TIP763: Investing Lessons for My 18-Year-Old Self w/ Clay Finck

You're listening to TIP. I started investing at the age of 18 and frankly, I had no clue what I was doing. Some people told me that investing in the stock market is practically gambling. Some cautioned me to be careful while others were happy to pitch me on an offshore drilling company as if I had any idea what that actually meant. In today's episode, I'll share the most important lessons I've learned about investing in the thirteen years that followed. When it comes to investing, I've made about every mistake one could make. While I have by no means figured it out, this episode contains the lessons that I wish somebody had told me when I was 18 and didn't know where to turn. In a world that's filled with noise coming from all directions, perhaps there's a newer listener out there who would find some value in one or two of these lessons. This isn't an exhaustive list and the whole list just keeps on growing and growing as I make more and more mistakes. I'll also mention that these are of course the lessons that I myself find value in. So just because I see value in them doesn't necessarily mean that they'll be useful for you in what you're trying to achieve. So with that, I bring you today's episode on the investing lessons for my 18 year old self. Since 2014 and through more than 180,000,000 downloads, we've studied the financial markets and read the books that influence self made billionaires the most. We keep you informed and prepared for the unexpected. Now for your host, Clay Finck. Welcome to The Investor's Podcast. I'm your host, Clay Finck. This episode is intended to be like a letter to my younger self. It's not intended to be a one size fits all guide and know that what works for me might not be what works for you. Investing is part art and part science, so there's no exact one way to win the game, but we do need to give ourselves some sort of guidelines and frameworks to help tackle the issue of preserving and growing our wealth. Investing has been one of the greatest joys of my life, and I feel honored to have the chance to chat about it with you here today. I sat down for hours reflecting on my own investment journey to distill the top 12 lessons that I most needed to hear as an 18 year old who knew next to nothing about investing. The first lesson I'd like to share with my 18 year old self is that the best time to invest is today. When I turned on CNBC or checked up on the latest financial news, I consistently heard claims that the market was overvalued. And after losing 100% of my money on my very first $1,000 investment in an offshore drilling company, I certainly wasn't looking forward to losing money again by investing in an …