All our instructors are asked to explain why the students should take this lesson

So you've finally decided to start investing. 

But wait! Before that, I have one question for you...

What is more important? 

Knowing how to fish or knowing the good fish? 

Many courses teach you how to select a good stock but very few focus on teaching you the RIGHT WAY to select stock.

With tens of thousands of stocks to choose from, how do you go about selecting a few worth buying? Whatever some experts suggest, it's just not possible to comb through every balance sheet to identify companies that meet your investment criteria.

Picking the right stocks is essential to any share trader or investor’s success.

Many amateur investors do not approach stock picking in a systematic way. They accidentally develop an approach and then expand upon it as other circumstances shift.

They end up investing in stocks for many different reasons and most of the time they really don't have a well-thought-out plan, it happens in accidental ways. They read an article that sounds interesting, someone they know offers a tip, or they just like the business that the company is in.

Sometimes they are lucky and sometimes they are not.

It becomes clear to them that if they really want to produce good results they have to have a method other than hot tips and impulsive decisions. 

A stock pick is when an investor uses a systematic form of analysis to conclude that a particular stock will make a good investment and, therefore, should be added to their portfolio. 

Smart stock-pickers have three big things in common:

- 1. They have decided in advance what they want their portfolios to achieve, and they're determined to stick with it.

- 2. They stay aware of the daily news, trends, and events that drive the economy and every company in it.

- 3. They use those goals and knowledge to inform the decisions they make to buy or sell stocks.

This lesson, together with our lesson "How To Be A Smart Investor" teaches you how to achieve #1, #2, and #3.

There is more you will learn from this lesson. For example...

What is the most well-known gauge for measuring how the economy of a country is performing?

The majority of people turn to the performance of a country’s stock market as the best indicator of how well that economy is doing. Stock markets cover all industries across all sectors of the economy. This means they serve as a barometer of what cycle the economy is in and the hopes and fears of the population who generate growth and wealth.

But how do you practically know it? 

You will learn that in this lesson. 

If you are tired of picking individual stocks that oftentimes lead to disappointing and frustrating results, then it is important for you to review your way of picking a stock.