Women Take Stock

Welcome to Women Take Stock! We are four friends with not a business degree among us. We are  newbies in stock investing, but we are wading knee deep into this territory where women are underrepresented.Join us each week as we dive deep into a topic, whether it’s How to Research a Stock, What Makes an Expert, The Psychology of Trading, or What The Heck Is Cryptocurrency, Anyway?We'll do a reveal on our own portfolios, the companies behind them, and why we decided to invest in each. We have fun at our own expense - our own literal expense, sometimes.We hope you’ll be entertained and soak up some trading intel as we venture along the path to changing our own financial stories.

Welcome to our premiere episode, in which four friends:  A. Say hello!  B. Fess up to ignorance... and wisdom! C. Talk about one of the most taboo subjects among friends... money! & D. Establish a few challenges for the weeks to come. 

In today's episode we talk about what makes an expert and, you know, how to differentiate expertise from, say, mansplaining. Who should we believe?  Who should we trust when we're trying to figure out how to invest? Because, really, at the end of the day, is there a difference between investing in the stock market based on the so-called "experts" or from fortune tellers? Should we just pull a few tarot cards to get some guidance on how to invest? We put it to a (very unscientific) test. 

Sometimes it really does seem like the stock market has a mind of its own. But we know better than that, right? Our minds are the ones that actually move the markets. That’s both a good and bad thing; we are human, after all. We all know that the human mind can get fogged with all sorts of nuttiness. So what sort of psychological make up makes for better stock pickings? The good news? Women investors on average tend to perform better than men. The bad news? We can get in our own way. Today, we have a special interview with MarketPsych’s Frank Murtha, a psychologist who is an expert in behavioral finance and the author of the book MarketPsych: How to Overcome Fear and Build Your Investor Identity, and we learn a mind game or two that could help strengthen our positions. 

In this episode, we try to get a handle on something that can be hard to handle. The market stock market can dive and jump and it can feel like we have no control over it. It's like a bull and a bear having a fight up and down and all over the place. Do you want to try to get in there before they can find some peace? Maybe, maybe not. But these days, with the market swinging like a gorilla on a tire, hanging from a tree at the zoo is definitely a question we want to explore, because as a beginning investor, it can be hard to look at those jagged up and down graphs and know whether to buy, sell, or hold.  

Enjoy our last minute holiday spectacular in which we kiss (actually, kick) 2020 goodbye. Or, maybe we should call it a holiday hang out. We need to manage expectations, right? No singing and dancing here. Instead, in this episode we check in with each other to assess what we've learned about stock investing (and cryptocurrency!), how far we've come, and make a few predictions for 2021. 

This week, we are going to take a look into our crystal ball and explore the future of money. Okay, that’s a bit of a stretch. We don’t have magic powers. If we did, we’d just look up next week's lottery numbers and be done with it. But the truth is, there are plenty of people who are adamant that the future of money isn’t green paper; they say it looks more like 1s and 0s. Which makes sense because when’s the last time any of us used cash?So, we are going to try to wrap our heads around cryptocurrency, which the New York Times once called “the crazy cousin of traditional currency.  Some people say the entire future of finance is heading down the crypto path and people and even banks and some governments are signing on for the ride… while others say it is totally insane and —- Warren Buffett even called it “demented”  — so there’s that. But whatever happens in the future, we’re intrigued and want to know more!  It's complicated stuff…luckily we have a special guest — the crypto-educator Lori Souza of the YouTube channel The Innovative Economy. She does a  very good job of making this otherworldly sounding currency into something a bit more relatable.

Happy New Year! It’s tike to Take Stock! The beginning of the year is always “new year, new you,” as if you are supposed to use this opportunity to make over your entire self, as if your entire self needs making over. Forget about that.  We’ve decided that rather than worry about losing 10 pounds or working out an extra 10 minutes a day,  the most important makeover for each of us this year will be a financial one. Because if we put as much time into thinking about our finances every week (or even every day) as we do worrying about some of the other things that women are constantly told they need to worry about, then we would be in a much better place financially. Probably. So join us as we take stock of the year that was and plot ahead with the year that will be. 

