I'm interested in stock. Where is a good place for me to start and learn the basics???

Answer 1

That is such a good question, and to be honest, if anyone tells gives you advise (such as small cap growth, etc), they are really doing you a disservice without getting more information about you. It would be like me going to the doctor and asking him what medication should I be taking and he answering without fully understanding a few basic things about me. Some factors needing answers are your age, how long can you stay invested, any short term plans for cash, and your risk tolerance.
If there is any one universal theme all professional in this field agree, it is this: make sure that you are fully invested in every asset field available. Confused?
If you are starting out, make sure you have a mixture of stocks and fixed income products. As far as U.S. companies, look for the largest and oldest to make up the bulk of your portfolio. I especially like companies who have a history of not only paying dividends yearly, but have increased them consistantly as well. Look around your community for the companies you like to shop the most; many times, these are the ones you should invest in.
I could go on and on. Check out these sites. www.fool.com, www.etfconnect.com, www.investopedia.com, just to name a few.

Answer 2

Hey Who, like Chris I think the Motley Fool is a great way to start learning about the basics of investing. Has some good articles in easy-to-read, entertaining form to help you learn about what all the options are. When you're ready to start buying, I would start with a no-load mutual fund, perhaps an index fund like an S&P 500 Index Fund (lots of mutual fund companies have them, and they're cheap, no-load funds usually). As your money grows and as you learn more, you might add other mutual funds you've researched or even try an individual stock here or there.

The "fool" will also have other INternet resources out there to refer to. You might at some point seek advice from a financial planner or broker, but many people can do this on their own IF they are willing to spend the time and effort to learn. If you can't, going to an expert is why you pay for them -- investing can be dangerous if you don't know what you're doing.

Good luck!

Answer 3

The stock market can be risky at the best of times, even for experienced investors. However, everyone has to start somewhere, and if you do not start now then when will you acquire the necessary experience?

Do read some books on the subject. Visit your local book store and find a book that you like and feel comfortable with.

Some of the titles I have on my bookshelf include:
One Up on Wall Street by Peter Lynch
How to make money in Stocks by William J. O’Neil (Founder of Investor’s Business Daily)
The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J Stanley and William D Danco

Check out web sites like fool.com and yahoo finance.
Investigate trading strategies with a proven track record over 3, 5, 10, and 15 years.

Pick something that you understand, find easy to use, will help you realise your goals, and where you can take responsibility for your investments and be in full control of your capital.

Systems like the Stocks Monthly system are definitely worth investigating once you are up to speed with the nuts and bolts of investing.

Answer 4

Before you start learning on stock. Let me show you another way to earn. Forex.
Forex is an abbreviation for the Foreign Currency Exchange which have been in existance for over 100 years but only became available to the general public 8 years ago in 1998... Due to the availability of the internet.. And it slowly been evolving into an industry of it's own.
Prior to 1998, The largest Banks and Financial Institutions of the world moved hundreds of millions of dollars between the Euro, Swiss Frank, Japanese Yen, British Pound and so on, capitalizing on the constant fluctuations of Currency Exchange rates between countries.
To give you an idea as to the size of this marketplace... There is more money trades on the forex markets in one day than all the worlds stock markets combined in 90 days? 2 trillion dollars... To put that into perspective... The US Annual Budget is 2.7 Trillion.

Answer 5

Investing in "individual" stocks takes a lot of knowledge and practice; so I would not suggest doing this until you understand completely how the stock markets work.

Instead visit Vanguard.com and learn about mutual funds, index funds, and exchange-traded-funds (ETFs). Trading funds is less risky than trying to trade "individual" stocks.

Unless you plan on spending everyday of your life looking at stock charts trying to determine the best time to get in and out of "individual" stocks, I would look into some sort of fund.

Also be very careful about asking for stock tips online. Most are probably worthless or contain unethical motives. Do not fall for any Pump-and-Dump scams.

As far as books go, I actually started out with the Investing for Dummies books, and they definitely pushed me in the right direction. To many other books have their own agendas in my opinion.

The websites below all contain plenty of FREE information to get you started in the right direction.

Answer 6

Try Money Instructor. It teaches about basic money skills, earning & spending, saving & investing, and even teaches children about money. It may provide the information you're looking for.
http://www.moneyinstructor.com/

Answer 7

Look around your community for the companies you like to shop the most; many times, these are the ones you should invest in.
I could go on and on.

Answer 8

www.fool.com. The Motley Fool is one of the best sites for education especially for beginners.

Answer 9

Zecco.

Answer 10

http://www.investopedia.com/

The best site, bar none; about any type of investments