Sometimes, investing and trading can feel complicated, especially as a beginner. Whether you're a beginner or an advanced trader, Schwab offers an array of trading education resources. Investors can sharpen their skills by accessing extensive on-demand trading education and can develop specific skills through curated learning paths. Here's how to get started.
Set investing goals
When investing or trading, it's important to first think about the investment goals you're pursuing. Investing goals can include growth, income, and capital preservation.
- Investing for growth. This goal relies on capital appreciation and higher returns. This approach may involve more risk and complexity and include a wider range of asset classes from which to choose—stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), mutual funds, options, and even futures.
- Investing for income. For stock investors interested in income, the focus might be on dividend-paying stocks and other income-generating assets. However, it's important to remember that payment of stock dividends is not guaranteed and may be discontinued.
- Capital preservation. Some investors with sizable portfolios consider a capital preservation strategy, which seeks to maintain wealth by forgoing the potential for higher returns generated by riskier assets in exchange for slower growth from lower-risk assets.
Please note that not all products are appropriate for everyone, and some may require approval to trade.
After identifying investment goals, deciding on an investment style can be the next step. Investing styles are typically broken down into two general categories: active and passive.
- A passive investor is someone who buys and holds investments for the long term. These investors might consider learning about fundamental analysis1.
- An active investor or trader buys and sells investments with higher frequency and on a short-term basis. Traders who prefer this approach might benefit from learning technical analysis2, which focuses on analyzing charts.
Use Insights & Education to pursue investing goals
After setting investing goals, Schwab Insights & Education can provide helpful information and insights into stock trading and other investment strategies.
Schwab clients can access Insights & Education by logging in to schwab.com and opening the Learn menu. There, select Insights & Education to find learning paths to guide clients to more information about different investing subjects.
By following a learning path, Schwab clients can gain more knowledge about investing topics like stocks, bonds and mutual funds. Learning Paths are designed to start with basic principles and then build upon them to provide education about different types of investments and how they might fit into your portfolio.
Other resources are available on Insights & Education, such as Market Commentary. With these resources, it's possible for investors and traders of all experience levels to find the information they need to work toward their education goals. Additionally, clients interested in learning about trading can access resources using the thinkorswim® platform.
Consider testing new strategies through the paperMoney® practice trading simulator available on the thinkorswim trading platform. With paperMoney, it's possible to try new trading strategies and understand the platform before risking any real money.
So, whether it's the weekend, after the close, or when you have downtime during the trading day, sit back and enjoy your educational journey. You've got the tools you need right at your fingertips. It's up to you to make use of them as you embark upon your financial education journey to become an empowered trader.
1Fundamental analysis attempts to derive the value of a stock or other security by analyzing a company's financial statements, management, competitive environment, overall economic conditions, and other factors. Some popular fundamental indicators include the price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio, earnings per share, and price/earnings-to-growth ratio.
2Technical analysis examines historical trading data like price and volume data to identify previous chart patterns with the hope of anticipating stock price movements. Some technical analysis tools include moving averages, oscillators, and trendlines.
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The information here is for general informational purposes only and should not be considered an individualized recommendation or personalized investment advice. The type of securities and investment strategies mentioned may not be suitable for everyone. Each investor needs to review a security transaction for his or her own particular situation.
Schwab does not recommend the use of technical analysis as a sole means of investment research.
Options carry a high level of risk and are not suitable for all investors. Certain requirements must be met to trade options through Schwab. Please read the Options Disclosure Document titled "Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options" before considering any option transaction.
The paperMoney® software application is provided for educational purposes only, and allows users to engage in simulated trading with hypothetical funds using live market data. Market activity, trade executions, transaction costs, and other elements presented in paperMoney are simulations only. Simulated performance does not ensure success in a live environment.
Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Dividends are not guaranteed.
Examples provided are for illustrative purposes only and not intended to be reflective of results you can expect to achieve.