A major restaurant chain recently added cauliflower rice to its menu and some financial experts weighed in on what it means. That got us to thinking, as both consumers and investors, how our thoughts about -- yes -- cauliflower rice can positively impact our investing. It has something to do with cauliflower, spinning, streaming, and... well,  we'll connect the dots for you. It's all about our power to notice the little things  that could spell a smart investing strategy.

The GameStop-Reddit impact on the market made news headlines just about everywhere. But what does it mean to us as individual investors...and what can we take away from this exciting market event that's going to help us make money? Tune in to our up-to-the-moment take on the hottest stock story of 2021 (so far!) as we  delve  into how it affects our game -- and possibly yours too!

Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum aren't just rocking the financial world, they are increasingly taking over our own portfolios! This is not necessarily because we are buying more, but because, at least right now, the value of these digital currencies keeps on rising. In this episode, we revisit the world of cryptocurrency. Now that we have a (very) small handle on what these currencies are about, we go a little deeper to bring our knowledge base to more solid ground. Helping us do this is a cryptocurrency educator from Germany named Anja Schuetz. Among other things, Anja explains blockchains in a very easy to understand way. Anja completely changed her life around a few years ago, and now educating people about investing in cryptocurrency has become the focus of her career. You can find out more about Anja and her work at Financial Awakening.

It's FREEZING around the United States! It's so cold that poor Tula in Texas literally didn't have the energy to participate in this episode. But Dana, JJ and Jen went forward with her in their hearts and took a little temperature-check on their own investing journeys. 

On the heels of a week that saw Texas freeze over and Bitcoin plunge, we take stock of what we've learned... and think about what it all means as we look forward to a more hopeful future. What should we think about in terms of investing for a post-pandemic world? 

Ah, to be 25 again...and to know then what we know now! In this episode, we travel back to the 90s to consider what we did right in our financial lives and, well, what we could have and should have done differently (perhaps less shoe-shopping and more 401K investing). Younger listeners can benefit from our past successes and slip-ups, and those of you who are older and who may have bloomed a bit late,  we have some financial epiphanies for you too. Buckle up!

Knowledge is power, people! Which is why this week we go back to the drawing board and interrogate Dana on some of the resources that she finds the most (and least) helpful when researching stocks and nurturing her portfolio.  Also... we float an idea for a TV show that would be something like Bridgerton meets The Motley Fool. Spoiler alert... it's not the best idea we've ever had. Our open and closing music this week is courtesy of Twin Music, Creative Commons Attribution.

We all know about FOMO, or Fear of Missing Out.  We've all been teenagers. And when it comes to investing, it's all too easy to get swept up with the same insecurities that can drive our social lives. Should we join the Bitcoin party that everyone's raving about even though the stock is at its peak? Should we buy into that little-known company because our friends are buzzing about it? Guilty as charged. FOMO isn't necessarily the best reason to invest, so how can we make sure our investment choices aren't being overly influenced by the fact that our emotional selves never really leave high school?  Listen in as we share ways we keep it in check. 

Yes, it is possible to learn to think positively and proactively about taxes as they relate to your investments. The Art of Finance, based in Austin, caters to creatives and specializes in helping people who don't love spreadsheets get their heads around their money. We talked to them about how to change your mindset around taxes, plan for them and understand how to think holistically about your finances. Also, this episode: Managing the cryptocurrency shimmies and shakes -- and how to handle your investments when other parts of your life take over.

Season 1 is done and done! Thank you to our fans as we sign off and close out with a recap of what we loved about creating this podcast, how our investments are doing, and where our next season is taking us. Stay tuned for Season 2! 

We're back! We we're excited to kick off season 2 with a conversation about resolutions, the upcoming year, our goals and how to keep yourself in the game. We talk about the mindset of "always an investor", defining that you are an investor regardless of how active you are in the market one day to the next or how much money you have invested. Listen to how we replace the old-fangled New Year Resolutions with positive Financial Resolutions, and how to cope with a changing financial situation.Also in this episode, we are looking to continue the conversation with our listeners by inviting you to share your stories with us. If you've got a story about your financial resolutions and goals in 2022 or your journey as an investor that you want to share, send it to us via our site or social media -- in text, video, voice memo...however you like!Welcome back to Women Take Stock!