Your Investing Checklist: You Are Now Ready

Twenty posts ago, you started with a simple question: what is a stock market? Now you understand how companies are valued, how to read financial statements, what drives share prices, how to manage risk, and how to build a portfolio grounded in logic rather than luck.

That is no small thing. Most people who trade on the DSE have never worked through these fundamentals. You have. Let us bring it all together.

Your Complete Investing Checklist

This is a practical reference — something you can return to before every investment decision. Print it, save it, keep it close.

Before You Invest Any Money

I am investing surplus money that I will not need for at least 3-5 years
I have an emergency fund covering 3-6 months of living expenses
I have no high-interest debt (credit cards, personal loans above 12%)
I understand that I can lose money and I am emotionally prepared for that
I have opened a BO account with a reputable, BSEC-licensed broker

Before You Buy a Stock

After You Buy

I have recorded the purchase date, price, quantity, and my rationale
I have set a fundamental trigger for when I would sell (not a price target, but a business reason)
I will review this holding’s earnings every quarter
I will not sell based on short-term price movements alone

Portfolio Management

My portfolio spans at least 4-5 different sectors
No single sector exceeds 30% of my portfolio
I maintain a 5-10% cash reserve for opportunities
I review and rebalance my portfolio quarterly
I add new money to the portfolio regularly (monthly if possible)
I reinvest dividends to harness compound growth

When NOT to Invest

Knowing when not to invest is just as important as knowing how to invest. Do not put money in the stock market if:

It is borrowed money. Never invest with loans, margin beyond your comfort level, or money borrowed from family. If the market drops 20%, you still owe the full amount plus interest. This is how financial ruin happens.

It is your emergency fund. Your emergency fund exists for unexpected expenses — medical bills, job loss, urgent repairs. It must be in a savings account or fixed deposit, not in volatile equities.

You need it within 1-2 years. Planning to buy a house next year? Saving for a wedding? That money belongs in a bank, not the market. The DSE can drop 25% in a year and take 2-3 years to recover. Short-term money cannot absorb that risk.

You are investing to recover losses. If you lost money and feel the urge to invest more to “get it back,” stop. This is emotional decision-making, and it almost always leads to bigger losses.

You do not understand what you are buying. If you cannot explain in simple terms what the company does and why you expect it to do well, you are speculating, not investing. Go back to research.

What You Have Learned Across This Series

Let us recap the journey:

Level 1 — The Foundation: You learned what a stock market is, how the DSE works, how shares are traded, and how to open a BO account. You understood that the stock market is not a casino — it is a marketplace for owning pieces of real businesses.

Level 2 — Market Mechanics: You explored what moves share prices, how supply and demand work, what trading orders mean, and how settlement happens on the DSE. You learned to distinguish signal from noise.

Level 3 — Analysis: You learned to read financial statements, understand P/E ratios, evaluate earnings quality, and use fundamental analysis to separate good companies from bad ones. You gained the tools to make your own decisions instead of following tips.

Level 4 — Risk and Protection: You studied how to manage risk through diversification, position sizing, and discipline. You understood that protecting your capital is more important than chasing returns.

Level 5 — Strategy and Action: You explored long-term investing, dividend and growth strategies, and built your first portfolio with a rational framework. You learned that patience and consistency matter more than brilliance.

This is a genuine investing education. Most MBA programmes in Bangladesh do not cover practical DSE investing in this much detail. You did it in 20 posts.

Your Next Steps

Knowledge without action is just information. Here is how to move from learning to doing:

Step 1: Start With FinTrail

Everything you have learned in this series becomes dramatically easier to apply with the right tools. FinTrail is built specifically for DSE investors, and it puts everything you need in one place:

Portfolio Tracking — Record your trades, track your P&L in real time, and see exactly how each holding is performing. No more spreadsheets with manual price updates. FinTrail calculates your gains, losses, and overall returns automatically using FIFO settlement — the same method used by DSE.
Stock Screener — Filter all 400+ DSE-listed stocks by 60+ criteria including P/E ratio, EPS growth, dividend yield, debt levels, and shareholding patterns. Remember the stock selection criteria from the previous post? You can set those exact filters and get a shortlist in seconds.
Price Alerts — Set alerts for specific price levels or percentage changes. When a stock on your watchlist drops to your target buying price, you will know immediately — via email, push notification, or SMS. No need to stare at a screen all day.
TradingView Charts — Full technical analysis with 13+ years of historical data. Moving averages, RSI, MACD, Bollinger Bands, support and resistance levels — all the chart tools serious investors use, directly within FinTrail.
Market Dashboard — Real-time DSEX, DS30, and DSES indices. Top gainers, top losers, sector heatmap, and market sentiment at a glance. Stay informed without drowning in information.
Community — Connect with other rational, research-driven investors. Share analysis, discuss ideas, and learn from others who take investing seriously.

You can create a free account and start exploring immediately. The free tier gives you access to portfolio tracking and basic features. Pro and Pro+ plans unlock the full screener, advanced alerts, and deeper analytics.

Step 2: Start Small

Your first purchase does not need to be ৳2,00,000. It can be ৳20,000 — enough to buy a meaningful position in one quality stock. The point is to begin. The experience of actually owning a share, watching it fluctuate, receiving a dividend, and reviewing quarterly earnings teaches you more than any blog post ever could.

Step 3: Invest Regularly

Set a monthly amount — even ৳5,000 — and commit to investing it every month. Consistency beats timing. The investors who build real wealth are not the ones who make one brilliant trade. They are the ones who show up every month, year after year.

Step 4: Keep Learning

This series gave you a strong foundation, but the market is always teaching. Read annual reports. Follow BSEC announcements. Understand macroeconomic trends. The more you learn, the better your decisions become.

A Final Word

The Dhaka Stock Exchange is not a get-rich-quick scheme. It is not a place to gamble your savings. It is, however, one of the most powerful wealth-building tools available to ordinary Bangladeshis — if you approach it with knowledge, discipline, and patience.

You now have the knowledge. The discipline and patience are up to you.

Welcome to investing. You are ready.

Think About This

Looking at the complete checklist above, which items feel most natural to you and which will require the most discipline? How will you hold yourself accountable?
If you could give one piece of advice to a friend who is about to buy their first DSE stock, what would it be — and what mistake are you trying to help them avoid?
One year from now, what does a successful investing practice look like for you? Not a return percentage — but a set of habits, routines, and behaviours that you want to have in place.