how do you start to invest and buy stocks if you know nothing about it? whats a good place to start?

Question

how do you start to invest and buy stocks if you know nothing about it? whats a good place to start?

Answer 1

Standard investment advice is that you should invest in a diversified mix of stocks, bonds, and money market funds. You want to buy a diversified portfolio of stocks as individual stocks are too risky. Most folks have a dificult time buying a properly balanced portfoilio of stocks on their own. They will misbalance their portfolio by buying all small stocks or all growth stocks, or some other misbalanced assortment of stocks. Unless you know what you are doing, it is best to buy mutual funds. I like Vanguard.com, other people like Fidelity, TIAA-CREF, and DFA. Buy no-load, low cost funds. If you are like most people you will invest part of your money aggressively in stock funds, and part conservatively in money market funds and bond funds. Vanguard.com has an on-line questionnaire which will give you an idea of how to do "Asset Allocation," determining how much to put in each type of fund.



If your company offers a 401K plan at work, try to invest the most you can. The money grows tax free, and some companies will match your contribution. Investing in a mutual fund IRA is also a good idea. If you have children, you may want to consider a 529 plan or other college savings plan that grows tax free.



I like index funds. Because of their broad diversification, you are less likely to have a dramatic drop in value. They also have the lowest expenses. For stock funds, I would suggest putting ~70-80% of your money in the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund. and ~20-30% in a foreign stock index fund. However, there are many different opinions out there on what the best mutual funds are. Read the links below and form your own opinion.



If you have high-interest debt, like credit cards, it is best to pay this off first before trying most of the investment ideas above. You should also have 3-6 months of salary saved up as an emergency fund in a bank or money market fund before trying more risky investments.



Believing advice you get on Yahoo answers can be risky, so read these websites for further information. If you find it too confusing, contact a professional financial advisor. They will charge you significant commissions, however.



Sources:



http://www.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/planningeducation

http://www.fool.com/school.htm

http://sec.gov/investor/pubs/assetallocation.htm

http://www.diehards.org/readsites.htm

http://finance.yahoo.com/education/begin_investing

http://finance.yahoo.com/funds/basics



Asset Allocation Calculators

(Determining how much to put in stocks and how much into bonds and money markets is a personal decision depending on your financial status. These Asset Allocation questionaires give you a rough idea how to do this. I like Vanguard best, but try some of the other sites as well.)

https://flagship.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/FundsInvQuestionnaire?cbdInitTransUrl=https%3A//flagship.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/planningeducation/education

https://ais2.tiaa-cref.org/cgi-bin/WebObjects.exe/DTAssetAlcEval

http://www.ifa.com/SurveyNET/index.aspx



Web forum: http://www.diehards.org/

(Many investment web forums are overrun by scam artists. This one seems the most legitimate site.)





529 plans: http://www.savingforcollege.com

Answer 2

There is a great book by Phil Town called "Rule #1". It walks a beginner through the process of finding good stocks and how to trade. It is somewhat simple, but sometimes the best strategies are. That would be a good place to start. Just like in school, you start out with the basics and then build on that.

Answer 3

It depends on how involved you want to get into stocks. The stock market can be a very risky environment and for normal, everyday investors like you or me.



I would strongly suggest getting into mutual funds. Mutual funds spread the risk out over many stock instead of one or a few that an indvidual would. In addition, the decisions are made by professional money managers who know what they are doing since that's what they do all day.



Depending on how old you are and your risk tolerance, you can mix the mutual funds to fit your profile and goals.



I would start contacting financial advisors who would be more than willing to help you out.

Answer 4

Read "One up on Wall Street" by Peter Lynch

Read"A random Walk Down Wall Street" By Burton Makail? spelling?

Read anything you can find about Warren Buffet the greatest investor of our time.



Check out the NAIC website.

http://www.better-investing.org/Public/default



See if you can join an investment club in your area.



Get an etrade account and start small.



Talk to as many people as you can find about how they research stocks. Pick some companies that you like and research them for practice.



Create an imaginary portfolio of stocks and track them. Yahoo actually has one of the best stock portfolio and research/news features of any site around. Create a portfolio watch list in your "myYahoo" site and you'll learn and figure out the rest from there.



Good luck.



Email me for stock tips



I started an investment club back in 94 and our club has an annualized rate of return of about twice the s&p.

