Square is a financial service, merchant services aggregator, and mobile payment company based in San Francisco, California. Danielle has openly expressed her excitement for this company—but what makes it so special?In 2009, Square initially started as a solution to mobile businesses without mobile payments. It took Founders Jim McKelvey and Jack Dorsey about 3 years to understand the market at the time, and how they could make an impact in this space. They entered the market and were able to provide a small device that could be easily inserted into the audio jack of smartphones. With this convenient hardware and only a 2.75% transaction fee, they quickly divorced the merchant from the shackles of digital wires. The successes of these innovations were multi-faceted. The infrastructure for payment processing was no longer costly for a specialized machine, but a small add-on to devices we already own. This also meant that as long as someone had the Square app, they could be a transaction node as well. Square continues to show viral growth, with revenue up year over year.This week on InvestED, Phil and Danielle welcome podcast guest Jim McKelvey, the co-founder of Square. Jim talks about his book, “The Innovation Stack,” and how innovation ultimately is what impacts a company’s success. What does it take for a start-up to turn into a successful business? Listen to the podcast today to find out. Interested in getting your own copy of "The Innovation Stack?" Order it at https://www.jimmckelvey.com.Learn how to find high-performing, innovative companies with my Four Ms checklist! Click here to download: http://bit.ly/2LzEBQ2 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is an exciting time to be an investor in the stock market.As you know by now, Reddit investors just launched an "attack on Wall Street" by purchasing shares in GameStop. This pushed the stock price up over 480% in a week. The investor who helped direct the world’s attention to GameStop is 34-year-old Keith Gill. Gill used Reddit’s WallStreetBets message board to promote GameStop, and used the identity of Roaring Kitty on his YouTube channel and Twitter page to help engineer a short squeeze against the hedge funds that were betting the price of GameStop would drop. But what is a short squeeze?If investors think a stock's price is dropping, they can short the stock. They borrow shares and sell them with hopes of buying them back at lower prices. However, stocks can theoretically keep rising, which could cause losses. So the investors that short the stock will either have to put more money up to secure their position or close their positions.If they choose to close their position, they are buying the stock to exit their position. This can drive the price higher and force other short sellers to do the same. This creates a continuous cycle of buying and pushing the price up even higher. This is the short squeeze, as those short the market essentially get "squeezed out.” And it's exactly what happened with GameStop.Hedge funds and other short-sellers have lost an astounding amount betting against GameStop, and there has been a regulatory response to this event. Robinhood limited the number of shares each user can purchase, stating that the trading restrictions were risk management decisions to protect Robinhood and its clearinghouses. In today’s podcast, Phil and Danielle discuss the GameStop situation and explain why the market should be free—where regulators stay out of the “little” guy’s way.Learn more about the basics of investing in the stock market with my Beginners Guide to Investing in 2021. Click here to download: http://bit.ly/39EOFR0  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are you one of the winners of the InvestED 300th podcast episode giveaway? Listen to this podcast to find out! Investing in stocks is one of the best things you can do to set yourself up financially, but you have to first understand the company valuation process in order to actually make money.When a company decides to go public, an investment bank helps determine what the price of the company’s stock should be at their Initial Public Offering (IPO), when they become available to purchase on the stock exchange. They determine the initial price based on the value of the company and early interest from investors before the stock is available to the public. After the company goes public, the stock price is based on supply and demand. When the demand for a stock goes up, its price goes up. The demand can increase if the company is doing extremely well and its value is increasing, or it can increase simply because of excitement from other investors. It’s important to remember to not get the “value of the company” confused with the “price of the stock.” The market can be incredibly emotional and price a great company way under their true value and vice versa. Ultimately, the stock price is determined by greed when the stock price is going up and fear when the stock price is going down.This is why it’s important to invest with certainty within your circle of competence. Love what you own, and put your money where your values are. Most of us have the intention to make the world a better place, but seem to forget that the businesses that they invest in have a direct impact on what is going to exist in the world in 10-20 years.In today’s podcast, Phil and Danielle announce the winners of the InvestED 300th podcast episode giveaway and discuss rational investing in 2021.Learn more about using your Circle of Competence to pick stocks with my 3 Circles Exercise Guide. Click here to get started: http://bit.ly/3pn4Bgj Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this podcast, Phil and Danielle discuss Li Lu's speech on value investing in China, emphasizing the ethics investors should follow. They explore the benefits of finding wonderful companies and the importance of a margin of safety. They also announce a prize giveaway for the 300th episode and share their personal journey. The hosts analyze the lack of knowledge among financial advisors and the challenge of evaluating investment managers. They explore the impact of a specific kind of investing and tease the focus of the next episode.

