Is sharebuilder a good place to start as a new investor?

Answer 1

Personally, I have been using sharebuilder.com for quite some time and love it. They make it easy to invest with low fees and automatic investing. Recently, they upgraded their website to make it easy to track and transfer funds into the account. It's the perfect account for kids and adults alike. You can rather easily send money into the account or transfer funds from your bank website via a 'Bill Pay' feature. You can also send in a check...

They offer thousands of Exchange Traded Funds, mutual funds and stocks. Even their money market account, the area your cash sits in the account before you buy something, has an interest rate above 4.5% right now.

I would note however, that you shouldn't buy shares with anything lower than $200. Its a minor pitfall for a first time investor, but say you get into investing $50 a week, they charge $4 or an 8% fee to buy. Rather than do a weekly purchase of $50, do a monthly purchase of $200, which is only a 2% fee.

If you stayed in the $50/week mode, you would be paying a large chunk of your cash in fees. A monthly option, depending on how much you plan to invest, might be the best way to go.

Sharebuilder allows you to invest every Tuesday for only $4. Its not a perfect way to time the market, but if you NEEDED to buy something on a Friday or whatnot, they charge a pretty large fee of $15.95 to buy. Take advantage of the Tuesday buying...

Depending on your age and if you make any money on the books, I would highly recommend opening a Roth IRA and fund that first before doing a regular account. Because its so easy and cheap, open both at the same time and fund both accounts!

Answer 2

Love it, been with sharebuilder for about over 5 years, Made allot of money buying weekly, and monthly. I recomend this site to everyone. When you start off, chose a nice growth stock . Stay away from those stocks of the week or month that you will hear on TV or radio.
Oh yeah, I have the 12 dollar program. This allows for me to buy up to 6 trades. This trades can be any dollar amount and used any of the 4 weeks.

Answer 3

I started using Sharebuilder a few months ago and I love it. I would definitely recommend it. If you search around on the web, you can find promotional codes to get up to a $50 credit on your account. This really offsets much of the commission. You get the credit after you have made one trade of any amount. Good luck!

Answer 4

I have listened to speakers in college who were lecturing to students about financial pitfalls. They all advised Sharebuilder.com. I also know of a few other like firms such as BuyandHold.com. I use Scottrade.com and have been very happy with it. I also subscribe to MotleyFool.com to get the periodic scoop on some good stock pick. Hope this helped and happy saving!

Answer 5

The answer is no. You need to learn how to invest the right way first. If you know the nuts and boltd of investing world

Yes you could learn invest by yourself. it is your money, you should know how to do with it. for starter check this site out.

http://www.pathtoinvesting.org/index_fla...
http://www.stockcharts.com
http://www.streettalklive.com section university. a lot amount of information. It will serve you well
I accumulate in good amount in 401k at the young age.I could share with you. when consider invest in stock market. you should consider basic 3 things:

fundamental analysis==(economic data,finincial health, management, business model, competetion)>>what to buy

technical analysis==(chart+indicator)>> when to buy

Sentiment/schycho analysis==>>mood of investor, Contrarian point of view.
Market cycle===>> check out book Trader Almanac by jeff hirsch will give you inside stuff
When you combine 3 thing, It is one of the powerful knowledge goinh with you for the rest of your live

At the age of 32. my 401k is amassed 74,000.00 and 30000.00 in taxble account. by follow simple rule