I want to start investing but don't know where to start?

Question

I'm 19 and want to start investing in the market. What is the best way to start? I understand the basics but don't know the channel I should go through to actually buy stocks and create a portfolio. What should I do?

Answer 1

Congratulations on wanting to get involved in the stock market and investing!

All investors need to start somewhere, and books are a good way. I would recommend starting with "Investing for Dummies" by Eric Tyson and "Personal Finance for Dummies" by Eric Tyson.

Once you learn the basics of investing and the stock market, you can continue reading more books including the recommended books in this link.

In addition, you can start watching former Hedge Fund Manager Jim Cramer, on his CNBC show "Mad Money." While his antics may seem crazy to some, he has a lot of substance and has a good message. He had a very impressive record as a hedge fund manager. He even has a loyal following among Generation Y.

Continue to read magazines and newspapers such as "The Wall Street Journal", "Money", "Smart Money", and even "Barron's" or "Investors Business Daily".

Once you are ready, you can start choosing a brokerage account. Two popular ones are:

E*Trade
TD Ameritrade

They offer many kinds of accounts, and you buy and sell stocks, and mutual funds. The minimum to open each account is $1000

Article continued here including more info on mutual funds, ETFs, individual stocks:
http://techfarm.blogspot.com/2007/07/how-do-i-start-investing.html

Answer 2

phylistyle -

Wow, be careful, there's some rotten advice being dispensed here.

One suggestion above was right on the mark... assuming that you're saving and investing for retirement... open a Roth IRA account. You must have earned income (paycheck, or self employment earnings, even lawn-mowing money) to contribute to a Roth though. If you don't have earned income, or if you're investing money you're going to spend before retirement (say, a house downpayment), then you need a regular brokerage account (not a Roth IRA or regular IRA) instead. Regardless of account type, I would suggest establishing it at Vanguard, although Scottrade, TD Ameritrade, Schwab and Fidelity are also fine.

If you may need/want the money in less than ~5 years, then *don't* invest it in the market... period! Open an online savings account at HSBC direct or ING direct. If you have a regular paycheck, then you can set up regular/recurring savings contributions... the best way to jump start your savings plan.

Remeber that financial journalists, and financial personalities on TV, are all in the **entertainment** business!! Their job is to *sound* smart, and spew sensational sounding advice or pronouncements... ultimately to sell advertisements. Among their many advertisers are brokerage houses and mutual fund companies who are in business to make money for themselves, *not* for you. Translation - most of what you hear in the mainstream media is total garbage, and if you follow their stock picking (i.e., Cramer) or "hot fund" advice, you will soon be parted with your money!

Read any investment book by John C. Bogle (Vanguard founder), Rick Ferri, or William Bernstein, and you'll be *much* better off.

If you're starting with a small amount of money, consider a target-date retirement fund ($3000 minimum at Vanguard), or Vanguard STAR ($1000 minimum). Stay away from ETF's (commissions will eat a significant amount of your return) and *especially* individual stocks (in addition to the commissions, the market will likely take your money, and you can't afford to be properly diversified in individual stocks).

I know, this is boring advice!! But generally, investing *should* be boring. If it's getting interesting and/or if you're selling something more than once or twice a year, you're probably *gambling*, not investing.

Please study first (authors above), and then start investing. Otherwise, you'll likely get a very expensive "education" from the market.

Good Luck!

Answer 3

First, join AAII, the American Association of Individual Investors for an incredible wealth of information about the market and individual stocks -you'll learn a LOT. Go to www.aaii.com.

To BUY stocks, consider these two options:

1. www.directinvesting.com shows which companies will sell their stock to you directly; the various fees, minimum purchases and program features involved.

2. www.sharebuilder.com is a very low-cost brokerage operation. No minimum investment, no inactivity fees and commissions as low as $4 a trade.

Of the two, I lean toward sharebuilder because you can purchase ANY stock.

If you become pretty active and have a fair amount in the market, you might later want to switch to Fidelity, which lets you trade in real time on-line, offers cash management tools (such as on-line Billpay) and research -and is cheap.

Good wealth to you!

Answer 4

If you have earned income, you can open a Roth IRA. This is the best place to start.
I would suggest a good mutual fund and not stocks to someone just starting out.
Target Retirement funds are a really good place to start.

Target funds are good for those who either don't know what funds are best to invest in, or who simply want to invest and not worry about it.

Pick a date close to your retirement date, and the fund will automatically adjust to more conservative as you near retirement.

Here are links to the target funds offered by all 3.

http://ira.troweprice.com/retirement_fun...

http://www.vanguard.com/vgapp/hnw/conten...

http://personal.fidelity.com/products/fu...

Answer 5

set up a bank account specifically for investing and create an account online through etrade or something where you can buy and sell your own stock, i think they charge a small commision for each trade but its not much. Other than that its up to you to research and decide what you want to invest in. You can do bonds and stuff too but im not sure how or where you buy them

Answer 6

You might want to create a "practice" portfolio at http://www.top10traders.com - its free - each month, the site ranks the best performing investors. When you are ready to invest real money, my favorite online broker is http://www.Scottrade.com

Answer 7

Hi, i recommand you a good and basic tutorial for investing. it covers all Issues related to your Investing and everything around it.

http://www.tutorialforyou.net/investing/

wish it will help you.

Answer 8

Start when George W Bush is out of Office

Answer 9

your questions will be answered very easily at http://goldenbullpicks.com
they tell you how to get started and what steps to take to join with stock brokers

Answer 10

have you heard about currency trading? its less complicated than stocks...