One of the best things about investing is that it is possible for everyone to succeed—no matter your age, income, gender or IQ. As a beginner investor, it’s easier to avoid mistakes and decrease risk by investing in companies you are already familiar with, and that have meaning to you. For example, if you work in the tech industry, it’s going to be much easier for you to understand the goals of a tech company as well as their potential to reach those goals than it is going to be for you to evaluate a company in the pharmaceutical industry.Consider your personal passions, talents, and spending habits. Better yet, map them out using a venn diagram, placing passions in one circle, talents in another, and spending habits in another.Where these three areas overlap is your “Circle of Competence”, reflecting the industries and sectors you have the most knowledge of and where you should start your search for companies to invest in.Over time, you can begin to research companies across various sectors and expand your knowledge-base and comfort zone, but investing within your Circle of Competence is the best place to start.As you embark on your investing journey, remember to stay rational, mindful, and disciplined. It is the only way you will be successful in value investing. In today’s podcast, Phil and Danielle discuss value investing in 2021, and best practices for investors of all levels to be successful in the stock market.Ensure you always make smart investment decisions with my 3 Circles Exercise Guide. Click here to get started: http://bit.ly/3ozYpkJ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s so important not to invest or sell stocks too soon.While the desire to get in on the ground floor of a brand new company or industry is certainly understandable, it is most often better to let the dust settle a little so that more information is available and you can do proper research before making an investment.Although, even with proper research and due diligence, even the most successful investors’ journeys are still fraught with errors and investing mistakes. Nevertheless, as painful as these investing mistakes are at the time, you can learn a lot from them and can use them to become a better investor. After all, no one wants to lose money on their hard-earned investments down the road. The best way to avoid losing money on investments is to follow a proven investing strategy and never stray from it. Making irrational decisions based on emotions can be costly. By avoiding greed or fear-based decisions, you can pursue a successful investing career and hopefully avoid the business and investment problems that investors like Warren Buffett and Benjamin Graham have experienced in their early years.In today’s podcast, Jeremy Deal—founder of JDP Capital—sits down with Danielle to discuss his biggest investing mistakes so that you can learn from them!Ensure you always make smart investment decisions with the Rule #1 Cheat Sheet for Smarter Investing. Click here to download: http://bit.ly/3pHRNRg Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When a company makes the decision to go public, shares of that company become available for purchase, allowing anyone to buy a stake in the company.Each share is a stock, and investors are able to buy and sell shares in any public company at any time. Of course, as with any form of business, the goal is to buy a company’s stock when it’s “on sale” or undervalued relative to its actual value, and to sell that stock when it’s fully valued in order to make a profit.A simplified look at a successful investment is one where an investor buys a company for a certain amount of dollars, holds on to the company for an extended period of time until its value has grown to the point that they feel comfortable selling it, and then sells it above what they purchased it for. Buying great companies when they are on sale is what Rule #1 investing is all about, but it’s fine to wait to buy until you are sure you are getting both a wonderful business and a great price.Think of it this way: you would never buy 100% of a company without thorough due diligence, and, likewise, you shouldn’t buy a small percentage of a company without the same.When the experts—such as Warren Buffett or Charlie Munger—are publicly stating that they are sitting in cash, this is an indicator that they are waiting for a dip in the market, or an event to trigger their next large purchase. On this vault episode of InvestED, Phil and Danielle answer a listener’s question regarding sitting on cash and managing your investments.Learn how to invest and make decisions with confidence with the Rule #1 Cheat Sheet for Smarter Investing. Click here to download: http://bit.ly/2KthciL Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast episode discusses how innovation in companies do not always lead to the best investments, and we decided to feature none other than the prestigious Annalisa Gigante.Annalisa Gigante has been an award winning innovator for 30 years, with a track record of commercial success, launching