stocks and investments????

[credit_hunter]

We were thinking of playing the stock market, or making some investments. we need someway to save some money with a low start that ends up with more than we put in it. do you have stocks, bonds etc? any advice?

[crofttk]

My investments:

 

- my home

- my 401(k), diversified and allocated to a higher than typical risk profile for my age demographic

 

My advice:

 

- don't "play" the stock market.

[travelgrl]

Playing the stock market is not the way to save money, that I can tell you.

If you want/need to save then I suggest a 401K if your employer offers that. Mine matches 2% so I contribute 2%. It is not much, but it is free money and the small amount deducted from my paycheck each month is not missed.

I also just opened an account with ING direct. With the 2.6% interest and no minimum balance this is the best deal for me. Plus getting $25 free helped give me a little incentive.

Once you get at least $1000 saved then you can invest in a higher yield CD. My credit union offers 4% I think on a CD. NOt sure of the terms, but still not bad.

 

At one time I did inherit a small amount of money from my grandmother. It was invested in stocks- high tech stocks- pre 9-11. I knew nothing about the market at the time and just followed the advice of the broker where the acct was when it was given to me. I am sure you can imagine what it is worth now. Now I am older and wiser and have learned from that experience. It used to lemonade me off, but chalked it up to a learning experience...

[hegemony]

if you already have a 1) maxed 401K/403B, 2) Roth IRA, 3) 6 to 12 months living expenses in liquid form (MM and CDs), 4) 3 or 4 solid mutual funds with regular dollar cost averaging investment then, ok, buy a few indivudual stocks.

 

mosey over to the money manangement forum and look around.

Edited March 13, 2005 by hegemony

[centex]

We were thinking of playing the stock market, or making some investments. we need someway to save some money with a low start that ends up with more than we put in it. do you have stocks, bonds etc? any advice?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

As others have said, playing the market is very different from savings. That said, there are some profitable moves out there, especially if you are willing to do your due dilligence. I've done well in the past with REIT's and certain natural gas trusts- the key there includes looking at the dividend payouts and the lifespan of the trust (you don't want to get in at the tail end of a REIT). Keep in mind that some also carry tax implications beyond ordinary dividends.

 

Once you have some funds to play with, other avenues with a high risk/reward potential are in the options arena...

 

The key is doing your own due dilligence...just because some media shill says something is or is not a good risk does not always make it so. I always like to harken back to MTV which got raked over the coals by Business Week just before it went public at 15. It dropped to 13 1/2 very soon after going public but was later bought out by Viacom at something like 27 a share...doubling my money is always a good thing

 

Don't put anything into the market you can't afford to lose...

Edited March 13, 2005 by centex

[hegemony]

Don't put anything into the market you can't afford to lose...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

exactly...

 

don't put it all on 17 RED...

[54regcab]

1: Pay off all your debt(including vehicles) except house.

2: Put 15% of your income into retirement.

3: Pay off house.

4: Max out retirement.

5: Invest in Mutual Funds/Stocks/Real Estate etc.

[SassyinAz]

Moving to the Money Management Forum.

 

Sassy

[Hwkdrvr]

Energy stocks and commodities are the wave of the next five to ten years.

 

Michael

[maporsche]

I've recently began adding money to a brokerage account. I'm using www.sharebuilder.com.

 

I have only started this because I have paid off all my debt, and I have 4 months salary in the bank in case of emergencies. Earning 2.7% interest like the poster above stated is actually losing you money when inflation is at 3%.

 

Another poster said "Don't 'play' the stocke market". If you're going to do this, you can't do it without doing some research, pouring over the profit/earnings reports, keeping up with market changes, etc. It takes time to do it right and not lose your shirt.

[jumar112]

I also was going to open a sharebuilder.com account and found out I can do some of the investing by myself.

There are over 1,000 companies that once you hold just 1 share of their stock in YOUR name, you can start buying stock through the company itself and leave out the middle men.. These are called DRiPS.

I have found a couple of sites that will help you buy a single stock of a company (ie. 3M, Avon just to name a couple) for a small nominal fee and then the info is handed over to you and YOU deal with the company (or transfer agent) and can set up auto deduct from a checking or saving to buy stocks of that company for as little as 10.00 a month.

I am looking to purchase shares and hold on to for long term (over 10 years) and not just sell off.

I am still learning about all of this and if there are any vets out there that are investing in DPP or DRiPS, I would like to know how they are doing.