The 1st stock I bought

This blog will be more relevant if you already have the intention to invest. If so, it is important to have an investment account.

If you do not have one yet, check my previous blog and open one before you continue reading.

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In 2021, I bought my first stock: Apple. Two shares.

Why Apple?

I started investing without learning much / at all about how to do it. As with many things in my life, I was just doing it. Also, because I thought I had reached the age where I should think more seriously about investing.

Back then, I was still a Master’s student. I had some income and savings, but not a huge amount of money. I am saying this to those who are still thinking about investing: really, just start doing it.

Back to why I chose Apple to start with. It was because I had used Apple products for many years and, up until that point, I had been quite happy with the service and everything.

Why did I buy two shares? Because that was the amount of money I was willing to lose. That means if, for some reason, I lost everything on this stock, I would not have a problem.

Luckily, up until the point of writing this blog, I have had a total of 9 Apple shares, and they have generated +777 EUR for me.

So my 1st principle in investing is this:

Start small, with something you believe will still exist in at least the next 10 years — this is “thinking long term” — and be willing to lose that money.

And I have seen a very common question that people keep asking:

But what should I invest in: stocks, ETFs, gold, real estate, keeping money in savings accounts, etc.???

The answer is still the same: pick one, start small, think long term, be willing to lose the money if something goes wrong, and do it!

Why? This is not about taking risks or gambling. This is more about investing in yourself. Because there are two main scenarios:

1. If your investment goes up, that is great!
2. If your investment goes down, you still learn something at least — how to manage your life better, how to stay updated and informed, because once you start investing, you pay more attention to world events. Not in the sense of panicking (I hope), but more in the sense of “critical thinking.” You will also learn more about the world, new companies, new industries, and how the world is connected economically.

And the most important thing is:

Once you get a sense of it, you will be ready to go for the next steps.

See you in my next blog, where I share my 2nd principle.

Again, if you do not have an investing account yet, open one because IT’S FREE. So, why not leverage that?