Answer 5

I can give you information that will help you skip over the 12 years learning curve where you would be losing your money over and over again. The stock market is set up on a 90/10 scale. 10% of the people out there make the money and everyone else (90%) donates to them so they can build their houses and buy their cars and property. I started out in the stock market in the mid 90s and made a lot of mistakes and then I suddenly found out what works and what doesn't. I have learned how to make money in the stock market. He res a synopsis of what doesn't work: 1. Dint try to play the news. The pros on the floor get the news before you do at your laptop online. They have services such as First Call, and other immediate news services. Also the guys on the floor hear the rumors before you do. Basically what this does is the stock already moved before you even got the news, too late. 2. Penny Stocks. You might have heard about someone who made a mint in penny stocks. He bought 10,000 shares at .03 apiece and suddenly the stock jumped to 3 dollars a share and he bought a new car or a house. This is ultra rare. Usually you will buy a penny stock for .07 a share and then it will go down to .03 a share and stay there for a year. 3. You try to do momentum plays. If the stock suddenly shows up on the 'most up' lists for the day you think that you can join up with the momentum and make money too. But by the point YOU see it on the lists, the pros are already starting to sell it. You buy it and the stock starts to drop. 4. Rolling penny stocks? No. Everybody wants to buy at the bottom of the roll, no body wants to sell at the top of the roll. 5. You try to daytrade, fighting the market makers and screw them out of thier bid and ask spread. Not going to happen. You are up against a professional who makes his living doing this. 6. You learn technical analysis. But this takes about 6 years to master. 7.You try giving your money to a pro...most money managers dont make money during down years. As a matter of fact they can lose quite easily. 8. You can follow stock pics from the Wall Street Journal or IBD but then everyone sees those pics. You would be one of the 90%. Those pics, unless they are forcasts, show stocks that are currently hot. As you see them pros are dumping them. 9. You try to catch a 'falling knife'. A stock drops big because of news so you buy it because you think its cheap. Yeah but there was a reason the stock went down, a fault in the stock itself. So it keeps bleeding after you buy it and then it keeps dropping. Then it gets downgraded and drops more. 10. You tried options. Most people dont know how to do them right and most people lose at options. Heres why. a) you buy an option that expires at a certain time (they all do) and the stock goes down, your option goes down. b) you buy an option and the stock remains at the same price and is flat. The option time erodes and you are left with nothing. c) You buy the option and the stock price soars. You are estatic because the stock price made your option triple. Sell the option? Hell no, it could go up more! So you hold it. The problem with that is they all expire worthless if given enough time. So you hold hoping for even more money then the price goes down. You lose. 12) You move your money around in one big pile. Investing 100% of your money all at one time is a big mistake because that one time when you have a catasrophic loss from one trading mistake is the time you are done. Always have different piles for trading down or up. Well that is my two bits and I suggest that you follow this if you want to learn and make money. Site I have this from is below.



For the best answers, search on this site https://smarturl.im/aDCTs

Answer 6

You can make good money like me with this binary option signal software ( http://forexsignal.kyma.info ) Binary options trading has always been popular, however, this investment fad globally exploded around 2008. Originally known as digital options, binary or the name "two values" was added to give a simpler explanation for trading options. Binary is defined as two values or up and down movements. Binaries rely on underlying assets or derivatives. You can trade in commodities, the forex (foreign exchange market), commodities as well as stock indices.

Answer 7

Beginners should never start directly with "individual" stocks. These are very hard to learn and master.



They should begin with mutual funds and index funds while they learn about how the stock market works. Much less time and risks is involved with funds.

Answer 8

Start by reading the top books



Young Fabulous and Broke & Women and Money- Suze Orman



Rich Dad Poor Dad- Robert Kiyosaki



Read All those cover to cover and you will be much more enlightened.

Answer 9

Open a brokerage account at Zecco and I will help you for FREE. (I am a Portfolio Manager with over a decade of experience in the Stock Markets)

Answer 10

Are you looking to start a hobby? Or are looking to grow your savings? If its a hobby you seek read, read, read. If you want to grow your money and go about your life then seek a professional investment advisor to help you. Please email me.

Answer 11

books, magazines, classes that some of the investment houses give.school,

Answer 12

My recommendation is study technical analysis. Use Nicalas Darvas as a start.

Answer 13

One way to get started is to get a brokerage account. (I have Charles Shcwab and Iike it.



Once you do that you can go to places like http://www.fool.com great help.



Also for a price you can ask you broker for advice.



Hope that helps.