What is a good market to invest in and how should I get started?

Question

I would like to start small and build my way up!

Answer 1

one of your responders said that you have to educate your self first. I agree completely. Start at your library. But a couple of books on investment from Amazon. Set up a hypothetical portfolio on Yahoo Finance and see how it does.

Many first time investors start with mutual funds. They allow you to purchase a diversified holding of stocks for a small amount of money. But 70% of mutual funds are poor investments so you will have to do your research there also. Yahoo has good tools to research mutual funds but the results are not always completely accurate. The internet sites for the mutual funds will give you more accurate information, but Yahoo is a place to start.

Answer 2

If you are starting small, I would suggest a mutual fund. The problem with going directly to the stock market is that most brokerage houses won't even look at you if you have less than $1000 to invest in the stock market. And if you do find one that takes less than $1000, the trading fees are disproportionately higher, so that they eat away any gains you might enjoy.
For example, if you had $200 and you wanted to invest it in Microsoft, the closing price on shares 7/28/06 was $24.25. So you could buy 8 shares, and pay a $7 trading fee. It would cost you another $7 to sell the shares if they go up. So to even break even, the shares would have to go up to $26.00. I'm not saying that wouldn't happen, but the 52 week range only shows microsoft going as high as $28.38. So you can see that if you only have a small amount of money to invest, markets can be expensive.
A mutual fund however, might be a good way to build up some cash before you get into the markets. A mutual fund pools money from investors with similar objectives. Then a professional money manager can invest the money in a larger variety of stocks (or bonds, REITs, etc) and all of the shareholders get to experience any gains or losses based on the number of mutual fund shares they hold. You get the benefit of a professional money manager, the expenses are typically less than buying stocks directly, and you can set up a systematic investment plan of $50 a month to continue purchasing shares.
One thing about mutual funds though, you want to buy the mutual funds direct, or no-load. There are some investment firms that will want to charge you a commission on the purchase or sale (usually around 5%). However there are A TON of mutual fund companies that will sell shares directly to the public without paying a commission. Just ask to be mailed the Mutual Fund's prospectus, which will go over the fees and investment objective, and the annual report, which will describe the things they invested in the previous year.

Answer 3

Honestly if I were you and I have less than $1,000 to invest, I will leave my money in a money market account. Once I save more money maybe around $5,000 then I will purchase a solid mutual fund company. Then years later and you start accumulating more money maybe about $50,000 then it will make sense to invest in quality companies that offers stocks. Good luck.

Answer 4

You need to do more research before you invest. Remember that despite what you hear and read, it is very, very easy to lose money. Try going to the library, or you can check out sites like Motley Fool and get some insight to what you are about to do.

No matter what anyone tells you, your #1 rule is to not lose money. That's also #2, #3, #4 and #5.

Answer 5

India is where the young and energetic work force would be in the coming years and maximum returns would be from Indian markets if you are planning for long term investment. short term investments are always risky. In India my company is the best to invest.

Answer 6

emerging markets and international markets, be well diversified in the volatile U.S. markets