How can i start investing in stocks?

Question

How can i invest in stocks, either through someone, or by myself? where can i go, what do i do, and how much money should i have? Is there a website that i can go to? How long shuld i leave my money in there, years, months? the list of questions goes on!

Answer 1

This is a question which is complicated to answer...:-)

The first thing you need to do is open an account where you can buy stocks. You can go thru a site like ameritrade.com, or etrade.com, or schwab.com, they are all great, big names and will handle clients from everywhere (don't know where you are based). You can also check with your local bank if they will "attach" a stock buying account to your checking or savings account, they are called brokerage accounts-this might help to.

Watch out for commissions in buying and selling stocks. That's why internet brokers like ameritrade.com are great, they are cheap to trade.

Then comes to hard and fun part. How to make money.

The bad news-statistics are against you. Most people lose money in the stock market.

The good news-the ones who do make money-get to keep it all.

There's lots of investing strategies, etc. One really good "stock" is the symbol SPY-in one shot you buy 500 big companies listed on the New YorK Stock Exchange.

Go to sites like nyse.com, nasdaq.com, they have lots of information on trading stocks.

You can also take some classes for trading stocks.

A good overall site is http://www.tradingresources.org . Lists some must visit sites for a trader.

You should probably have a minimum of $2000 (US) to make it worthwhile to play the market. Otherwise, commission costs will be too big a percentage and you will lose all to your broker (normal commissions are $10-$20 for a buy or sell order).

You can leave your money for seconds, minutes, days, years.....This is what trading is.

Good luck,
Monica

Answer 2

The answer to your question(s) could fill a bookcase, so I'll just scratch the surface:

1) If your employer has a 401(k) plan, look into that. Many employers will match your contribution. Most 401(k) plans offer a number of different mutual funds to chose from, and you can spread the money around in more than one.

2) Unless you've done a LOT of research, mutual funds are the safest way to go, because you spread the risk. Learn about index funds.

3) Invest for the long term. If you had invested the day before the 1929 crash, you'd have still shown a profit in just eleven years.

4) Always be aware that stock brokers earn their money through commissions. They will always advise you to trade, because they earn huge profits by churning the contents of their clients portfolios.

5) Never EVER pay any attention to those junk e-mails that promote penny stocks. Most of those are tied to pump-and-dump scams. (and if you don't know what those are, look it up.)

6) IF you have done the research on a specific company and have decided that owning part of it is a good investment, there are a couple of important concepts you must understand. First, stocks traditionally trade in blocks of 100 shares. anything less is considered an "odd lot", and the commission you pay will be higher. Second You can buy or sell at "market" (a price typically controlled by institutional trading of huge blocks of shares.), but you can also name a specific price. If you name your price you may wait a while. If your price is unreasonable, your trade may never go through.

Answer 3

Invest at work if they offer a 401K plan, you will buy mutual funds which are usually baskets of stocks.

If you have no 401K at work, you can sign up to invest on line using Ameritrade, or Scottrade, or E-Trade and you will have to pick the stocks yourself. Commissions are fairly low.

You should take a class in buying stocks if you have no experience, or go to the bookstore and tell the librarian you want a good introduction to the stock market.

Avoid "buying on margin" or buying "options" if you are a novice. You should understand these things totally before you use them.

Usually Scottrade will let you open an account for $1,000 I think, and Ameritrade it might be $500 take a look at their websites.

Good luck!

Answer 4

sharebuilder is a good site. There is also a tutorial site through morningstar -if you are new to it. Sharebuilder lets you but portions of stocks - I started with just $10.00 a week.

Just start small, don't invest in more that 10 stocks. Watch Jim Cramer on TV or read his books - he's helpful. But most importantly do your homework when it comes to stocks!

By the way if you decide to just go by a savings account ING has a good internet bank that gives you 4 percent interest - that's real good!

Answer 5

I just started off very small.. scottrade.com has $7 trades and you can open an account with $500. I would not suggest more than 10% of your savings for trading.

Obviously I'm not planning on day trading, It will take some time to cover the $7 commissions buying 5-10 shares at a time..

I keep the vast majority of my savings in an FDIC insured money market savings account.. capital one is now 4.75% APY.. I've seen banner ads for citibank at 5.00%..

Answer 6

Yes you should bother. See if your bank has on line trading (Use Wells Fargo) and start there. Invest for the long term. Use Warren Buffet's example. And read as much as you can about.

Answer 7

The first thing you should do is visit leading Financial education website Fool.com to learn the basics.... particularly from this article: http://www.fool.com/school/basics/basics01.htm

Next, visit http://www.investopedia.com to learn some more things + especially this bit to see how the all time master of Stock Investing does it: http://www.investopedia.com/articles/01/071801.asp
http://www.salon.com/people/bc/1999/08/31/buffett/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Buffet

Try experiment on a FREE fantasy stockmarket game first before trying it with actual money...... and / or set up a practise portfolio at Yahoo Finance.

Once you've built up some knowledge from Fool.com & Investopedia..... start researching some companies to buy stocks in via http://quotes.fool.com
To start off I'd suggest:
Annheuser-Busch (BUD)
Walmart (WMT)
Union Pacific (UNP)
Canadian Pacific (CP)
Pepsi Bottling Group (PBG)
Coca Cola (KO)

Then you can start thinking about opening an account with a brokerage firm, such as http://www.sharebuilder.com
I'd suggest using the firms I mentioned above (all good, fairly solid companies) to give your portfolio some backbone.... at least $100 - $150 on each to start off with.... when you earn dividend money (when the company returns profits to investors), reinvest it in more of them shares to boost your portfolio...... keep doing this for at least 20years, and you COULD make a small fortune if things go right.
Once you've given your portfolio a good solid backbone, you can maybe start dabbling with other, carefully researched stocks..... that's where visiting the following websites as often as possible to see what's going on & keep on learning is advisable:
http://www.fool.com
http://www.fool.co.uk
http://www.everyinvestor.com
http://finance.yahoo.com

Always remember it's just as easy (if not easier) to LOOSE money on the Stockmarket as it is to make a fortune on it.

Answer 8

Investing in stocks requires alot of background knowledge about online stock trading. It is difficult and RISKY for an ordinary person to jump in an invest online.

Please check out http://www.automaticbuilder.com/chamath19
for safer secure investment opportunity

Answer 9

Most people begin investing in mutual funds. You can do that by yourself. Find a no-load mutual fund that interests you and call them for their prospectus. This will tell you how to begin your account. It is very simple.

Answer 10

Don't bother. It's more hassle than it's worth. You're better off with a good savings account with a reputable bank.