Day Trading: On-the-Job Training

You read that right. This week, I set up an account with E*Trade and started playing the stock market. I have only invested $15, and I've only purchased one penny stock, but at least I've made a start - even though I have no idea what I am doing.

You read that right also. I have no experience in the stock market, beyond signing up for a 401k account years ago. Even that really doesn't count, because I always checked the box for my age group, which automatically invested my money into the right fund for my age group.

So, now I am learning about stocks and options and what-not. It really is "on-the-job training" because I didn't take the time to learn about investing before I took the plunge. Is that the right way to do it? Probably not. Am I okay with that? Normally I would not be, but in this instance the money I funded my trading account with was money earned from an article that I wrote and sold last week.

I'll keep learning as I go....

I also have an account at Stash. This is a program that withdraws money from my bank weekly, and that money is invested into different types of EFTs. So far, I've only lost 44 cents, so it isn't all bad. On the bright side, I can always sell out, and should I do that, I will have $100...so far.