15 Things That Just Might Help You Understand The Stock Market

This podcast explores how the decisions we make on a daily basis shape our habits around money (among other things like our energy and attention). And, of course, investing has A LOT to do with making decisions. Host Paula Pant interviews billionaires, investors, psychologists, and early retirees, and answers questions from callers who want personalized advice. Listeners can benefit from Pant’s ability to think on a deeper, more critical level when it comes to both general money management and investing. And, her episodes often respond to timely, relevant events.

Standout episode: “Investing is the Art of Probabilistic Thinking“

Where to listen: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and PodBean

If you’ve ever wanted to pick the brain of a successful investor, Chat With Traders basically does all the hard work for you. Aaron Fifield, the host of this podcast, interviews traders who have made impactful gains. Listeners have the chance to hear the stories straight from the traders’ mouths, many of which detail some hard but valuable lessons in losing money month after month, and get in on their tips for investing.

Standout episode: “Josh Evans — My First Year Trading Full-Time…”

Where to listen: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Stitcher

Investing can be very intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be! This podcast cuts through the confusion to help total beginners learn industry terms, understand the different types of investments, and potentially increase their ability to make more informed decisions about their money. In other words, today is your last day of not knowing about dividends, inflation, and picking stocks.

Standout episode: “How to Control Your Emotions When Selling a Stock“

Where to listen: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Stitcher

Robert Leonard, the host of this podcast, seeks to educate and inspire — you guessed it — millennials. This podcast helps listeners make the investment decisions that can help them reach their financial goals (and it emphasizes being well-informed and building a solid financial foundation, of course). Listeners will hear from successful investors and business experts, and get their take on “hot” investment topics like cryptocurrency, real estate, the oil and gas industries, and more.

Standout episode: “Start Investing in Individual Stocks With Jason Moser“

Where to listen: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Stitcher

This book has been around for almost 40 years, but an updated copy can still provide you with valuable insight that speaks to more contemporary times (the book was last updated in 2016). The concise, easy-to-understand tips on saving, investing, and even retirement make this book a great read for people who want to learn (or review) the basics. The advice is even geared more toward people who don’t have a lot of money to start with, which can honestly be encouraging and makes these pointers feel more practical.

Investing can make you feel like there’s a lot on the line. You’ve probably heard all the same phrases before: “Go big, or go home!”; “Play to win”; “Big risk = big reward.” This book won’t teach you how to become an overnight millionaire. Instead, it’ll teach you the basics, provide a bit of a history lesson on the stock market, and give you practical strategies to get your wallet in the game safely and intentionally with long-term payoff in mind.

For the average Joe or Jane, investing doesn’t actually involve staying glued to a screen monitoring every price dip and peak. In fact, it often looks more like buying a fund, ignoring it for the rest of the month, and putting a little more money into it every once in a while. Or, it can look like simply getting money deducted from their paycheck for their 401(k) account. This book helps readers gain a solid understanding of the historic stock market as it relates to bubbles, busts, depressions, and recessions. It’ll also teach readers a thing or two about different funds and building a portfolio. While it may feel like there’s a lot of info in here, it really is meant to be an introduction to the market. It just wants to make sure you’re as informed as possible so you can make the decisions that are right for you.

Once you start to get a handle on the basics of investing, it’s a great idea to learn a bit about how everyday incentives can impact the (sometimes financial) decisions you make. That’s what this book seeks to uncover. They say 90% of finance is all about psychology; only 10% actually has to do with money. This book uses a wide array of engaging (and sometimes, well, freaky) anecdotes to show readers what motivates humans and what drives them to achieve goals. So it isn’t actually an economics book — more like a book on behavior. Nonetheless, the tidbits in here could potentially provide you with a new way of thinking about your money and investments.

In the next 20 minutes, you’re about to learn more than you previously knew about investing. No, seriously! This entire eight-lesson course will only take you about 20 minutes to complete. It’ll answer a few key questions to give you a better understanding of some of the terms you’ve been hearing: What exactly is the stock market? Why do companies go public? And what the heck are indexes?

Learn for free from: Skillshare when you sign up for a 14-day Premium Membership trial.

Buckle up and get ready to put your binge-watching skills to the test. Wealthsimple’s investing course offers 10 videos that’ll walk you through the basics on the stock market, the difference between investing and saving, must-follow investing rules from both novices and experts, and methods for actually building wealth.

Learn for free from: Wealthsimple

This course may be short and sweet, but it could potentially arm you with the concepts you need to get your wealth ~growing~. You’ll learn about the power of compound interest, different types of investments you can make and how they’re related to risk and reward, alternative investments, and ways to create balance within your investments.

Learn for free from: Skillshare when you sign up for a 14-day Premium Membership trial.

Wealthsimple is an online wealth management company that actually focuses its efforts on millennial money management. Their app lets you grow your money to reach your financial goals, but their investing articles can also teach you a thing or two about increasing your wealth:

Standout posts:

“Investing 101: Investing Basics for Beginners”

“The Market Crash of 2008 Explained”

“Active vs. Passive Investing“

Betterment is an app that takes the guesswork out of investing by recommending portfolios that suit your needs and values. It actually has a resource library that spans a variety of financial topics.

Standout posts:

“4 Questions to Help You Invest for Your Financial Goals“

“Investing in Your 20s: 4 Major Financial Questions Answered“

“3 Things Animal Crossing Can Teach You About Investing“

“5 Tips for First-Time Investors During a Market Dip“

Ally is an online bank probably best known for its high-yield saving account. While Ally wants to help you grow your savings, it also cares about helping you make smart, informed investments. Their resource section is chock-full of so many must-read articles.

Standout posts:

“How to Build an Investment Portfolio That Fits Your Style“

“Why Having a Diversified Portfolio Is Important”

“DIY Investing: 5 Things to Know Before You Get Started”

“How to Short a Stock — And What You Should Know Before Doing So“

Vanguard is pretty much a legacy wealth management company — and boy, do they have some very important resources for investing.

Standout posts:

“How to Invest”

“Turning Your Goal Into an Investment Plan”

“Asset Allocation: Key to Your Investment Climate“

“Choosing Investment Accounts“