Does anyone know about investing in stocks?

Question

I want to know who is the best company for a VERY casual investor...also any stock market tips you can give to a beginner.

Answer 1

I have always done well buying what I like. I never look at the numbers. So I buy companies I personally like or companies who I am familiar with through work.
I started doing very casual internet trades back in 2000. I worked with a bunch of people that were trading. They always had these "hot tips" and stocks that were going to go sky high in a few days. I always ended up losing money.
Finally, I just bought stuff I liked. I bought Amazon.com at $10 and everyone told me I was nuts because the numbers were bad. But I loved Amazon and thought it was a great company. Now it's worth $68 a share.
I bought Apple stock years ago after their stock value dropped 50%. I only bought 30 shares at $25. It stayed at that level and even dropped to $18 a share. I just held onto it. The stock has split (I now have 60 shares) and it's worth $132/share. Same with Celgene stock. I work in pharmacy and noticed one of their drugs was flying off the shelf. The stock has split twice since I purchased it.
My tips, only invest what you can afford to lose.
Only buy companies you believe in.
Let them ride if you can. My Apple stock only started going places a few years after I purchased it (thank you iPod!).
Good luck!

Answer 2

Hi Bob. You weren't all that funny on America's Funniest Home Videos, BTW.

A beginner should start with some basic books on investing. There is no substitute for a basic education. Any of the following will get you pointed in the right direction:

1) Mutual Funds for Dummies, by Eric Tyson

2) http://www.invest-for-retirement.com has a free downloadable book

3) The Boglehead's Guide to Investing

4) http://www.investopedia.com has some great tutorials

Answer 3

You aren't really the TV father of Michelle, are you? Answer: Use common sense, be aware of market trends (up right now, and predicted to be mostly up for remainder of 2007). Be prepared to be frustrated when a seemingly good stock plunges and you lose money. Stay diversified.
All this advice is available in any good beginners stock textbook.

Answer 4

Research and look at the past history.
As far as trading companies, I currently use Sharebuilder.com
I have looked into Zecco.com
I will in the future roll my money into Zecco.com
They have free trades( up to 40 a month). Sharebuilder charges $4 per trade.
Most of my money is 401K, so I use this for casually investing also. GOOD LUCK

Answer 5

yes i do..First of all you would have to check if the company owes money. Next if want to invest into a large company like
Large Cap $8 Billion
Mid-Cap $1-7 Billion
Small cap under a billion dollars
Also if you want lower commission go to this site
https://us.etrade.com/e/t/home

Answer 6

KH has the right idea. Read his reply carefully. Peter Lynch followed that pricipal, except he used his wife as a surrogate, that is he bought the companies she likes. He claims it worked great.

Answer 7

there replaced right into a study carried out with monkeys, kindergardners and inventory brokers. kindergardners picked the shares they knew: Disney, toys'r'us, etc. inventory brokers did it their way. Ststistics, etc. And the monkeys picked shares by using throwing darts at a wall.. long tale short.... inventory brokers got here in final. monkeys 2nd, and kindergardners got here in first... %. shares you be conscious of of and purchase products from.

Answer 8

it all depends on your country and the amount and time u want to invest if u need more info u can reach me on [e-mail] with all your questions

Answer 9

best advice you may find on the web is here. it covers stocks and more.

http://www.daveramsey.com/media/pdf/long_form.pdf

Answer 10

Zecco. (If you have less than $25,000.00 USD)