Adelaide youth Aidan Jom-Muang Laird taught himself how to invest on stock market with YouTube

GameStop has brought the stock market into sharp focus this year and young guns are showing you can make a load of cash with a small investment.

It started with watching investment videos on YouTube and some encouragement from his mum, but Aidan Jom-Muang Laird turned $500 into $17,000 in just five months.

He had been living abroad for two years and returned to Australia with little direction with what to do with his life.

The 22-year-old from Adelaide was convinced to have a go at investing in the stock market but admits he wasn’t confident and instead found it “rather overwhelming”.

“There’s a lot of things you need to know and understand before investing. Everybody comprehends the market differently; for some people investing is a piece of cake, and for others it can be mind-boggling,” he told news.com.au.

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Aiden Jom-Muang Laird is a Popular Investor on investment platform eToro, where he manages a portfolio that retail investors can view and copy all my investments. Picture: Supplied

While he still works as a freelance social media marketing consultant and runs an e-commerce store, he said he never expected investing to turn his finances around so dramatically.

“When I started investing I didn’t think that it would have such a notable impact on my finances and life,” he said.

“I generally opt for a long-term investment strategy, and I’m glad I do as I’m definitely reaping the rewards so far. In my opinion, long term victory is worth millions more than short term gains.”

Technology and consumer goods are the two main industries he has picked to make his money, including companies such as Tesla, Apple, Etsy, Disney, Dropbox, Netflix, Target, Alibaba, and Facebook.

“However, I also diversify my portfolio with crypto, renewable energy stocks, as well as healthcare and the service industry stocks,” he said.

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Every day people are becoming more interested in the stock market after Reddit users made shares skyrocket in the US. Picture: Getty Images

Mr Laird admits he has withdrawn some of his profits to pay bills but has now banned himself from the practice, because he wants to make thousands more. This means he tracks all his expenses and spends just 10 per cent of his earnings on luxuries.

A recent survey from investment platform eToro found over 40 per cent of young people don’t know how to invest and more than 66 per cent are nervous that they don’t have enough money to invest in the stock market.

Mr Laird said for those new to investing, platforms like eToro offer the option to practice on a virtual account, allowing people to experience how the stock market works first hand without having to risk any real money.

But his best advice is to start investing today.

“The sooner you start learning and researching, the sooner you’ll be able to make your first investments and see your wealth grow. It is wise to always keep up to date with news on the stock market to find out the trends, as well as understand that regardless of market conditions, investing in the stock market can be risky,” he said.

“I also believe that patience is the greatest skill any investor can have.”