How do I get started?

[dasaybz]

OK, so I have 10 Gs laying around. I want to put this money into the stock market. What is the first thing I should do? :RON:

[treydawg]

Open up a trading account: www.etrade.com and www.scottrade.com are good places

Etrade has a nice high yield savings account as well, but their trade commissions are more than Scottrade ($12.99 versus $7.99 I believe)

I wouldn't put a penny in the market right now to be truthful. This is especially true if you are just starting. We're on the edge of a recession and the market is as volatile as can be. This is great time to sit on the sidelines and educate yourself. Pick up a book, read the paper, or follow a website and learn some tricks of the trade.

[sukie]

If not comfortable with DIY... hook up with an advisor at a securities company.

[sukie]

DO NOT sit at your PC and make trades while watching MAD MONEY!!!!

[treydawg]

DO NOT sit at your PC and make trades while watching MAD MONEY!!!!

:supbro2:

Best advice yet.

[sukie]

Trey Is There A Source List Of Stocks Based On Ebida?

[treydawg]

Are you looking for the companies that have the greastest EBIDA? I don't know of any sites that list that off the top of my head. I usually just check out the earnings reports.

[Riley_Mason]

OK, so I have 10 Gs laying around. I want to put this money into the stock market. What is the first thing I should do? :RON:Don't ask for financial advice on a messageboard.

[dasaybz]

Don't ask for financial advice on a messageboard.

Quit being a dufus. This board was started to help people.

[treydawg]

Don't ask for financial advice on a messageboard.

...as opposed to?

[Merk]

DO NOT sit at your PC and make trades while watching MAD MONEY!!!!


+1000000000000000000


Also I agree w/ Treydawg dont just jump in blindly use this crazy market time to do some reading and educate yourself on the market

[sukie]

I suddenly, not unexpectedly, came into cash to invest. I didn't feel like spinning the wheel doing online trading myself... I hooked up with an advisor... set up an account... a plan was devised and that is where I stand. My philosophy is that this guy has a couple of options... Fail me financially and I pull my account OR make me money and get paid based on his performance.

As far as advice on a message board... Nothing wrong with getting all the advice you can. It's what you decide on your own to do with that advice that is key.

[treydawg]

I suddenly, not unexpectedly, came into cash to invest. I didn't feel like spinning the wheel doing online trading myself... I hooked up with an advisor... set up an account... a plan was devised and that is where I stand. My philosophy is that this guy has a couple of options... Fail me financially and I pull my account OR make me money and get paid based on his performance.

As far as advice on a message board... Nothing wrong with getting all the advice you can. It's what you decide on your own to do with that advice that is key.

Exactly...another thing I've learned.

[jimmifli]

I wouldn't put a penny in the market right now to be truthful. This is especially true if you are just starting. We're on the edge of a recession and the market is as volatile as can be. This is great time to sit on the sidelines and educate yourself. Pick up a book, read the paper, or follow a website and learn some tricks of the trade.

This is terrible advice (aside from the education advice which is always good. If your convictions are THAT strong about the market you should short the S&P500 not adjust your passive allocation. If it's not strong enough to bet against than you should have you money in the market.

For a new investor this is some really good advice:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/17/business/17swensen.html?em&ex=1203570000&en=4767d366976a33c4&ei=5087%0A

Don’t try anything fancy. Stick to a simple diversified portfolio, keep your costs down and rebalance periodically to keep your asset allocations in line with your long-term goals. That is the advice of David F. Swensen, who has run the Yale endowment since 1988, relying on a complex strategy that includes investments in hedge funds and other esoteric vehicles. The endowment earned 28 percent in its last fiscal year, which ended June 30, beating all other endowments. It finished the year with $22.5 billion.

For most people, he recommends a very basic approach: use index funds, exchange-traded funds and other low-cost instruments, and stick to your long-term asset allocation — even when the markets are in tumult.

Don’t be distracted by market forecasts, he said. “You have to diversify against the collective ignorance,” he said. “I think nobody is in a position to react to these big macro-issues. Where is the dollar going to be or what is G.D.P. growth going to be in China? For every smart person on one side of the question, there is another smart person on the other side.”

For most individual investors, he said, copying the strategies of institutions like Yale is virtually impossible: big investors have access to fund managers and arcane strategies that are beyond the reach of most people.

“The only people who should get involved are sophisticated individuals who have significant resources and a highly qualified investment staff,” Mr. Swensen said.

“Most people do not have the resources and time to pick market-beating managers” of hedge funds, private equity funds or funds of funds, he said. And he said that the techniques used by hedge funds often result in higher taxes than those of index funds.

So he advocates another approach, which he outlined in the book “Unconventional Success: A Fundamental Approach to Personal Investment” (Free Press, 2005). He proposes a portfolio of 30 percent domestic stocks, 15 percent foreign stocks, and 5 percent emerging-market stocks, as well as 20 percent in real estate and 15 percent each in Treasury bonds and Treasury inflation-protected securities, or TIPS.

The real estate investment can be made through real estate index funds. Though the real estate market has declined and your portfolio is below its target allocation to it, he said, don’t try to time the market. Go ahead and rebalance because no one really knows where the market’s bottom is.

A portfolio like this is easy to build and has really low overhead. It can survive most t markets.

