TSME #028: Managing Risk

Anytime you put money in the stock market, you are putting it at risk. Tyrone Jackson, The Wealthy Investor, explains that we do this because we can get a higher rater return on our money than if we were to just leave our money in a savings account at 1%. Some stocks are riskier than others to own because their company’s don’t have a great track record of earnings. Tyrone's student Crystal Williams joins the show today. She is not only a stock market trader, but also works in the insurance business, so she truly understands how to manage risk.  Crystal grew up in the Palm Springs area and graduated from The University of Redlands. In 2002 she got a job as an admin assistant for a company in the insurance risk business. She worked closely with her boss who taught her how to underwrite. Eventually, she was able to grow within the company and purchase the prescription drug block of the business. After relocating to Long Beach, she found Tyrone Jackson's class through MeetUp.com. Crystal had read some literature about the stock market and was already interested. When she found Tyrone’s program, the covered call strategy alone opened her eyes. Crystal's first big ah-ha moment was about a year ago, when she really started to understand the call spreads. It kept her really involved in all the trades she had planned out. She was consistent and believed in the stock that she was trading. Crystal believes what is important is having a strategy and having a plan. Know the stocks you are trading in and stick with them. There’s so many shiny objects that get thrown at us, it is easy to fall of your discipline, but that’s not how you’ll make money. If you are constantly trading, you are not really building wealth. Building positions in stocks has been the most profitable for Crystal. She can really look back over the year and see the growth. As Tyrone explains, you do have to pay taxes on trades but not when you are holding a stock because you are simply asset building. Having not been an expert in math, Crystal feels that just being involved in numbers has helped her. To succeed in the stock market, it’s about spending the time, evaluating the numbers, tying it all together and understanding the story. Crystal thinks knowing excel also helps because you can create some pretty neat stock spreadsheets to help you plan. Crystal likes DOW stocks that are less risk for covered calls and building positions, but she does like to allocate a small portion to growth stocks that have the potential to grow faster than the DOW stocks. She allocates 10% or less of her portfolio to these riskier stock to give her a little excitement. Finally, Crystal says there's nothing to be afraid of, especially when you are trading or investing in DOW stocks. The stock market may have a down day, but seeing her stock drop in the news doesn't bother her anymore. Manage risk, grow your money, and find financial freedom just like Crystal at TheWealthyInvestor.net.