Today I Bought My First Share!
For only $38.15, I just got one share for one of the largest companies on the planet! But to be honest, I don’t feel much different than I did yesterday. And I am sure that I won’t feel much different tomorrow.
I did not buy my first stock with the plan to get rich quick.
I Bought My First Share as a Challenge to Myself
A challenge to start investing my money, to have my bank account start working for me and my future.
And how do I plan to do this?
I made a little challenge to my self, to gete my investment journey. I call it…
The Share aDay Challenge:
To buy one share of a different stock listed on the S&P 500 each day for one year.
That means 365 days, 365 different publicly listed companies, 365 decisions to get my investment journey started!
Some Ground Rules
Over the next year I plan to keep a public record of all the stocks I have bought included details of the price, company, and my earnings/losses, so that you can follow along.
When buying stocks I will stick to theses simple rules:
- Buy one share of one stock everyday of the calendar year. That is May 8th 2018 – May 8th 2019.
- All stocks must be listed on the S&P 500.
- Only buy stock from a company once – that means no repeat buys!
- Only buy one share of each company. This is so that I can get a true feel for the movements of the stock index, and that each piece of my portfolio is represented evenly. This is the importance of diversification!
- No sell-offs! Once I buy a stock I need to stick with it. That means that even if a stock is tanking it needs to stay. I am in this for the long-term.
At the end of the year I will compare my money in to my portfolio value. This will let me know how well / poorly my investments did.
Of course 365 does not equal 500. This means that I will have 135 companies that are not included in my year end portfolio. But assuming all goes well, there is still more chances in year 2!
Just an Average Guy
You might be reading this and thinking to yourself sure, this guy from the internet can do it, but – “I could never do that!” And to be honest, up until now, I had the same mindset!
I will be up front:
When it comes to investing, I am a total novice.
I have studied the basics of finance and investing during my MBA, but when it comes to real-world investing, I am just like almost everybody else, with no real experience.
The Share a Day challenge is my way to slowly learn more, and tackle the complicated world of investing one step at a time, one share a day.
Most importantly, this one year will give me the chance to share my experience with other people who want to start investing, but don’t know where to begin.
No More Excuses
Up until now, I always made up different reasons on why I hadn’t started saving and planning for the future.
I told my self that first, I needed to have a good job, that first I needed to pay off my student loans, that first I needed to have a solid savings account!
I had this idea that I would have to be 100% financially independent and stable before I could get started.
But then I realized that for me, and many other people in my generation this probably would happen for another 5, 10 or who knows how many years!
The longer I put off getting my money into the market, the longer I was losing time, and more importantly, money, that could help go to building a stable future for myself.
That’s when I realized that investing was not a matter of when in my life, but instead now.
Today, I have made a decision that from this point onward, I will begin to build my financial future.
This is not something that is just happening by chance – this is an active choice I am making in my life. An active change in my habits, lifestyle, and my spending that will take time and adjustment.
That could be canceling a subscription, cooking more of my own meals, shopping less, traveling less, and socializing less – making real sacrifices which are not fun, nor easy to make.
I still have student loans, and I still live on a strict budget, but this is a choice that I will make that I expect that will put me ahead in the long-term.
I am a strong believer that success comes from doing things differently than the majority.
That simply following the path of those around you will lead you to the same destination as everyone else.
That is why from today forward I am looking to try a different path.
One that will take discipline, risks, and sacrifices.
But that is what makes it so exciting.
A year from today who knows where I will end up, but today I can happily say that I took my first step.
Today I bought my first stock.
Stay in the Loop!
You can also follow my investment journey on Facebook and Twitter, and subscribe to Share aDay above for notifications of new tips, tricks and updates along my investment journey.
You can also see a full record of the stocks I have bought so far here.
Help Me on My Investment Journey
I am using an app called Robinhood because buying and selling stocks are completely free so I don’t need to factor outside expenses in like broker’s or trading fees.
If you want to help me out or are looking to start investing, you can use my Robinhood referral link: HERE.
This way we will both get a free stock, meaning I can save some money (and no, I am not being sponsored by them).
It is going to be an expensive year of investing ahead and every little bit helps. Best of all, you can also get a free stock too!
It’s going to be a crazy year and who knows how things will end up, but I hope you can join me along the way!
