So I have some extra cash lying around and I wanted to get into investing in stocks... I'm not very familiar about stocks and how to invest. Can anyone give me a few pointers or even a referral?

 

I can give you some great info. I have been buying/selling stocks when I became 20. You have to know that you will have your good days and your really bad days. I just made some good money with best buy, and AT&T.

 

Yeah that'll be great if you can give me some info...

Thing is, I absolutely have no time to keep track of stocks on a hourly or daily basis. Is there any options besides mutual funds that I can use?

 

if I'm not mistaken there's index funds which kind of encompass a bunch of different stocks

 

oh god....asking about investment tips on the interweb is like asking about insurance or a 'new car' or......you're going to get 1,000,000 different opinions and be more confused than before.


there's only a few basic ways for the 'normal' investor to invest.....stocks, bonds, mutual funds, index funds, savings accounts, CD's, etc...maybe metals like gold or whatever.

and then you need to consider accounts like IRAs, roth IRA's, 401K's...etc.

once you figure that out, then you need to consider how much you're going to invest....how much in each area (portfolio diversity, etc), total % of your net worth, etc....but when you're just starting out, none of that matters......invest/save as much as you can w/o hurting your daily cash needs.

research, research, research..... then invest where you feel comfortable.

BTW, why no mutual funds? (especially if you're not into tracking individual stocks) Index funds are basically the same thing.

Also, if you're talking about LONG TERM INVESTING, no matter what you buy, you won't be tracking it on a hourly, daily, or even monthly basis......quarterly...maybe. usually annually, not matter if you get stocks, bonds, or whatever.


my personal opinion: I'm a fan of mutual funds myself. Janus paid for my graduate degree back in 1997-1999....and my 401K is in better shape today than it was 18 months ago (gotta love dollar cost averaging.....if you don't know what that is, look it up)


good luck.

Jon

 

Thanks for your input...

So here's my criteria so far... No CD's, no bonds, no savings account, and no commodities.

I just want to put a good sum of money where it can grow, whether it "grows" fast or slow, doesn't really matter to me. I just want to put my money somewhere where it can earn something. I'm also not looking into 401Ks or anything like that at the moment. I'm still in college and not too worried about my retirement.

Is there a broker that can assist me with any of this?

 

SPY - index fund for the S&P 500. Beats most mutual funds. Invest your amount over a 12 month period, not all at once.

 

Im a broker! shoot me a PM.

 

vendoring with out status!!!






You got a PM from me lol

 

commodities were hot as hell for me

but i wussed out and sold gold waaaaaaay too soon hahhahahaa 8 months ago

 

Ive got the perfect opportunity for you.

Have you ever heard of CutCo knives?

 

1) very good to start early.

2) I highly recommend you research a Roth IRA account (BTW, you can only get a 401K through an employer, so don't worry about that today).

With a Roth IRA you put after tax money in, and any interest you make is TAX FREE....for this reason, you can only put in $5000/year.

The nice thing is, because your investment principle is after tax, you can always take that out whenever you want w/o penalty.

So lets say you invest $2K with a Roth IRA account...and you invest in some stock(s) or mutual fund or whatever. lets say after 3 years it doubles to $4000.

Now, you can take out your original $2K, and you still have $2k in that account that keeps growing.


but like I said, research and make your own opinions/decision.

 

judging from your question, the FIRST thing to figure out is your investment horizon. investing involves risk. if you're not willing to put this money away for 3 to 5 years and handling the market swings, i wouldn't be putting it in the stock market.

if your investment timeline is long enough and you don't want a "low maintenance" investment so-to-speak... index mutual funds and ETFs are a good way to go.

like up2mtns said before. research, research, research. know what you're getting in to before you put your money towards it. watch out for "genius stock picks" from friends and relatives. the latest market rally has made everyone look like a stock picking genius. you need to know if an investment is suitable for your risk tolerance and investment timeline.

 

opened a roth IRA 3 months ago because of this. i think it is perfect for me as i am a college student and cannot afford the time of researching and redistributing funds. Plus since I am not making a whole lot the cap works for me.

 

actc ftw