Invest with Stax!

Summary

In Jennifer Bridenbaugh's tutorial on 'Invest with Stax!' she emphasizes the importance of diversification to minimize risk and maximize returns. Participants start by investing in a savings account and gradually branch out to CDs, index funds, and stocks. The game simulates real-time investment decisions with opportunities to diversify across seven categories, ensuring players keep their funds active for returns. With an initial sum and periodic monetary gains, players aim to beat the computer by strategically managing their portfolio for growth.

Highlights

• Begin your investment journey by opening a savings account. 😎
• Gradually diversify into CDs, index funds, and individual stocks. 📈
• Every six months (or 30 game seconds), invest $2,000 wisely! ⏰💸
• Keep tabs on achievements and portfolio diversification to stay ahead. 🎯
• Strategize and beat the computer in this investment challenge! 🤖

Key Takeaways

• Start your strategy with a savings account before diversifying. 🏦
• Diversification is crucial for minimizing risk and maximizing return. 📊
• Think of your investments as a game—beat the computer by making smart choices! 💪

Overview

In 'Invest with Stax!', Jennifer Bridenbaugh takes you on an exciting tutorial journey to master the art of investment through an engaging game. You'll kick off by setting up a savings account, the safest place for your initial funds, and gradually dip your toes into more adventurous waters like CDs, index funds, and individual stocks.

The game is designed to give you a simulated experience of real-world investing, with players receiving $2,000 every six months in game time to grow their portfolio. Your mission, should you choose to accept, is to outsmart the computer by making savvy investment choices across seven different financial instruments. Feel the thrill as you make each decision, seeing your portfolio diversify and returns soar!

Whether you're alone at home or simply looking for an engaging way to learn about investing, this tutorial offers a fun and educational approach. Stay alert to the game's indicators and adjust your strategy as new investment options pop up. It's a race against time and the computer—can you strategize your way to the top of the leaderboard? Let's find out!

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction to Investing with Stax The chapter 'Introduction to Investing with Stax' provides a tutorial on investing using Stax. It emphasizes the importance of diversification in reducing risk while achieving a good return on investment. The chapter hints at the inclusion of critical 'cheat sheet' items for building investment stacks but acknowledges some may miss these key points. The investing strategy involves engaging with seven different aspects or categories.
• 00:30 - 01:00: Investment Categories Overview The chapter titled "Investment Categories Overview" introduces the concept of gradually diversifying investments over time. It begins with opening a savings account and progresses through various investment vehicles, such as certificates of deposit (CDs), index funds, and individual stocks. The chapter emphasizes the importance of time in expanding investment opportunities, suggesting a natural progression from basic savings to more complex investments. Over time, the individual will be investing across various areas, with an expectation of receiving about two thousand dollars regularly.
• 01:00 - 02:00: Gameplay Instructions and Initial Setup The chapter titled 'Gameplay Instructions and Initial Setup' discusses the financial strategy aspect of the game. It emphasizes the importance of reinvesting any money received during gameplay into avenues like stocks, bonds, index funds, or savings accounts to gain returns. The narration hints at a game feature 'build your stacks', suggesting strategic financial planning as a core component of the game.
• 02:00 - 03:00: Savings Account and Emergency Fund Setup This chapter titled 'Savings Account and Emergency Fund Setup' seems to use a metaphorical gaming framework to explain managing savings and setting up an emergency fund. It emphasizes the importance of understanding key indicators, akin to reading a game's instructions, to manage your financial 'game' effectively. It guides the reader through initial steps and encourages utilizing resources like the 'question button' for answers, indicating a supportive approach in managing personal finance. The screen representation suggests visual learning elements to convey the setup process, even if not immediately visible at the start.
• 03:00 - 04:00: Diversification and Portfolio Management In this chapter titled 'Diversification and Portfolio Management,' the focus is on creating a strategy to outperform computer-generated investment models. It begins with establishing the foundation by setting up a savings account to earn interest and emphasizes the importance of starting with a solid emergency fund. A practical exercise is illustrated where an individual initiates their financial planning by depositing an initial amount of four thousand dollars into a savings account. The chapter guides readers on the importance of these initial steps in the broader context of diversification and managing a portfolio effectively.
• 04:00 - 05:00: Using Certificates of Deposit (CDs) In the chapter titled 'Using Certificates of Deposit (CDs)', the speaker discusses making a return on investments by utilizing CDs. They highlight a strategy of having a return on money before receiving additional funds. The speaker also navigates through a game interface, mentioning elements such as a leaderboard, achievements, and a portfolio, indicating that these elements serve as tools to track progress and victories in the context of financial management or simulation.
• 05:00 - 05:30: Closing Tips and Encouragement The final chapter, titled 'Closing Tips and Encouragement,' focuses on the importance of diversification in one's portfolio. The speaker discusses how initially engaging with this concept might be slow, but assures that with time and persistence, the process becomes more enjoyable and rewarding. It emphasizes the significance of spreading investments to avoid having all assets in one place, thereby mitigating potential risks. The speaker uses their own example to illustrate the current state of their investments being concentrated, encouraging the audience to consider a more diversified approach as they continue their financial journey.

