Boeing Stock student investing?

Question

I just invested $500 on Boeing stock and I have no Idea of how the stock market really works. I'm a student majoring in engineering and had $500 dollars sitting around so I went online and setup an account so that $500 will be deposited into Household Bank ShareBuilder account then into boeing stock. My question is how will i make money or what do i look for to find out if im making anything or losing anything. I looked at the 5year term for boeing and trend looked good but i dont know how that will affect my $500. I was kind of bored and decided to invest some money with really no direction but i figured if i get my hands in the pie i will understand the stock market better then just having to read books all day. Now im really interested since its my money at stake. Any help I would gladly appreciate it. Thankyou

Answer 1

Go to Yahoo finance after you find out how much you paid for the stock and the number of share you bought and set up a portfolio with 1 stock--BA. Currently selling at about 89 a share. You should have for $500 about 5.61 shares mas o menos. Then watch the gain or loss of the value of your portfolio as time passes. Should be an interesting experience. BA does pay $1.40 dividend annually. Are you re-investing the dividends?

Answer 2

Honestly, I read a lot about the aeropsace industry, and for picking something out of the air, you have done fairly well. Keep the stock long term, and make sure you are reinvesting the dividends.

My hunch over the long term is that boeing really doesn't have but one or two rivals, such as Airbus in Europe.
Airbus went for a "bigger is better" strategy for growth, and Boeing went for a design that is about the same size as the average jet but more fuel efficient.

With fuel costs rising, and that being a primary cost driver for airlines that comprise the only customer for passenger jets, I think fuel efficiency will be the key.

On the other hand, the more crowded airports get, the more attractive big jets will be, if you want to increase passenger capacity per flight, so there will still be some growth for Airbus.

On the whole I think Boeing is a better long-term bet.

yahoo finance is a good place to start and see what investor services your bank offers in terms of industry analysis.

Answer 3

Well at least you bought a blue chip company instead of an OTC stock or Pink sheet stock. But You really should give more thought to investing instead of being bored and just buying "Sumpthing" out of thin air.

Your method is a great way to lose money and can come with an expensive education. With only $500 involved, you could negate your gains through trading fees if you buy & sell often.

Read everthing you can about investing, Buy "the Weathy Barber" or "Investing for Dummies" and learn.

While you are learning, put your new money into a No-Load , Balanced mutual fund through your bank. This is a Diversified fund, of stocks, bonds, and money market instruments, it have a comparitively low risk compared to single stocks, and has low volitility.

Add to this fund until you have enough experience and knowledge to try other types of investments.

Even a blue chip stock, is risky if that is your only investment.