From the author: A huge amount of speculation surrounds the topic of stock exchanges, stocks, and trading. Books are written about it, films are made, advertisements are posted. Stay away from trading! Why? Often, the customers behind the emergence and mass dissemination of myths about the opportunity to get rich fabulously quickly on the stock market are investment companies. After all, their business is to charge a fee from those who dream of playing and winning on the stock exchange. It is investment companies (and not traders) who make money by providing the opportunity to play and lose their money on the stock exchange to people intoxicated by the thirst for easy money. They come up with a lot of ways to honestly take money from speculative traders or from “hamsters/plankton” - as they affectionately call theirs inside investment companies victims. Clients are provided with: stock market analytics, forecasts and recommendations from trading gurus; a caring personal manager; making transactions over the phone (i.e. with a minimum of effort); special programs for tracking and analyzing stock quotes and trends; special courses and literature; etc. P. pieces = as long as the client trades and makes transactions on the stock market and continues to bring profit to investment companies. There is another side of the coin - one of the richest people on our planet, Warren Buffett, made his fortune in the stock market. How does Warren Buffett earn money? What is the main difference between his operations with shares and the actions of the “hamsters”? I will cite just a few of Buffett’s statements (in my free interpretation): 1) The stock exchange is a mechanism for redistributing money from the active to the patient. Facts: thorough repetition of stock index fluctuations brings greater results ( beats) than the actions (strategies) of employees of investment companies. A question for reflection - why should a private investor listen to the useless recommendations of these people? 2) Investments in stocks can generate great income Facts: from 1964 to 2014, the S&P500 index grew from 84 to 2059 points. During the same period of time, the purchasing power of the dollar fell by 87%. Question to ponder - how long am I willing to wait to receive income in the stock market (or, in other words, what is my investment horizon)? 3) Anything can happen in the stock market and whenever. Nobody can predict this. Facts: during economic crises, investment bankers feel the worst. A question to ponder: why react to changes in the news background? You should just buy indices on a long-term basis (based on fact #2).PSHere I have collected must-read books on personal finance and investing