Sharebuilder.com...does anyone know if this is a good plave to start investing on stocks?

Question

I have never bought any shares of any kind and would like to get into it any suggestions?

Answer 1

If you have never invested in stocks before (by your own admission) don't put any money into sharebuilder.com or any other place... yet! You should first educate yourself on the stock market. You probably would lose money very quickly, since you have no idea how to evaluate a company, its stock, or a mutual fund. Since you sound as though you are a young person, you have a lot of time to develop your skills and learn about investing. Go to the library or a good bookstore. Read an introductory level book about general investing- what the stock market is, how it works, risk, investment options, stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. Education is your best friend. Once you understand investing, then start small with low risk investments- CD's, money market funds, savings bonds. Once you begin to feel confident, read the money section of a newspaper (USA Today, NY Times, Wall Street Journal) and see what's happening in the world of finance. Then you might want to think about buying some stock. But if you simply jump in now, I'm afraid you will lose most of it.

Answer 2

sharebuilder.com or buyandhold.com are both excellent places to begin for an inexperienced investor. Decide a dollar amount you can afford to invest monthly for the long-term (5-10 years plus), and dutifully put it into quality stocks every month, rain or shine. You will become rich. You will never become rich gambling on the "next great thing" because the only way to know what it is is to be psychic.

The broader market may go up and down, but the long-term trend is always up, and always will be, at least until the economy comes to a complete halt (which, if/when it happens, it won't matter if you have a million dollars worth of gold. you can't eat gold!)

I would suggest starting with a little cash into each of at least 5 or 6 of the companies in the Dow.

Answer 3

ShareBuilder, & to an unknown extent, BuynHold, tend to lock you into decisions previously made.
They keep the costs low by bunching purchases. May or may not be good.
If this money is burning a hole in your pocket and you have the itch to invest, do this:

Find a reputable NO LOAD Mutual Fund Group, with an income or money market fund in its group in addition to a Growth or Balanced Mutual Fund..
Start this off with the minimum, and set up a monthly contribution from your bank account, AUTOMATICALLY.
Do this in an IRA if you have no pension or 401K at work.
Have the fund re-invest add dividends. If not a cash account will work, altho minimums are lowest for IRA accounts. READ the IRA fees ! $15.00 a year is fair, but $0.00 is better if it can be found.
Now follow Hoa's instructions for educating yourself.

When everything is TOTALLY great, and your fund is jumping by leaps and bounds to the sky and things couldnt be better, sell out 1/2 your Growth or Balanced Mutual Fund and put it into either your money market fund or your Income Fund.

That way if you were right and things could NEVER get any better, well you have saved a lot of losses by recognizing that, and nailing down at least 1/2 your profits.

Thats a good way to start.

Good Luck

Answer 4

My understanding is they have low fees for purchasing, but depends on how much flexibility you need on the sell side. If you don't have much time to do research, you should investing in ETFs or Mutual Funds. Find the solid ones and set up a plan where you invest a little each month.
Please if you must pick your own stocks, do research and keep up on them. Don't just "buy and hold".

Answer 5

Hi, i know what your question means. i also think stock market is a nice place for investing.

I found some useful tips in stock trading. It includes stock basics, how to protect your profit, find a potential increase share, control and manage stock risk, when to sell/buy stock and so on.

http://www.bernanke.cn/stock-trade/

Best Wishes && Good Luck!

Answer 6

well don't just invest in a stock portfolio. Invest in gold/silver coins too. They have outperformed paper investments like stocks.

I'm not saying not to invest in stocks. I'm saying diversify your investment portfolio for more liquidation security.

Answer 7

I suggest Scottrade.

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