Disclaimer: Before I get started, I want to let you know that although I’ve had my Robinhood account since 2018, I’ve recently been researching a lot about stocks and investing…about 3-4 months now. As I learn, I’m sharing information on my blog Referral Queen with you all!

About me!

So I’ve been using Robinhood to buy stocks lately. I’m learning to watch the things that I invest in. Invest in what I believe. I am learning more about it everyday!

How much should you invest every time?

The answer to this question depends on how much disposable cash you have and what your current portfolio looks like. In any scenario don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Try to diversify your portfolio by investing in chunks. Say you have $3k to invest: I’d split it into 3 parts and invest $1k in 3 stocks.

How to research stocks you’re following, planning to buy or have bought?

My approach here is to only trade stocks in the field that I am very familiar with or already invest in with my personal income purchases. They may not be the case for everyone. Some people like to invest in businesses that they believe generates a lot of money.

Another option is to do extensive research on a company and look at their financial performance and quarterly reports over the last few years. It’s also smart to review any news they’ve been in, who’s in charge of the company, and the product they make. If you can, actually try that product because it would give you a better feel for what it is and how it would potentially perform.

The bottom line when investing is that you should pick a field or company you are intimately familiar with or do extensive research. Better still, do both.

How to create a watchlist?

Creating your own watchlist isn’t that complicated and boils down to how do you do your research and what companies you are following.

As for the tools to use there are countless stocks to add you your watchlist(s), so pick the one(s) you like the most.

You can create multiple watchlist and categorize them anyway that you want.

You can use sources like Yahoo Finance, Seeking Alpha, and Robinhood to monitor stocks. The main thing to consider is how often you’d want to be notified about price changes and news.

When to sell?

How greedy are you? Ultimately, it’s up to you when to sell. Some people put a 5% cap on increases or decreases in the stock price. They buy or sell when the price goes above or below that cap. Other people play a long game and wait for stocks to raise ~60% before selling. They can make big profits this way but they might miss out on short-term profitability. Which of these strategies you choose depends on your preference, guts (how much you’re willing to loose or sit out), and whether you’re a day trader or long-term trader.