Re: how do i invest?
OGIONIK wrote:im a retard.
Well, you've got one thing right.
Several years ago, I bought CDs from a Chicago bank for 11 and 15 years at 6% interest rate. Sure glad I did.
jespah wrote:I'll be back later but my first suggestion is something fairly easy and somewhat safe, which won't give you a long-term commitment. One suggestion is a Certificate of Deposit, or CD. You can get them for fairly short-term investments, something like 5 years. There is a penalty for early withdrawal so don't put in more than you can afford to have socked away for a while. Ask your bank; they sell 'em.
Another idea is a mutual fund (another thing you can get through a bank or your employer's retirement plan, if there is one). Mutual funds are a collection of a bunch of funds, depending on your tolerance for risk. Since you're very young (as I recall), your tolerance for risk can be higher. Again, don't toss in a lot of money right now because you're just feeling things out. Not that I don't think saving and investing are important -- I think they're crucial -- but you need to get some educating first. If you go with a mutual fund, again, see if you can do something shorter term. And ask whoever you buy the fund from what the
ticker symbols (that's the term) are for the mix of funds in the overall mutual fund. E. g. AIG is American International Group, etc. And Google those symbols and also see about going to
www.fool.com and following them there.
That's the Motley Fool, by the way; they have very good information.
Also -- whatever you invest in -- read about it. A lot. Know what you're buying and what is happening with the company. What if the company is being bought? Or the CEO is stepping down? Or the company is filing for bankruptcy? Or something crucial didn't come through (e. g. for McDonald's it's probably a big problem if the potato harvest is bad because of all the french fries they sell)? Or they turn out something that's a best seller (that's what happened with Pfizer when they got permission to sell Viagra)? Or the company lands some big contract?
You don't need to know every single company out there, just a few that you have your money in or think you want to put your money in. My husband and I follow about 30 or so stocks, funds and companies. We don't really go nuts looking for news about them; usually we look about once a week and do a more thorough check about once a month or quarter. Plus if any sort of big news story comes down the pike, we check it out. I am more into it than he is but he will tear out articles about some of our bigger holdings and earmark them for me to read.
PS Stock market crashes are rare these days (at least in the US), mainly because the market now has a lot more safeguards than it did in 1929. It's not impossible but it would have to be something truly dire, probably coupled with some sort of major drought, crop failure or weather event. While the market was down after JFK was assassinated, after Pearl Harbor and after 9/11, it didn't crash any of those times. Hurricane Katrina didn't cause a crash, either.
PPS There's also more than one market. There's the NY Stock Exchange, NASDAQ, the Chicago Board of Trade and others. When most people say the stock market, they mean the NYSE but it's not the only game in town.
Ask questions, I'll try to answer them. I'm in the industry but only on the IT end of things, but there are people I can ask so long as it doesn't get too specific, e. g. no one is going to advise on your specific needs as that could jeopardize their trading licenses. But general questions are fine.
I have a mere 1000 at my bank but i did that just for emergencies, im interested in investing in companies that i foresee will succeed in the future, i.e. robotics etc blah blah, ps THANKS FOR THE POSTS! i just got on today and like all the feedback.
i know "how" the market works, its the little things i dont know about, like, how do i actually get my money *into* a stock?
i prefer long term investments, with set gains. but i also want to put aside some money for "riskier" stocks, i am actually extremely good at predicting what is going to fail or pass when it comes to the us market,
i predicted the an "iphone" a few months before i installed windows xp for example.
the cd i got at my bank is ok, for now. but lets not beat around the bush, were at war with people who arent going to give up, ever. Our economy is going to go down, and people are going to be poor who werent poor before, i dont want to be poor, ive been poor my whole life and i just want to work and know ill get to relax in the future at least.
I also want to buy gold or something, no reason to have dollars when i could have something worth, well basically every currency known to man?
I just have no idea how to actually get started, well i DO, but , i dont know, its like learning to read by yourself, you might get some words right but your grammar wont ever be perfect unless you get a proper education.
how do i invest?
Go to your public library and ask the Reference Librarian for some titles on investing, taking care to stay away from stuff like "I Made Myself a Millionaire in Minutes" - sure he did: a bunch of idiots bought the book and that's where his "millions" came from.
Seriously, mutual funds are good; some of the best are run by Fidelity, and by Vanguard. Balanced funds and asset manager funds save you the trouble of trying to outguess the market; the managers of these funds keep shuffling the holdings around in ways that you, as an individual, can't do, because they trade in enormous blocks. But pick your funds with care; try short-term CDs while you look for good funds. Even a very short-term CD will pay better than a standard savings or checking account and it gives you time to look around.
Try to balance the basic American (e.g. Dow Jones) stocks with funds that include international securities.
If you're thinking of something like robotics - were you interested in finance in the 1990s when tech stocks went through the ceiling and then went even faster through the cellar?
Finally, "i am actually extremely good at predicting what is going to fail or pass when it comes to the us market": More fool you.
well, i havent been wrong yet. and its the results that matter