Invest with Stax! Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 hey guys here is your tutorial on how to invest with stacks so hopefully this week you have learned that diversification is really key in minimizing risk but also getting a really good rate of return on for your money and so specifically with building your stacks i wanted to preview this because i'm sure some of us might miss some of the key cheat sheet items from the beginning you'll be investing in seven different
• 00:30 - 01:00 categories at the beginning it'll open up savings account and then over time you'll slowly get the opportunity to invest in a cd and then an index fund and then individual stocks and so on and so forth you just have to run through time in order to get to those other investments and eventually you'll be investing in all different areas over time you will get about two thousand dollars every
• 01:00 - 01:30 single um every six months which is 30 seconds in the game and so one of the biggest things about that is is you've got to make sure that every time you receive money you are trying to put it somewhere to receive an investment or return for that money whether it's in a stock or whether it's in a bond or a specifically an index fund your savings account whatever it may be and so i'm going to head over to build your stacks and unfortunately for those that are at
• 01:30 - 02:00 home you're going to be playing alone and there are some key indicators that you need to read through it teaches you what the game is about and how to to make sure um of certain things that you need to be on the lookout for okay and eventually your screen will look just like this screen right here okay at the beginning it will not though okay so we'll just go through a few things in the beginning if you ever have a question just click the question button at the top right um
• 02:00 - 02:30 and then your goal is to beat the computer okay and i'll show you what that looks like here as we get going all right so at the beginning it tells me that i'm putting money into a savings account to get an interest rate this this and this and then here we go i got it i want an emergency fund that's what i need right so i've started already with um four thousand dollars so i'm going to deposit and i'm going to type 4 000 here i'm going to click deposit okay enter
• 02:30 - 03:00 does it necessarily always work in this game so as you can see i'm already making some type of return on my money before i get some extra money i wanted to bring you to the left side of the screen and show you the leaderboard as you can see it gives us some options here i'm going to unclick that because i don't care at that moment and then achievements these are things that i've won in the game so far and then my portfolio this might be where some of us actually sit so currently i am
• 03:00 - 03:30 not diversified because all of my money is in one place okay and so i really want you guys to think about how your your portfolio is going to be diversified and so at the beginning it's kind of slow but as time goes on you will you will get really into it maybe not the first round but eventually if you want to play a second round it'll get a little bit more fun now as you can see all of my money right now is here and
• 03:30 - 04:00 then i'm going to click this next button so i can open up a cd so at the bottom of the screen it'll keep popping up new ways to invest and so now i'm going to withdraw um i want to withdraw about 10 grand oops i want to let me okay up we're going to pay with pocket cash because i have some money in my pocket cash but i'm going to withdraw 10 000 here and withdraw that and i'm gonna
• 04:00 - 04:30 buy 10 000 here and one specific thing with these cds is that you can see my rate of return just went way high so i'm just going to sit on this i'm going to buy some more because i have some pocket cash so this game gets to going fairly quickly i'm going to pay with pocket cash um so throughout the game this is what it looks like okay hopefully this is helpful if you get
• 04:30 - 05:00 stuck just let me know and have fun