Blunt Money

Learning about investing can be like learning to speak a foreign language. There are all kinds of investing terms out there that can be pretty confusing. There are mid caps, large blends, P/Es, and iced quad venti vanilla nonfat whip caramel macchiatos. (Ok, so that last is an attempt at a Starbucks order…) It can all be a little intimidating.

Except in the case of investing money, “ordering the wrong thing” could result in losing money, instead of just getting the wrong kind of drink or a funny look.

I’ve found it helpful to compare learning about the stock market to learning to speak a foreign language. Learning a foreign language is something I’ve done before, so it gives me a starting point. The process goes something like this: Where can I get a dictionary? What are the most-used terms? Is there a native speaker I can hang out with to get a real feel for how to speak the language?

Morningstar.com and using “define:[term]” in Google have given me some dictionary-type help. Reading blogs, articles, and books have given me an idea of some of the frequently-used terms that would be helpful to know.

So that’s where I am now, learning about what I need to learn about. And since I personally learn best by doing, I’ve done a little playing around with investments as well. Since explaining things in writing is often a good way for me to learn as well, I may start some kind of “demystifying investing” guide for myself.

Now I just need that native speaker and some daily practice…

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