Practice Trading in the 'Virtual Stock Exchange'

The power of hands-on learning is indisputable. But when it comes to investing your money in the stock market, however, making a beginner's mistake can cost you more than just your self-esteem. Thankfully, the web makes it easy to practice with virtual money. Virtual stock trading allows you to get in the driver's seat and manage your own fantasy stock portfolio while competing risk-free against friends and strangers.

There are a multitude of online investment games like Investopedia, and Questrade that play with virtual money, but not all of them are easy for beginners. Here are five of the best free (because you shouldn't have to spend real money to play with fake money) online games for getting your feet wet.

1. Wall Street Survivor

Invest $100,000 in virtual cash via drop-down menu choices. A friendly cartoon version of stock guru Mark Brookshire helps you make your final decision by providing some rating numbers when you input a stock. These include a rating for survivor sentiment, fundamentals, technical and a Motley Fool Rating.

For additional help choosing stocks, the site has an impressive resource library that spans beginner, intermediate and advanced levels. Start with Investing 101 and consider taking advantage of the community forums if you have specific questions. Those who need a little help getting started can also choose to adapt one of the preset portfolios created by proven traders.

While the $100,000 competition is most popular, anybody on the site can create a contest. Prizes vary, but most often consist of competitive pride.

2. HowTheMarketWorks

Owned by the same company as Wall Street Survivor, this game is great for investors looking to gain experience with a new type of portfolio. In addition to stocks and indexes, there are options to experiment with Forex portfolios, penny stocks, mutual funds and short selling.

Beginners can execute market order-based trades in a "fun mode" without worrying about things like set hours, maximum number of trades per day, per stock and order expiration. A "realistic mode" amps up the complexity after they've mastered the beginner level.

Players can manage up to three stock portfolios and three Forex portfolios on the site at once. For each portfolio, they select a starting value between $100 and $500,000 and set how much virtual commission you are charged per trade.

The competition aspect is optional. General monthly contests give each player $25,000 as a virtual starting point. Other public contests include challenging restrictions like "short sells only" or "penny stocks only." Users can create their own password-protected games as well, which is a feature that teachers find helpful for creating class competitions.

3. Young Money Stock Market Game

Young Money Magazine's stock exchange game is easy to learn but also fairly realistic, which is a hard balance to strike.

Realistic aspects include a virtual commission that's taken out of each trade, adhering to market hours and rules about how you can invest. Unlike many investing games, trades are made at a real-time price. Learning aspects include convenient help icons on key terms and an intuitive tabbed interface.

The site runs a monthly contest with a $100 (real) cash prize that goes to whoever gained the highest percentage. Players can also create their own contests or join other user-made contests.

4. MarketWatch Fantasy Earnings Trader Game

MarketWatch will run this mock stock market contest for a total of four weeks, awarding the winner of each week with an iPad. It's on week three right now, but there's still time to get in on the competition for week four.

You must have your selections picked before the week starts on Monday. The shares that you select are "purchased" at Monday's open and will "sell" automatically at Friday's close.

The catch is that all players can only use the 15 to 20 symbols selected for each week. The companies are selected by the game owner for companies that are projecting their earnings during each week. Lining up picks is easy — players simply drag the company's logo to their trading card and designate if they want to sell short or go long.

Although there are some pros playing, this game is especially manageable for beginners due to the limited stock options for each week.

5. Virtual Stock Exchange (VSE)

Start with $1,000,000 cash balance you use to buy; stock, exchange traded fund, commodities, foreign currencies and more. Featuring 30+ of the world's stock exchanges.

The use of metrics and customization allow for readily accessible use of the software. Comparatively, VSE is less restrictive than some competitors thanks to; higher starting cash, 1,000,000 trades and helpful competitor information.

Challenges are optional, you can join an existing challenge or start your own for friends, classmates, clubs or strangers.

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So whether you play for fun or have the intention to trade with real money some day, these are all valuable resources.

Leave a comment and share which system you like best, or if there is another that should be on the list. 

