newbie investor?

Question

Hi, I just started working 2 months back. I get a decent salary and can easily save upto 1/3 of it every month. I want to start investing early. What are the kind of investments i should go for at this stage? I want to have 3 buckets of savings - retirement (have a good 40 yrs to that), a liquid cash savings and some stocks. I do have a fairly good knowledge about finances (for a non-finance background person) but there are so many options in the market that i do not know what to choose.
Any suggestions??

Answer 1

ok first of all stay the hell away from FOREX one wrong move and you will lose EVERYTHING. My take is you are a teenager judging by your post. And kudos to you for a good start plan.

Now then Liquid cash open an online bank account with hsbc, ing direct (the one I use) Emigrant direct etc...All of these guys pay at least 4% APY. You can invest weekly (or whatever) but this is your fall back option you need to put the most you can into this one that you feel comfortable with. Your next move should be the market. What I recommend here is once a quarter (every three months or so) the money you use here to invest with should be what you have left over in your regular home bank account again that you can afford to invest. This will serve an additional advantage when you do finally invest for you have the ability to purchase several stocks (etf's maybe a decent mutual fund) at once always diversify. Your retirement should actually be your third concern (unless you have a 401k at work) if you have a 401k invest what you can afford and hopefully the company will have a decent match program with it think long term capital apprectaion with your 401k.

Lets break it down. Say you make 2000 a month 1/3 of that is aaproxmiately $660. Now out of that I would shuffle over $50 a week (or $200 a month in this case) to your online bank. leaving you with $460 out of the $460 I would take $160 an put it aside for your future investments (again we are talking three month terms here too 160x3=$480). Now you actually have something you can invest with (Your remaning $300 should be left for you to buy stuff or spoil your girlfriend (or whatever). If you stick to a plan like this you will be well ahead of the game. But your savings account is FIRST and foremost get that money in there let the interest count. Then after a little time to research what you want to invest in you will have the money to actually invest in. I do not codone or endorse an all at once plan. Moderation and good luck to you.

Answer 2

If you are looking for investment ideas, I think the best resource are the best investors. You can see what stocks the best investors 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. There is also a charting feature , so you can see how your portfolio performs compared to the S&P 500.

Here are this month's best traders:

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

Hope this helps.

Answer 3

Research the snots out of this issue
Research junkies and DD specialists

Put a couple of hours into PBLS @ .012 has more than most AMEX
stocks. Why is it @ a penny because they have not filed in 8 years.
In the last shareholders update they said they would file 1st Q 2007.

Read it all and verify it all: 206 million Revs 21 million profits
No debt 21 Million\815 mil OS = .0257 EPS for 2006

update link: http://www.pbls.biz/pressrelease_content.asp?prid=82

8 hours minimum DD required on this Issue "PBLS"

Jockee

Answer 4

Your plan could use a little "tweaking" ...but you've got the basics right! Go to http://moneycentral.msn.com/beginnerguide.asp?page=introduction to get some info on investing( style, strategy, brokers,etc)
If you start with a ROTH IRA at someplace like Fidelity or E-trade, you can use that as your first " stock" account ( if its going to be there for 40 years you can " play around" with it now a little)
So then you got your cash and invest your other savings in a few good mutual funds ...go conservative with most and use about 10%-15% to do some other " trading" ( actually just occasionally moving from fund to fund for better returns)

Answer 5

Have you considered trading in FOREX (international currency exchange) instead of stocks?

With Stock trading with $500 to start with, you can trade on one stock out of 10,000 possible choices and if it goes up by pennies you make a little money but you pay trade commissions.

In forex, the same $500.00 lets you trade $50,000 worth of currency and only 5 major currency pairs to choose from and no trading commissions.

I am making about 20% per month trading forex using a software application developed by an investment company.

You install the software and it sets up the trades and collects the profits. You can even try it free for a month before you invest a penny of your own cash.

For more information go to www.huttoinvestmentgroup.com and check it out.

Answer 6

Hi,

Why don’t you start your own forex or shares trading? I could introduce you to one brokerage company in Austria that allows to trade from same account currency (forex), commodities, metals and cfd on shares. Total 500 instruments available; spread from 1 pip. If you open trading account under my referral I provide you for free with trading techniques that I successfully use for several years and you’ll get my assistance in the future.

Currency trading (forex) is very attractive due to it's very high return and you could trade from any place in the world and at any time from Sunday night until Friday night.
Yes, it is risky business but reward worth it.

Also I think those books would be useful as for investor as for trader:
Market Wizards by Jack D. Schwager;
Technical Analysis by Jack D. Schwager;

Comprehensive Course on The Wave Principle by A.J. Frost and Robert Prechter;

Candlestick Charting Explained- Timeless Techniques for Trading Stocks and Futures by Gregory L. Morris;

Trading Chaos – Applying Expert Techniques to Maximize Your Profit by Bill M. Williams;
New Trading Dimensions by Bill M. Williams
Trading Chaos II by Bill Williams – Maximize Profits with Proven Technical Techniques by Justin Gregory-Williams and Bill M. Williams

If you are interesting and/or have any question please do not hesitate and pm or e-mail me (press on my name) and I provide you with further information.

Good luck!

Answer 7

I suggest you to save at least half your salary and then buy your first house.

I also suggest you to apply for enough credit cards until you have a year of salary in credit lines. (Just don't use them)

Just in case you get fired.