Hi there! Liz (the newbie investor) back again, with an interview that I’m so excited to share.

In prepping to make my very first stock purchase for January, (which I also recorded a vlog for — the video will be up shortly), I had the pleasure of interviewing Dave Van Knapp. Press play below to watch it!


Dave’s writing is a staple on DTA, and he generously took time to answer some of my fundamental questions about first steps in investing.

I found our conversation extremely enlightening — we covered some big picture questions such as why a company goes public, what that means for the investor, and how an investor gauges a company’s health.

I asked Dave how he chooses which stocks to invest in, and whether he prefers well-established business with a steady trajectory or newer businesses with more room to grow — which led to a discussion about how one’s investing style reflects their personal taste.

Dave also later explains his philosophy on the “personality” of a company and how that affects his decision of whether or not to invest in that company.

One of my favorite parts of this interview was talking about finding reliable and trustworthy sources of information online.

In my fledgling phase of investing, I’ve found that there are A LOT of contradictory sources of information, all claiming to be gospel.

Dave had some great advice about how to cut through the noise. I think my biggest take away from this interview was Dave’s challenge to treat my investment “like a business”, and to come up with a list of objectives for my investing strategy.

He advised me that my objectives may change over time as I come to learn more about my own personal investing preferences, risk tolerance, etc. — but that having a roadmap is a great place to start.

I’ll absolutely be sharing my investment objectives with you in a future blog!

Thanks again for coming along this journey with me, and I hope that you’ve learned something new! I know I have!

To our journey,
Liz

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