Dip your toes in a little. Go to youtube and watch a few videos on stock market indicators. MACD, stochastics, whatever and familiarize yourself with the basics of stocks and etf's. Then go to Etrade and open an account. Put a little cash in to play around with a bit. Since we're experiencing a temporary bear market, research which etf's or stocks will perform well when everything else is taking a dive. Grow your fund a little, and when we begin to bottom out, sell out and re-invest that cash in companies with strong portfolios that have taken a beating along with those deserving of the beating. Proceed to ride the wave back up. Rinse and repeat.And for that matter....what "is" it, exactly?
I confess to being functionally learning-disabled when it comes to the topic and I have at times tried to understand it a little better but everytime I start digging, I find myself lost in a sea of terms that I don't understand, verbs that don't make sense, and laundry lists of acronyms and jingoistic buzzwords that make my head spin. I get that it's a vague indicator of the health of the economy, or something like that......but what exactly is it and why does it make people go so crazy? I put in twice what my company matches in my X0X(x) plan and that's about the extent of my particpation, interest, and mastery.
Laymen's term, people. Laymen's terms.
You can be a trader by 9 pm, and have a good enough working knowledge to be as successful as the average pro. A lack of emotional attachment helps a lot, and by investing small sums, you can preserve that a bit.