Any investing tips for teens/young adults?

Question

Have money to invest but don't know where. Any good reasources?

Answer 1

First, pay off all your debt. First (part B), get a good education. First (part C), get into your company's 401K at least to the amount at which they stop matching. If your company doesn't provide this, or doesn't match any of your contributions.... I'd suggest getting another job.

Once you've done all that, if you still have money to invest, I'd suggest opening an account at any major online investment firm... really doesn't matter which one. Put your money into at least two ETFs/index funds. Leave it there until you know better than to seek advice on a Yahoo answers board (just kidding) (?)

Then, as hard as it will be with your youthful exuberance, stick to merely 'paper' trading until you get a feel for what you do well and don't do well. A _VERY_ good site to help with this idea is marketocracy.com. It is a free site, and they DO NOT spam you or sell your email address. There are incredibly useful tools there, but the most useful is the opportunity to make alot of decisions... some of which will be mistakes... but they'll be mistakes with play money rather than your real money. You'll be able to make enough mistakes (and good decisions) to figure out what you do well, and what you don't do well.


I know this isn't the answer you were looking for, but it IS the right answer.

If you insist on getting stock tips, though, I'd say look at WPSC (last trade 02FEB07 at $26.23).... but DO NOT INVEST in it until you understand their business and their risks, then MAKE YOUR OWN DECISION.

Answer 2

Save your money. Don't do drugs. Drink very moderately. And learn everything you can about the stock market. Try to learn the big trends about where society and business is going. A good book to read is "The Little Book that Beats the Market", by Joel Greenblatt. It will teach you the fundamentals of value investing. A good website to take a look at is I think the best way to learn about the stock market is to first see what the best traders are buying and selling and why. You can find this information 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 read posts on investing from the best traders, as well as share your own investing ideas. There is a charting feature, so you can see how your portfolio performs compared to the S&P 500. Also, you can create your own "group" so that you can see how you are doing compared to your friends.

Here are this month's best traders:

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

Good luck.

Answer 3

Pretty much ignore 1 answer. No 3 banks at all. Start a small relationship with 1 but that is not part of investing. Just an anchor for later. Do not read too much - paralyzes you from acting. Ignore all systems. No need to become an expert - too simple. No expertise needed to buy an etf like Efa or closed end fund like ADX & Peo. What matters is starting now. Open an acct @ schwab.com & see the options there. If were complicated gew could do it.

Answer 4

Assuming you're investing for a long-term goal (retirement, college when the child is still under 10, etc.), I think you're making a wise choice investing in stocks. Historically, over long time periods, stocks have had the highest returns of any asset class. They do move up and down, though, so you probably don't want money in stocks that you will need in the next couple years - just in case the market dives during that couple years. Many of the books suggested in other answers are good, but a lot of those are more useful if you intend to pick individual stocks yourself. Personally, I think that new investors and those with under $25,000 to invest are better off putting their money in a mutual fund or exchange-traded fund (ETF) that tracks one of the major indexes (e.g. S&P 500, Mid-Cap 400, Russell 2000). Buying stock in just one or two companies is much more risky than buying stock in a whole bunch of companies (which is what the mutual funds and ETFs do) because if that one company hits a rough patch, you can lose a lot of your investment. If your money is spread across hundreds of stocks, one or two going bad won't have much impact, Historically, smaller company stocks have done slightly better than larger company stocks, so my personal preference would be to buy a "small company" mutual fund from American Century, Fidelity, T. Rowe Price, Vanguard, etc. or put your money into the ETF with ticker symbol IWM. ETFs are purchased like stocks through a stock broker. If you go that way, be sure to use a discount broker like TDAmeritrade, Scottrade, E*Trade, etc. The "full service" brokers like Merrill Lynch, Edward Jones, etc. charge MUCH higher commissions for trades, which eats into your earnings. Also, I'd ignore that aid4families thing...that keeps popping up in lots of answers to investment questions. I looked at that website and it sure looks like a scam to me. No legitimate investment can provide returns like that. And looking at the answerer's profile, it appears that she's posting the same thing for nearly every question she answers.

Answer 5

Yes, first put your money into three separate savings accounts, at three different banks. This will help build your credit score.

While you are at these banks, talk to them about the products they offer, and ask the investment specialist what he/she would suggest. Say thank you, and move on to the next bank. Don't forget to take notes!!!!!!

Again...TAKE NOTES!

Go home and compare length of terms and rates.

Then get on the web and check out www.prosper.com
Read everything about it. Register if you would like. However read through the WHOLE site.

READ, READ, READ...

Decide whether you would like to be an ACTIVE investor, or just let your money sit, and move it around every once in a while.

If you choose to let your money sit, then more than likely other people will be deciding, essentially, what to do with your money.
However, if you would like to actively invest, you will have to educate yourself on many subjects. Its not rocket science, but you will need to be quick and savvy.

Go into the library and read zines on investing, banking, real estate, entrepenuership, loans, hard money resources, etc.

Seek out a mentor who can show you how to invest in these different topics.

DO NOT give your money to ANYONE to invest for you until you are an EXPERT in what they are going to invest your money in!!!

Good luck...

Answer 6

If you have reportable income (i.e. you have a job), then a Roth IRA is a great idea--you can invest up to as much as you make. All future earnings on that money are then TAX-FREE forever.

The best advice for any young person--investing early is amazingly powerful. The power of compound interest can change your financial future forever.

Answer 7

First of all, Scottrade is my broker and I'm very happy with them. second, try to diversify your portfolio. (DO NOT buy stocks of only one company and DO NOT invest only in one sector). I would start with stocks of big companies, such as: Coca Cola (KO), FedEx (FDX), Philip Morris (MO), Verizon (VZ) etc.
Good luck to you...!

Answer 8

learn charts & do mock trading

ebooks on 4shared.com

Answer 9

dave ramsey
check out his site
he rocks
daveramsey.com
♥