[Gibby]

OK, so I have 10 Gs laying around. I want to put this money into the stock market. What is the first thing I should do? :RON:

send Gibby 1900 of it so he can get his degree. The rest, I'd see a good accountant. Oh and that 1900 can probably be used to lower your taxes. Come on you know you want a refund.

[JMNY83]

OK, so I have 10 Gs laying around. I want to put this money into the stock market. What is the first thing I should do? :RON:

You can donate it to my pocket and feel good about yourself at the same time.

[dasaybz]

Guys, just remember, this is hypothetical. I already have a portfolio put together :). I wish I had 10 gs laying around.

[dasaybz]

You can donate it to my pocket and feel good about yourself at the same time.

Believe me bro, if I had 10gs laying around that I could just give to ya, I would for sure.

[JMNY83]

Open up a trading account: www.etrade.com and www.scottrade.com are good places

Etrade has a nice high yield savings account as well, but their trade commissions are more than Scottrade ($12.99 versus $7.99 I believe)

I wouldn't put a penny in the market right now to be truthful. This is especially true if you are just starting. We're on the edge of a recession and the market is as volatile as can be. This is great time to sit on the sidelines and educate yourself. Pick up a book, read the paper, or follow a website and learn some tricks of the trade.

Whats a decent amount of money that you need to start off with to invest?

[treydawg]

Whats a decent amount of money that you need to start off with to invest?

http://buffalorange.com/showpost.php?p=1942800&postcount=6

[sukie]

In a down economy... Diversifying into consumer goods isn't a bad idea... Things like food and clothing.

Go low class. Companies like Ross will do better than Macy's. People always need food.

One stock I like is a French Co. Picard Renot Booze Baby. The shittier it gets... The more they drink.

[Bosco]

I agree with Sukie in getting an advisor.

I also suggest doing research, invest in mutual funds not stocks as they are a group of stocks and are not as volatile as a single holding.

Also set your holding up for automatic reinvestment of your dividends.

You might also want to join or form a stock club.

And most importantly start as young and as early as you can to invest as earnings compound over the years and if you wait you can never catch up.

Always write a check to yourself first (for investment) every week even if it is a small amount it will soon add up.

Also if you work for a company that has a dollar matching investment in company stock or mutual funds get in it and then try to increase your contribution every year when you get a raise by that percent until you reach the maximum percent allowed.

Sit back and watch your money grow and invision early retirement..

This worked for me and I now enjoy early retirement at a very young age.

[jimmifli]

I agree with Sukie in getting an advisor.

The caveat with this is to understand how the adviser is paid. Most are just salesmen for the particular investment instrument they sell. ie insurance, & mutual funds

invest in mutual funds not stocks as they are a group of stocks and are not as volatile as a single holding.

This isn't good advice. It's important for every investor to establish a goal and build a portfolio that tries to meet it. For most people the goal should be to get market returns (since they don't have the time and resources to beat the market). The vast majority of managed mutual funds under-perform the market and they charge fees (built into the fund called MERs - management expense ratios) to the investors.

The cheapest and easiest way to get market returns is to buy an index fund. They have very low over head so most your money goes to the investment and less to the fund company. They invest in the entire market instead of employing a fund manager to pick stocks.


Coles notes:
investment advisers = salesmen
most managed funds don't beat the market
buy index funds with low MERs

[Bosco]

My advise can't be all that bad...I am retired at a young age.

[Hipcrocy]

My advise can't be all that bad...I am retired at a young age.

I tend to agree with you. Planning to beat the market is just another way of saying you are going to expose yourself to more risk. In the long run, only the lucky are ahead ....

[Bosco]

jimmifli does make a good point about financial advisors..as with any jobs there are some real schiesters out there. Some are only looking out for themselves and not the client.

There are good ones also. Do some research on his company and him. Get some references and talk to people who use his services.After all it is your money and your future.Get one you can talk with that isn't pushy and you can trust.Don't be affraid to have him explain everything to you so that you truly understand it.Also make sure that you meet with him often to review how you are doing. Set goals.

Be sure that they can invest in any fund you wish not just from a certain investment company.When I first started looking for an advisor, the first one I went to worked for a company that only sold their funds...none of which were available as low or no load. He was seeing dollar signs and I told him to hit the road.

Also make sure that if you invest in mutual funds use no load or smaller load funds.There are plenty of good ones out there. If you have a bad advisor he may invest in large loaded funds which will cost you money but makes someone else rich.

Also be sure that they are not either front loaded or back loaded. Again this benefits the advisor not you.

In my opinion this is a race won by the tortise not the hare. Invest wisely, don't panic too quickly. Remember you are in it for the long run.

Research and knowledge are paramount. Read, listen and learn from those in the know.

There are lots of choices out there so be careful.

[jimmifli]

My advise can't be all that bad...I am retired at a young age.
It wasn't meant as an attack. But for someone just getting started, investing in managed mutual finds will likely under-perform the market. There is a boatload of data to back me up.

For a beginner without much knowledge, an index fund is a much better place to be. They are all no load and have an extremely low MER.

[Uppy]

OK, so I have 10 Gs laying around. I want to put this money into the stock market. What is the first thing I should do? :RON:


To hell with the market go out and buy a used boat .....they are cheep now,with
10gs you could find a nice 30' -34' sail boat to go sailing on with the wife and the new
young one ;)