Three Words You Should Never Say About Yourself

When we interact with other people, what do we want? As I started to study that question, I came across a wonderful quote. “There are two kinds of people in the world. Those who divide the world into two kinds of people, and those who don’t.” Robert Benchley.

Psychologists have a bad habit of oversimplifying people. If I truly wanted to capture the richness of the human condition, I needed more than two categories. Imagine my delight, then, when I found evidence that around the world, there are not two… but three styles of interaction.

In every culture, and every industry, research identifies givers, takers, and matchers. Givers are generous: they help others with no strings attached. Takers are selfish: they try to get as much as they can from others. Matchers are fair: I’ll do something for you, if you do something for me (quid pro quo).

We all have our moments of giving, taking, and matching. We also have a style, though, that reflects how we treat most of the people most of the time. Sometimes people asked me about my style, and I was quick to answer: “I’m a giver.” It was natural—helping others is my top guiding principle in life. I feel more comfortable when I’m on the giving side of an exchange. I don’t like trading favors or being transactional.

It was the wrong answer. Last year, something happened that dramatically changed my perspective. I proposed the concept online, talking about and asking readers to self-identify their style. As a new author, nothing was more gratifying than learning that my words mattered to someone else. Given the topic, I expected to hear some stories about giving. I was completely unprepared, though, for what rolled in from some readers:

“When you wrote about givers, you were talking about me, right?” 

“Your book made me realize how generous I am.”

"I've always been a giver."

I thought these were isolated incidents… until I received feedback from someone I actually knew. In the span of one week, two of her friends heard about my book (from her). They both told her, “I’ve always been a giver.”

We found it off-putting, and we wondered why. At first, we thought it was the relationship. It’s one thing to tell a stranger you’re a giver. It’s another thing to announce it to a friend. If you’re really friends, wouldn’t they already know?!

Upon further discussion, we realized there was a deeper issue of humility. I decided to test our hunch elsewhere by posing a specific question during a real-life presentation: “How many of you are givers?”

In a typical room, about a third of the hands went up. Then, I asked: “How many of you are givers, but didn’t raise your hand, because you know that would violate the norm of modesty that givers are supposed to live by?”

“Those are the real givers,” I joked. “The moment someone raises a hand and says, ‘I’m a giver,’ my first reaction is, “Nope, you’re a taker.”

I say this in jest, but I’m surfacing a serious point:

When I called myself a giver, I failed the test of humility.

Now, when people ask about my style, I tell them I hold the values of a giver, and I aspire to be one. But whether I succeed in living by those values is not my place to judge. It’s in the eye of the beholder.

The lesson I learned: “I’m a giver” is off limits. Generosity is earned, not claimed. Leave it to other people to describe you as a giver—that’s the highest form of praise.

If that doesn’t happen, you can always name a website after yourself.

Credit: Adam Grant
Image credits: Anchorman

15 Hilarious Animated GIFs

These are some of my most shared gifs. Guaranteed laughs or your money back!

Colbert and King in matching sweaters. Clearly, as you can see, Stephen King is thrilled about this.

A cat on the internet, you don't see that everyday, this is either an attempt to keep a draft out or a bad prank, but regardless, it's pretty funny.

Adding a Star Wars reference almost always results in a viral sensation.

We're not sure what exactly spooked the cat in the first place, but adding a pumpkin pie makes for a hilarious GIF.

Heads up! This is what happens when you don't secure the strap.

It's a bird. It's a plane. It's....David Hasselhoff?

YouTuber Sidneyraz is famous for dancing in public, whether it's in a Thanksgiving turkey costume, or as a cat. This is how the police react to it.

For some odd reason, Nigel Thornberry has become a major trend on the web. His awkward face has been added to a number of pop stars and Disney princesses.

This GIF was made in response to an old funny commercial, "Never Say No to Panda".

Whether you love, hate, or love to hate this show, this girl's got some moves.

You've made it to the end of the list. Leave a comment for your favorite gif AND/OR share your own.