Page 957 - How to Make Money in Stocks Trilogy

206 Appendix C

And let’s be honest. People come to investing with the hope that they’ll
make lots of money, and the fear that they’ll lose their shirt. I know I did.
But I’ll show you how to set realistic expectations that are absolutely
achievable, and I’ll also give you two simple rules that will make sure you
never suffer a big loss. So if you’re ready to jump in but are a little ner-
vous (and, by the way, that’s completely natural and healthy), the buying
and selling checklists in my book will get you started in a safe and sensi-
ble way.

Amy: You also worked closely with IBD Chairman and Founder Bill O’Neil
on the 13-part IBD Meetup Investor Education Series, which is available
exclusively to IBD Meetup members. Can you tell us about those
lessons?
Matt: In retrospect, I think the Getting Started book was inspired by that
experience. Our goal was to create easy-to-follow lessons that would walk
Meetup members through the must-know concepts of investing. Bottom
line is, we wanted to make sure people understood how to both grow and
protect their money. So lessons cover all the key things: When to get into
and out of the market, what telltale traits to look for in a winning stock,
and how to use charts to give you an extra edge by pinpointing the best
time to buy and sell.
After I finished each lesson, Bill and I would go through it slide by
slide, word by word. Sometimes I felt like I was working with Steve Jobs
to design an Apple product—we kept cutting and cutting, until we got the
lesson down to its most simple and tightly-focused form.
One thing really hit home as we were doing this: Investing is a skill
best learned in stages. You can’t dump everything on someone all at once
and expect them to understand it, let alone use it effectively. So we broke
the lessons up into bite-size chunks that people could wrap their heads
around. When one stepping stone was in place, then we moved on to the
next.
The Getting Started book takes a similar approach. Step by step, you’ll
learn what to look for in a stock before you buy. Then, you’ll see how to
determine the best time to buy that stock. And then you’ll learn a specific
selling game plan to decide when to lock in your gains or nip any losses in
the bud.
I’m a very hands-on learner. I can’t just read—I have to jump in and
start doing it. That’s just how things sink in for me. So both the IBD