How did u get started trading and investing?

Question

What books did you read, how'd you do it, where did you go? What is the best way?

Answer 1

I started when I was in high school. I had a friend who had a subscription to the wall street journal. I read it everyday. I was fascinated by the graphs and the numbers and the companies. After high school ( I graduated in 1997) I went to a "financial planner" this was about 98 told me to put all my money in one of his (5% front loaded) growth mutual funds. I did. I ended up catching the tech bubble, making some good money. I sold to buy a new computer and some other stuff. Then in 2000 i went to another finical planner (both planners I went to worked for Edward Jones) he told me that tech was hot. So I threw all of my money into tech mutual fund. year and a half later I was broke. I started reading every book I could get my hands on. One of my favorite books is A random walk down wall street also I like Benjamin Grahams book a lot. Now I have "wised up" I dint go to financial planners anymore. I look for good companies and buy individual stocks.

Answer 2

I opened an account at Scottrade, so I could trade with $7 commissions.

A good investing book to read is "The Little Book that Beats the Market" by Joel Greenblatt.

For investing ideas, I think the best way to start is to first see what the best traders are buying and selling at http://www.top10traders.com - this is a free site that lets you create a portfolio of stocks with $100,000 in "play" money. Each day the site ranks the best performing portfolios, so you can see how your picks perform compared to other investors. You can also read posts on investing from the best traders, as well as share your own investing ideas.

Here are this month's best traders:

http://www.top10traders.com/Top10Standings.aspx

Good luck.

Answer 3

My cousin purchased $50 Harley Davidson stock (with a drip re-investment clause) for my son's graduation gift in 1996 and gave the same to my daughter at the same time. Ten years later, that $50 is worth more than $400. It's too bad that the stock is not doing as well as it was a few years ago or I would invest a lot more in it myself. Since then, I have made more than my share of mistakes in daytrading (?) and am doing some research trying to make some good decisions. One thing I've learned: DO NOT TRUST ANY ONE COMPANY OR PERSON WITH MY INVESTMENTS - DIVERSIFY, DIVERSIFY, DIVERSIFY!!! I have learned not to trust the stock market reports I found online. I have heard "DIVERSIFY, DIVERSIFY, DIVERSIFY" and read about but now I have learned it thru the school of hard knocks. DIVERSIFY, DIVERSIFY, DIVERSIFY!!! and it bears repeating again. WIth the Enron's and the Worldcom's and the increasing amount of corporate dishonesty and embezzling and whatever else goes on, you can't trust anybody. But it is better to earn at least 10%-12% rather than 3% in savings or 6% in money market. One of the places you might try is www.bankrate.com. They seem to be objective in truth.

Answer 4

Just click on http://www.4xmoneytrain.com
You do not have to read any books or even know anything about trading to start.
A revolutionary software does 95% of the work for you with no guess work. I am currently using this system very successfully.
You just "SET IT AND FORGET IT" until you get a call to reset the software.

Answer 5

I learned from my my pa. He taught me everything. I also took a course in college and read too many books to list. My portfolio has done well for me.

Answer 6

Lots of books and self help classes out there....first find some money you can afford to part with...maybe permanently.

Answer 7

go to your local investment firm and have them start a portfolio for you!

Answer 8

the most simple and cheap way - http://4xgenie.com - use MSMS555 while signing up. it can change your life.