getting into stocks and making money

[carsightings]

well i really want to start trading and making some money.

i read this:

http://money.howstuffworks.com/stock.htm/printable

this is a good articale for noobs it explains the main idea and some terms.


after that i found this:

http://www.investorguide.com/links-dir-brokerlist.html

a list of on line stock brokers


the thing is i need some help starting off. what broker should i use? and what should i invest in? i know "SL65" (the admin) is around my age and he is also into stocks. I hope he and some others could help.

btw the links i gave would be great for a noob like me who wants to get into the stock world.

[nthfinity]

so, who is this admin named SL65?

the thing about stocks that any experienced trader will tell you is to have a diversified portfolio... and people often misinterpret what that means. you dont want to have competing stocks within a single portfolio. i dont trade; so i cant tell you beans

anyway, good luck to you.

[bmwmpower]

i tryed online terminal a real buying, i make money on VW and loose in almost everythink,but it was like game,not with real money

[dutchmasterflex]

I've tried to open up a couple accounts with online trading company's like ameritrade, but they want a minimum of $2,000. At first I thought it was only $1,000. Hopefully by next week I'll get an account and buy some stocks..

Just pick the right company at the rigth time All I basically do is look at their history of stock prices and my own personal knowledge of the company..

I did pretty well when I picked out some stocks a year ago but didnt actually invest my money. It was just for a stupid project in highschool.. heh


But anyways, If you have a couple grand to invest, go for it.

[carsightings]

Originally Posted by dutchmasterflex I've tried to open up a couple accounts with online trading company's like ameritrade, but they want a minimum of $2,000. At first I thought it was only $1,000. Hopefully by next week I'll get an account and buy some stocks.. Just pick the right company at the rigth time All I basically do is look at their history of stock prices and my own personal knowledge of the company.. I did pretty well when I picked out some stocks a year ago but didnt actually invest my money. It was just for a stupid project in highschool.. heh But anyways, If you have a couple grand to invest, go for it.

that is a lot. cant i invest something around the 100$? ops:

[Ian_yamaue]

An brief analysis of some indices and indicators might help.
I use this page,
www.downloadquotes.com
register (the free registration still provides los of features)and open the interative chart.
It provides a compreensive graffic of the stock, market or indice you want, you can apply fibonacci grid. Very useful.

[TeflonTron]

DrijF360: if you want "quick and good" returns, be prepared for "quick and bad" loses. My advice for new investors would be to stay with large, well-founded companies and to do a LOT of research before buying.

[nthfinity]

Originally Posted by carsightings that is a lot. cant i invest something around the 100$? ops:

LMAO

sorry, but the most 100$ can do for you is a couple tanks of gas... save up at least $2000... that is a starting point... and as i recomended... Dont dump all your funds into one stock; diversify your portfolio means you nearly always stay in the black... there are a few companies i would recomend that are good prices now; and are likely to dubble in the next year or two... but i dont know squat about investment banking

energies
techs
investment firms
manufacturing
retail

if you have something to the nature of one of each; no two are actually competing with each other... and if one takes a hit... then you dont suffer terribly. check out any of Jim Cramers' books... he is a little crazy, but is often quite on-the-money.

I use NYSE, and AMMEX to do my basic research... it also helps to read the Wall STreet Jurnal; and keep up with your individual stocks' various company news.

often, as a shareholder, you can get a shareholder news letter.

[graywolf624]

For that amount of cash Id just put it in a cd or a treasury bond.
You can earn 5 percent if you shop around for a good certificate of deposit.

You really need at least 1000 for the stock market... Why? Part of a stocks price reflects the risk associated with the market. It doesnt reflect the risk associated with the individual stock, but rather that of a well diversified porfolio(a maxium diversified stock porfolio would be around 20+ stocks chosen at random). Anything less then that and your experiencing individual stock risk your not compensated for. Also you want stocks that have returns not correlated to each other(the one doesnt go up the same time the other does to put it in laymens terms).
In terms of a choice of brokerage, if you know what your doing places like Ameritrade are the best. Most of the big companies charge a percentage of what you put in, as opposed to ameritrade, etrade, ect which charge a fixed rate per trade (much better deal). The big companies however do offer investment advice.

In terms of measuring better investments, go to yahoo and look at the stocks page there.. Look at things like the price to earnings ratio, the performance of the stock over time, ect. Then essentially make a guess cause on any one stock past performance is already built into the price, so its what tomorrow holds thats the determinent(hence its a better strategy to invest in markets or indexes(all the stocks valued together) since in general it is practically impossible to beat the performance of the market(no mutual fund manager has managed to do so over time).
Finally, don't move your cash between stocks alot. At least in the US taxes are higher for shorter held securities.

[dingo]

If you have $100 then don't bother, the brokerage/transaction fees will be too high for that amount of investment.

If you go with online broking then be prepared to spend alot of time infront of the PC watching stock prices so you can make the best decisions.

Alternatively get yourself a broker (which is what I have) and then its all done for you, of course you normallly pay a bit more for this than online (I don't pay since its my brother). I have made some awesome returns over the past few years and it suppliments my income from work greatly, LOVE IT!!!!

Good luck.

[Z3uS]

Originally Posted by DrijF360 seriously you need money to make it.

Dudes sorry this has nothing to do with the topic but... Who´s this girl in your signature? Veronika Zemanova? ops:

[Mattk]

I entered this stock market competition once, where you get $50000 and invest it (made around $3000, which is really bad, probably because I lost interest after a while). The only really good piece of advice was to invest in undervalued stocks, which would obviously require a bit of research.

[Toronto]

if you want to get into the market to make money quick buying and selling is for you.
if you want to make REAL money, you don't ever sell... just wait.

[carsightings]

as you said 100$ is to little i will need more than that. The thing is i dont want to dig into my savings. So i was thinking that maybe i could do some of those online polls and make some money. From what i hear you can make around 200$ a month with them. So i think i will get into that first and save up. Since i am very young (just 16) that can be a ok source of income. Do you have any ideas as for what polls i can do? if posting links here will mean breaking forum rules then you can send me links in a pm.

thank a lot.

[stracing]

$100 is enough to start, but make sure there is extra for the brokerage fees. i'd say start with $100 to get the feel for it. you don't need couple thousand dollars to start. invest large sums when you get the expereince. so even if you lose its not much. remember you can lose money! also a broker can't or shouldn't advise which stocks to buy, so you need to learn which ones to buy. eg. terrorist attacks can have huge effects. airline stocks plummetted after 9/11.

also learn about tax implications in your country on profits you make, thats probably the hardest to grasp i reckon. in australia, you pay tax on profits and if you lose you make some sort of deductions. but paying tax on profits pisses me off.

another way you can invest is managed funds. this is good if you can';t be bothered to read up information on companies. investing stocks means a lot of reading. with managed funds you set up an account with someone and dump money into it and someone will decide what stocks, properties, bonds, cash accounts to invest in etc. i don't have much tme now, so this is what i use. however, you might need at least $1000 to start. each time you get paid, you could put more money into it as well.