- Diversification explained: spreading risk so one bad holding does less damageWhat diversification means, why it lowers risk when holdings do not move together, and its limits, since correlations rise in crashes.
- Emergency fund before investing: why a cash buffer comes firstWhy many investors build a cash emergency fund before they invest, how to size it in months of essential spending, and where to keep it.
- Expense ratios and fees: how small annual charges add up over timeWhat an expense ratio covers, how fees and spreads reduce long-term returns, and how to compare the full cost of two funds before you buy.
- Financial statements basics: reading the balance sheet, income statement and cash flowWhat the three main financial statements show, how to read them together, and the common warning signs investors check before judging a company.
- How to set financial goals: turning a wish into a plan you can measureHow to write financial goals that are specific, dated and measurable, how to work out the savings needed after inflation, and how to review progress.
- Inflation and your money: why cash can lose value and what to do about itWhat inflation does to cash and savings, how to measure the loss of purchasing power, and why investing is judged against inflation, not the headline return.
- Investing myths to drop: common beliefs that cost moneyCommon investing myths, such as timing the market, rare big winners and safe bonds, and what the arithmetic and the evidence suggest instead.
- Margin and leverage explained: borrowing to trade and how it magnifies lossesWhat margin and leverage mean, how a margin call works, and why borrowed money magnifies losses as well as gains, with a worked example.
- Paper trading first: how to test a method before risking real moneyWhat paper trading is, how to run it so the results mean something, what it cannot reveal about costs and emotion, and when to move to real money.
- Position sizing basics: how much to put into one trade or holdingHow to size a position from the amount you can lose, the distance to your stop and your account size, with a worked example and common mistakes.
- Profit and loss explained: realised, unrealised, gross and netHow profit and loss are calculated, how realised and unrealised results differ, why fees matter, and how to express a result in money, percent or units of risk.
- Risk and return explained: why higher expected returns come with bigger swingsWhat risk means in investing, why expected return and volatility usually move together, and how to judge whether a return is worth the risk taken.
- Risk-reward ratio explained: how to compare what you can win with what you can loseHow to calculate a risk-reward ratio from entry, stop and target, why a good ratio alone does not make a trade profitable, and how to test it.
- Short selling explained: how to profit from a fall and what can go wrongHow short selling works, why it can lose more than the amount sold, what borrowing costs and recall risk mean, and the checks to make first.
- Stop losses: what they do and what they do notA stop loss is an order that closes a trade at a set price to limit a loss. How to place one, how to size around it, and the ways it can fail.
- Trading journal basics: what to record and how to use itWhat a trading journal should record for each trade, how to review it for patterns, and why a dated log is the simplest way to test your own method.
- Trading psychology basics: how emotion shapes decisions and what to do about itThe emotions that most often push traders off their plan, such as fear, greed and revenge trading, and simple rules that reduce their effect.
- What is a bond? How it pays, how its price moves and what can go wrongA plain guide to bonds: what the issuer promises, how coupons and maturity work, why prices move against interest rates, and the main risks.
- What is an ETF? How exchange-traded funds work and what to check before you buyWhat an exchange-traded fund is, how it tracks an index, how its price stays close to value, and which costs and gaps to check before buying.
- What is compound interest? The maths in plain wordsCompound interest is interest earned on interest. Here is the formula in plain words, a worked example, and why time matters more than the rate.
Trading and Investing Basics: Risk, Money and Habits
Money, risk and the habits that matter before and during trading.