How to start your stock market journey ?

Well to start with, you need to understand that why is there a requirement to invest in the stock market.

Traditionally, people have invested their money into various forms like bank FD, gold, real estate etc. However, with the accessibility of internet and readily available market data, there has been a substantial increase in the number of people investing in stock market.

Here are the steps you should follow to start your journey in the amazing world of stock market. 

Step 1 - Register Yourself for a Demat Account

Firstly, let us understand what is a demat account. Simply said, it's an account on your name linked to your bank account, by which you can invest in the stock market. There are a number of companies which can help you in opening a demat account. After using about eight different companies' demat accounts, I have found Zerodha as the best platform to open the demat account. You can open your demat account in Zerodha by using the following link - https://zerodha.com  

Step 2 - Options for Investment in your Demat Account

You have the following major options in a demat account for investment - 

• Stocks
• Mutual Funds
• Bonds

Step 3 - Which Stocks you Should Invest in

Well, this is a question which will always linger in your mind. I suggest you to avoid any stock advisors recommendations. You should learn about the market yourself, understand its dynamics and then invest. Invest in good stocks which you can rely upon.

Step 4 - Keep a Track of your Investments

Regularly check your investments. Stay invested in the stock market for a long period of time to reap the benefits of Compounding.

Advice by World's Greatest Investor - Warren Buffet of all times

Here are a few quotes of Warren Buffet which you should always keep in your mind - 

• “Rule No. 1: Never lose money. Rule No. 2: Never forget rule No.1”
• “Never invest in a business you cannot understand.”
• "If a business does well, the stock eventually follows.”
• "Only buy something that you’d be perfectly happy to hold if the market shut down for 10 years.”
• "The stock market is designed to transfer money from the active to the patient.”
• “In the business world, the rearview mirror is always clearer than the windshield.”
• “Time is the friend of the wonderful company, the enemy of the mediocre.”
• “If returns are going to be 7 or 8 percent and you’re paying 1 percent for fees, that makes an enormous difference in how much money you’re going to have in retirement.”
• " Remember that the stock market is a manic depressive.”
• “Should you find yourself in a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is likely to be more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks.”
• "The most important thing to do if you find yourself in a hole is to stop digging.”
• "Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.”
• “Beware the investment activity that produces applause; the great moves are usually greeted by yawns.”
• “For the investor, a too-high purchase price for the stock of an excellent company can undo the effects of a subsequent decade of favorable business developments.”
• “Risk comes from not knowing what you are doing.”
• “The key to investing is not assessing how much an industry is going to affect society, or how much it will grow, but rather determining the competitive advantage of any given company and, above all, the durability of that advantage.” 
• "The three most important words in investing are margin of safety.”
• “On the margin of safety, which means, don’t try and drive a 9,800-pound truck over a bridge that says it’s, you know, capacity: 10,000 pounds. But go down the road a little bit and find one that says, capacity: 15,000 pounds.”
• “It’s far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price, than a fair company at a wonderful price.”
• “All there is to investing is picking good stocks at good times and staying with them as long as they remain good companies.”
• “I never attempt to make money on the stock market. I buy on the assumption that they could close the market the next day and not reopen it for five years.”
• “It is a terrible mistake for investors with long-term horizons — among them pension funds, college endowments, and savings-minded individuals — to measure their investment ‘risk’ by their portfolio’s ratio of bonds to stocks.”
• “Successful investing takes time, discipline, and patience. No matter how great the talent or effort, some things just take time: You can’t produce a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant.”
• "Calling someone who trades actively in the market an investor is like calling someone who repeatedly engages in one-night stands a romantic.”
• “If you aren’t thinking about owning a stock for 10 years, don’t even think about owning it for 10 minutes.”
• “Our favorite holding period is forever.”
• “An investor should act as though he had a lifetime decision card with just twenty punches on it.”