looking to get into stocks and invest some

[Goatman]

I dunno what Im doing here, but Im wanting to get into stocks so later on Im better off or at least thats the plan here.

 

[bornandraised]

Only thing I know is that penny stocks are almost a sham. If you're not making money sell 'em off.

 

[rrussotwo]

I'd look at blue chips that are stable and pay solid dividends... and real estate.

Look at real estate in particularly hard hit areas like California and other states where the majority of its residents have made idiotic fiscal decisions.

Some real bargains can be found.

 

[JadeRaven]

If you're young and can take the risk, a good index fund like the Vanguard 500 etc that follows the S&P 500 might be a good place to start.

 

[swagge1]

www.fool.com. This is a great resource for learning how to invest. Set up a Google Finance acct. to keep track of your trades and performance. Its free and very user friendly.


Here are some of my returns:

My Roth is up 13.84% (January 2008-today, excludes dividends)
My Day Trading acct is up 37.89% (June 2009-today, excludes dividends)
My 401K is up 10.1% (YTD, includes dividends)

 

[Quickdraw22]

I dunno what Im doing here

And it will show. I took a 10 hour "Spread trading" class, and still don't feel confident enough to toss $5-10K into the stock market. I can do more with my money buying "physical" investments than I could with the stock market.

A friend did trading for a few months - put up a grand or so. After checking stocks every day, and wasting roughly 3-4 hours a week, he only made about $200...

 

[Guate_shooter]

Buy into gold, I wish I would have done that years ago

 

[Quickdraw22]

Buy into gold, I wish I would have done that years ago

Too late for gold...

 

[JadeRaven]

And it will show. I took a 10 hour "Spread trading" class, and still don't feel confident enough to toss $5-10K into the stock market. I can do more with my money buying "physical" investments than I could with the stock market.

A friend did trading for a few months - put up a grand or so. After checking stocks every day, and wasting roughly 3-4 hours a week, he only made about $200...

With only 1k, with active trading fees will eat into your profits tremendously, even if you are only paying $7 or $8 fees.

Typically if you have the time, investing in yourself is always a better option since you control your destiny, IMO.

 

[bwalke1]

FOOD ;my wife made a trip to Sam's yesterday; it's rising much better that the stock market !

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/und...rcent-ground-beef-24-percent-bacon-22-percent

 

[dwhess504]

guns and ammo, silver still isnt too bad. Platinum if you can find it without a crazy premium.

I dont day trade as my family has a history of gambling problems and I woould probably wind up loosing everything.

 

[LACamper]

Be careful. Consider investing no different than heading to the casino. Its hard to predict anything until we see which way the election goes.

 

[CEHollier]

... and real estate.

My plans exactly and what we are doing. We cashed out of the market and no longer put into a 401K. I doubt we ever will invest in Wall Street again.

 

[ammac]

A friend did trading for a few months - put up a grand or so. After checking stocks every day, and wasting roughly 3-4 hours a week, he only made about $200...

So you are saying that in a few months (few = 3) your friend realized a 20% return ($200/$1,000 = 20%). If you did that every few months, in 12 months you would ONLY have a return of 80%! Yep, that's pretty bad.

 

[Quickdraw22]

So you are saying that in a few months (few = 3) your friend realized a 20% return ($200/$1,000 = 20%). If you did that every few months, in 12 months you would ONLY have a return of 80%! Yep, that's pretty bad.

I use common sense when investing, therefore I don't get into the stock market.

What you don't realize, is that one is "technically" losing money. Hence, my friend. He gets paid $23/hr. He wasted roughly 36 hours following stocks.

If he would have worked an extra 36 hours, he would have been guaranteed to make over $800. Instead he chose to **** around on the stock market and make $200... roughly $5.50/hr. Had he put in $20K, things would be different.

I don't know about you, but I don't like working for less than minimum wage.

 

[ammac]

Investing doesn't have to be all about stocks. Of course real estate is and has been a good place to put money. I've heard real estate never looses money. Tell that to the millions of people upside down on their mortgage and those that are or have been foreclosed on in the past six years. However, if you follow the motto, "buy low sell high", then real estate is a good place to look right now. Personally, I don't want to be a land lord. I don't want to put up with condo association assessments and the need for liability protection. The market provides access to real estate in several different ways. You may loose out on the depreciation, but you get the steady income and have your skin in the real estate asset class. Consider health care reits and mortgage backed reits.

Another thing to consider is that the worlds biggest mutual fund is a bond fund. Bond guys know. I am all about fixed income. I've been in and out of high yield bonds for quite a while. If you know what you are doing, you can make market like returns without stock market like risk. What's more, consistent income is the name of the game. Greedy growth investors get burned way too easy. If you are a long term investor, look for a good income producing investment with a 7% annual yield. In 20 or so years, the share price will have gone up and down day after day, but the income will come in every single month. All you need to do is keep up with the income payments, how much they will be and when. If the fund plans to reduce its distributions, take a long look at why and consider your choices. However, with historical low interest rates, payments should be more apt to go up before they go down.

In my opinion, one of the best places to find protected income is MLP's. As long as oil and natural gas flow throughout our country, the pipelines will stay in business. The income is consistent and if you think oil and nat gas will go up in price, then this is a good investment for you. Canada is our biggest partner when importing oil. Consider pipelines coming down from Canada into the midwest. To diversify, find a company with a network in the south extending west.

If you are still compelled to buy stocks, look at good dividend payers. You will get less volatility in exchange for quarterly income payments. Historically the best payers come from telecom's, utilities, health care and energy.

I've just given you a diversified portfolio concept. All you have to do is find the investments that fit into each category and you should be good to go. I hope this helps all the noobs looking to get started. If this sounds too confusing, then you should consult a financial advisor. Piecing together a portfolio like this is what they get paid to do.

 

[ofcmetz]

Check out the wiki at bogleheads.org as IMO that is the best investment site out there.

I would use my job's 401K if it had one. If not check out vanguard.com and maybe open up a ROTH IRA. Index funds are definitely the way to go. Never invest in anything unless you understand it first.

 

[edog]

It's never too late and remember you do not have to start out big. Start with simple investing, look into mutual funds especially utilities and technology.

 

[AustinBR]

I work at a bank and wouldn't mind pointing you to a good investment specialist in the BR area...just drop me a PM