Stock Market Archives - Ms. Financial Literacy

For those of you who are familiar with the stock market, do you remember the time when you first got introduced to it? What were some of your early associations with the stock market? At the time, were you anxious to get into it? Was the market something you swore to avoid?

first stock purchases

My Dad’s Warning Message (to me) on the Stock Market

My first impression of the stock market occurred right at the start of the Great Recession. One day, in November 2008, I was having dinner with my family. The news was on the television. I recall my dad telling my brother and I to never ever “gamble” in the stock market.

Yes, to him, participating in the stock market was a form of gamble, not a form of investment. This was coming from someone who had very limited exposure to the stock market other than what he saw and heard on television. However, not knowing any more of the stock market than my dad did at the time, I took his words to heart. The stock market was something to avoid.

In the following weeks, the messages and images that kept showing up on mass media (covering the beginning of the Great Recession) just confirmed my dad’s belief of the stock market. Seeing and hearing stories of people jumping off buildings, losing their marriages, going into jail, becoming depressed and/or losing their children’s college savings and/or their own retirement savings—all due to steep drops in the stock market—just “proved” the evil side of “gambling”. Yes, the stock market was evil, I concluded.

The Man I was About to Meet and What He Taught Me About the Stock Market

Spread the message. Encourage others to begin their financial learning!

women participate in the stock market

Polls and surveys consistently showed women tend to worry more about making investment mistakes than our male counterparts do and get bogged down in all the financial jargons and end up completely confused. We’re also more likely to think the stock market is too risky. All this boils down to women’s lack of confidence and lack of knowledge when it comes to investing. In this post, I share a simple strategy that helped me make sense of the stock market. Despite the strategy’s simplified approach, it gave me the motivation and confidence I needed to get into the stock market. I hope you’ll find my story inspiring, and I encourage you to give the stock market a(nother) chance. I also challenge you to rethink some of your misconceptions about men and women. This is especially important when many women believe that men are more knowledgeable when it comes to making investment decisions, more assertive and more risk-tolerant.

When I Shop

For years, I’ve been using the unit price comparison strategy when I shop. This was something my mother taught me when we were still living in China. During my first couple years in the U.S., navigating through the grocery market was overwhelming. However, understanding numbers and being able to do simple arithmetic helped tremendously. I had no problem figuring out how much an item costs per pound, ounce or gram, square foot or meter, etc. As my English vocabulary grew, I found myself comparing unit prices while keeping in mind the ingredients list. It made sense to me that a product has almonds listed as the first ingredient charges a higher price than another product that listed almonds as the third ingredient. Once I mastered this strategy, look-alike products (and of various sizes) on rows and rows of shelves no longer intimidate me.

Women as Shoppers

As a gender, women are being praised for being good shoppers. And for many of us, we know that’s true and we own this identity. We instinctively know that $3 off a $6 sandwich is a great deal. When the math gets a little complicated, we use the trusty calculator on our phones for assistance. The calculator also makes doing price comparisons easy when unit prices aren’t readily displayed. In general, it’s safe to say that we, women, carry an air of confidence with us while shopping for groceries, household items, clothing or services. So, why do so many women feel intimidated when it comes to shopping in the stock market? Buying stocks is just another form of purchase, right?