Bullish⁞ndex

Paychecks & Balances  by Rich Jones & Marcus Garrett is one of our highly recommended podcasts if you want learn more about personal finance. The topics discussed include managing debt, making more money, renting vs buying and many more. The podcast is available on Spotify, iTunes and other audio streaming services.  Note: No prompt or payment was received to promote this resource.

If you don't have emergency savings, should you even bother investing in the stock market? Answer is probably not. Crude example but say all you had was $2,000 and you invested it in the market. If the market crashed then you'd have nothing to live on. That $2,000 could have at least covered your meals or some other crucial purchases for a few days. But if you put it in the stock market and the market crashed or the company you invested in collapsed, then that money is gone! So if you haven't saved for a rainy day, you're better off focusing on that first before investing any of it in the stock market. You'd be taking on too much risk, honestly. So how much cash should you have saved for emergencies? According to Vanguard , you should sum up your monthly expenses, then make sure you have 3-6 months of that saved. You also want to make sure you place that cash in a savings account that will give you quick access to the funds - preferably, this should be a  high-yield...

When most people talk about investing, they are talking about either investing in the stock market, real estate or some other vessel that has the potential to earn them extra money in the future. BullishIndex primarily focuses on investments in the stock market. But what is it? "In a nutshell, the stock market is where investors can buy and sell securities, or stakes in individual companies as well as exchange-traded funds (ETFs)" - Quicken Loans .  What that means is, with some extra cash in hand, you can buy shares of company so that when the company does well and the price of the shares increases, you can sell the shares for a profit. On a contrary, if the company doesn't perform well, the price of the shares goes down and they lose their worth. In other words, you lose money.

"Stocks are securities that represent an ownership share in a company. For companies, issuing stock is a way to raise money to grow and invest in their business. For investors, stocks are a way to grow their money and outpace inflation over time. When you own stock in a company, you are called a shareholder because you share in the company’s profits." - NerdWallet