If I want to buy stock, where should I start and with how much?

Question

I recently received a nice sum of money and I would like to invest it in the market. My question is what is the best place one could go to buy stocks? Also, what type of stocks should I buy? What currently has potential?

Answer 1

The first thing to do before you even think about buying any stock, is to get a good education on the stock market. Learn what companies are good investments and what it takes to make them a good investment. Learn to read company financials.

Since you are new at this, I would actually suggest that you start with some mutual funds. I'd also suggest that you seek some professional advise from a good financial advisor. Be careful on that one though. There are some real crooks out there.

There are a lot of books in the bookstore that will start you on your way to learning to invest. There are also plenty of websites.

Start with Yahoo finance. Take a look at Motley Fool, Money, MSN, and the list goes on and on. Don't buy any stock that someone promises you a 300% return. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Answer 2

Some good advise has already been given. Think about a Roth IRA. It's a tax-shelterd account. Your money grows tax free and you can take the principal out w/out penality. Hence, you place $3000 in and the money grows to $5000. You can take the $3000 out if you want to. I would open up a TD Ameritrade account or some other discount broker. The fees are very reasonable. It's $11 a trade. They don't charge maintenance fees. You should try ETF's. They give the freedom of stocks w/ the lowered risk of mutual funds. Like everyone said before. Get educated on the subject! As for where the market is heading; I would be a partner at Goldman Sachs if I knew the answer to that.

Answer 3

You can open an account at Scottrade.com with as little as $500. They offer $7 online trades. My favorite area for investment is wind energy (because I think global warming is going to be a very big issue). Here is how you can invest in wind energy:

http://www.top10traders.com/ViewPost.aspx?postID=61

This is from 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

Hope this helps.

Answer 4

Hi!
I have a few things to add as well to reinforce what has already been said. Bottom line is this: If you can't afford to lose it, you can't afford to put it in the stock market.

Even using a online brokerage-even to dabble-can be very expensive with just the fees alone. A low risk mutual fund may be good..as well as a long-tern CD (certificate of deposit) which has a very decent return. I've seen them as high as 6%..which is good...and no risk of losing anything.

Answer 5

If you are trying to buy stocks in the US, then go for ETFs of Asia (india, china etc). If you are trying to buy stocks in India, then buy the Nifty ETF. Best way to start for a newbie.

There is a correction looming in the next week to 4 months, therefore only invest 1/5th of your money now, and then go in when you feel we are at the bottom, and finally when you have a comfort feel.

Thanks.

KKP

Answer 6

Best advice: contact your local Edward Jones representative. They can help you make wise choices and protect your money. You won't get ripped off and they are very fair.

Answer 7

You might not want to here this, but, you should start by educating yourself on what you want to invest in, otherwise, you'll lose all your nice inheritance.

Answer 8

1) TD Ameritrade.
2) At least $2,000.00 USD
3) How long are you going to hold them and how much risk can you take?