keeping good records will help you to accomplish this. Managing your risk and having a plan will be the most essential thing you can do to ensure your investing success. Like a boxing referee introducing two heavyweight prizefighters, the mantra for your investing career should always be, protect yourself at all times.

Opening a brokerage account is like walking into a shiny, glitzy casino on a Las Vegas strip. There are no shortages of games to play, minimal rules, and no amount too big or too small to lose. The opportunities are plentiful for the sober, and the consequences harsh and immediate for the drunken. Year after year, investors with no concept of record-keeping or managing risk sleepwalk into the markets just like casinos, buying the