and building multi-billion dollar new businesses across different industries from life sciences and chemicals to services and digital technologies.She served as CTO of LafargeHolcim, and was an Executive Committee member at Adecco Group as Chief Business Development and Marketing Officer, both as global leaders in their respective industries.Her career includes international roles in innovation, business management, strategy, and marketing. Her key focus areas are sustainability, digital technologies including AI and IoT, new business models, and building high performing teams. She has been the subject of two Masters’ theses on women top executives, and a recent monograph on Innomniacs.Innovation in companies can come in many different forms, including organizational, technological, or process innovation. But do innovative companies always make great investments?Before you buy shares in a company, it is essential to thoroughly analyze that company’s mission, management, goals, outlook, fundamentals, and so on. Great investors would never buy 100% of a company without thorough research for due diligence, and, likewise, you shouldn’t buy a small percentage of a company without the same.If you want to learn more about analyzing companies on your watchlist, download Phil’s Four Ms for Successful Investing Checklist: http://bit.ly/3mwFx4k Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Investing in the stock market does not involve luck or gambling. It requires a strategy and a solid foundation of knowledge.Investing in anything, especially the stock market, when you don’t have a concrete strategy can be scary. It’s a serious journey that shapes your life and can determine whether or not you live a life free from financial burden. For example, if you don’t have a solid amount of money to retire on in 20 or 30 years from now, the government may not have the funds available to support your lifestyle, which is scary.That is why it is becoming increasingly important to learn how to invest for yourself. In reality, the only fear of investing you should have is the fear of what you will miss out on if you don’t invest.You wouldn’t jump in the ring without knowing the basics of boxing, so you shouldn’t jump into the stock market without knowing the basics of investing.Before you begin building wealth, it’s important to understand your long-term goals of investing as well as the basic process that you will use to reach those goals. But once you learn the basics, you must constantly stay up-to-date with trends and market updates. The most successful investors in the world are reading and educating themselves on a daily basis. In today’s podcast, Jake Taylor—Chief Executive Officer of Farnam Street Investments—sits down with Danielle to discuss luck vs. skill in investing, and why it’s important to stay in a growth mindset. Learn how to invest and make decisions with confidence with the Rule #1 Cheat Sheet for Smarter Investing. Click here to download: https://bit.ly/3gNe0ub Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's going to happen to the market in the following months? No one knows for sure. All you can do for now is stick to your process, and stay in the right mindset for rational investing. When you get overwhelmed by stress, lack of sleep, or other factors, your rational mind loses power and your emotions take over. This is a terrible mindset for making investment decisions.You can't avoid those stressful situations as an investor, but the way you handle them can drastically change your outcome. When you notice you are feeling tense or nervous about an important investing decision, take a few slow, deep breaths to calm your nerves. Consider stepping back, and resuming when you have a clear head. In the long term, improving your problem-solving skills and looking at things from a larger perspective will help you deal with stress without feeling overwhelmed.Having a set of processes and boundaries when looking for companies to invest in is critical. Benjamin Graham, who was Warren Buffett's mentor, said that the first thing all investors should think about when they buy a stock is that they have bought part of a business. This is an excellent mindset to have as an investor for several reasons.When you own a business, you care about how well the business is performing its core functions. When you focus on that, instead of on how the stock price changes from one day to the next, you adopt a long-term perspective that is crucial for investing success. Thinking like an owner also helps you avoid panic selling. You maintain a rational perspective and avoid being driven by emotions.In today’s podcast, Jake Taylor—Chief Executive Officer of Farnam Street Investments—sits down with Danielle to discuss his investing process and how he keeps a rational mindset before making any important decisions.Reduce stress by only investing in high-performance stocks using my Four Ms for Successful Investing Guide. Click here to download: https://bit.ly/3lRnvt6 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices