In order to participate in the GunBroker Member forums, you must be logged in with your GunBroker.com account. Click the sign-in button at the top right of the forums page to get connected.
Options
STOCK MARKET NEWBIE
MFI
Member Posts: 7,899 ✭✭✭
Any help for a newbie in the stock market ? Would like to dabble a little ..What is the best online site to use ? Any tips etc would be great guys ! Thanks ..
Comments
Many so called "experts" and their methods which is imo just general ideas. GOOD LUCK.
Just a word of caution: the market is at its all time high right now.....meaning now is about as risky a time to buy in as there ever was.
!. the stock market ALWAYS goes up
2. when the stock market goes down see rule # 1.
now individual stocks are another issue, you are on your own.
for general tips and insight try account@seekingalpha.com)
OR.........
Not a lot of places to park money right now as noted on another thread.
Cd's are safe but barely keep up with inflation.
Real Estate is high too, and you either actively manage the properties or pay someone else to.
Gold and other precious metals, not my cup of tea.
As for tips, IGNORE them! Do your own research. If you are a true newbie, stick to mutual funds or ETFs that include a broad band of the market. Two currently popular areas are S&P500 tracking funds, and Total Market Index funds, Fidelity has both. You won't hit any home runs with these but you will track what "the market" is doing. As you gain experience you can move into more specialized funds or even into individual stocks. BUT DO NOT start out that way!!
Invest,.....don't invest, it's no skin off my nose. I agree fully with Rack Ops though,.....the market is skirting around an all time high, and not what I would consider a good time to start investing serious money. I am sitting on about 200K un-deployed cash for a reason right now.
My best moves ever were going full in towards the bottom of the 2008 debacle, and simply holding steady as it dropped another 5%. Wait for a correction to dive in would be my advice, and stick to high quality names with investment grade credit ratings.
My last brokerage was with Ameriprise. After you reach $100k they used to give you trades for free. Now they're at $8 per trade.
When looking for a "trading site" look for 2 things - price per trade - user interface. As a starting invertor I'm ASSuming that you'll make smaller purchases, of the cost of a trade as a percentage of the transaction will vary. $8 for a $100 trade is an 8% overhead. That same $8 for a $100k transaction is _nothing_. So think about the cost per trade.
You'll also want to look at their interface. Look for something that gives you the info that you need. A pretty site with sparse information is nowhere near as good as a plain site that gives you the ability to run scenarios and find info like dividends etc...
I see a bunch of members telling you to buy funds. If you go that route, you may get your returns eaten up by management fees. I'm not saying you shouldn't buy funds. I'm saying that you should read their prospectus and look at the fee structure related to return.
Look into the dividend reinvestment stocks. They're the ones that you can buy directly from the company on a monthly basis. My first was Exxon. I bought $50 worth per month, every month. Many / most do not have a fee. Depending on the fluctuation, that $50 (and eventually $100) per month bought fractions of shares. I did it for years. It's hell to figure the basis when you sell (unless you sell all) but it's a way for an investor to buy equities for minimal cost.
I'm in no way affiliated with Amazon, but I have my financial guy buy me a couple of shares whenever there's a dip. Amazon, in my small and humble opinion, is taking over the market. Just like Alice's Restaurant, you can get anything you want. They're only getting bigger.
I'd suggest Google - they've got their dick-skinners in everything. They're going to grow as well, but to me, they're evil (long story) and I won't own them (yes, I'm cutting off my nose to spite my face).
I also made a bunch of money on high dividend stocks. I bought a bunch of Southern Copper years ago because their dividend was 8%. They grew - I profited. I've since liquidated.
If you want to diversify similar to funds, I'd say look into spider (s&p500) or diamonds (Dow). Or an ETF. To me, they're much better than funds since the management fees are lower and they track the major indexes.
Enjoy!
Put a fixed amount in every month and let it do its thing.
Brad Steele
"It is difficult for even the best pig farmer to make a fortune from raising pigs, but using his knowledge of many years of raising and selling pigs he can do very well investing in pork bellies".
In other words, Invest in what you know.
Aviation, for example, if you are in that business. Do you know agriculture? How about marketing? Travel? Merchandising? Fashion? Do you use tools? Read books? Operate computers? Take medications? Spend time in medical facilities? etc., etc., etc....
I used Scottrade for years then TD Ameritrade after they bought Scottrade.
I agree with Don on both using Vanguard, lowest priced funds out there with excellent selections and diversify, put money in good funds and let it sit there.
These brokers are not that interested in accounts less than $500,000. Luckily when you start you can talk to others and read. These sites have an enormous amount in information on line and help consolidate your profit and loss from trades to make your taxes a snap.
If it wasn't for investments (not just stocks or money) I'd be a lot worse off and likely spending my retirement stuck in the U.S. drinking a beer and watching a bug zapper.
Savy fellow this one. First thing to remember is that the average American investor buys when the market is high and he has confidence. He sells low when the market drops and he panics. Now you know what not to do. Buy low, sell high, hang tight between. You are better off in a fund, than trying to pick stocks on your own, as you said you are a newbie. I agree with Marc, half my net was made in the market and I always bought when the market dropped (or plunged) then hung tight until it had more than recovered what it lost. You would do well to diversify, having some stocks, some bonds, maybe some Muni bonds as well. Cash is not great currently, but as Marc says hold until the correction hits later this year. The market will be somewhat static until that point.