Id like to invest a little, where to start?

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ryandamartini

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Well as the title says.

i have a bit of money from graduation sitting in an ING savings. While that is slowly earning oh ~12$ a year, Id like to take a small bit out to invest in some stocks or similar. I was planning on using around $500.00 USD to start. I have researched some of the different services and Zecco.com - Free Stock Trading & Investment Community looks best for my needs. I am reading into all the terminology and stuff, and have picked up some good books recommended to me.

What would be some good stocks to get for my limited budget? I dont expect to make a huge amount of cash, but hey ya never know! :) Im really trying to learn all I can about being good with my finances in college.

Thanks!

-Ryan
 
Do you have a trading account? I have E*Trade and have been very happy with them. I also check out the Fools CAPS on a daily basis, some interesting insight there.

Personally, I just dumped everything I had in VMWare two days ago and have made a really really nice return so far!
 
P1et said:
VMWare two days ago and have made a really really nice return so far!
Click to expand...
Bast**d :mad: lol, been so busy I forgot about them the other week and forgot to set the order. Whether accurate of being called the next Google or not, the hype shot that stock up.
 
P1et said:
Do you have a trading account? I have E*Trade and have been very happy with them. I also check out the Fools CAPS on a daily basis, some interesting insight there.

Personally, I just dumped everything I had in VMWare two days ago and have made a really really nice return so far!
Click to expand...

Like stated, I am opening a Zecco account. I dont have the financial capital to be super trader, so Im looking for something that I can make some trades a month for free and the customer support and organization is great from reviews I have read and seen everywhere.

You might want to check out AMD while they are this cheap. Phenom and Barcelona CPU's are coming in along with a large number of OEM contracts next year.


Anyways... What stocks could I look at?

Thanks :)

Ryan
 
Surfer said:
Bast**d :mad: lol, been so busy I forgot about them the other week and forgot to set the order. Whether accurate of being called the next Google or not, the hype shot that stock up.
Click to expand...

Haha! I sold all of my Dell stock and put it all into VMWare. I made more in one day on VMWare than I did in more than two years in Dell.

WOOHOO!!!

Just wondering whether I should sell when it hits $80 or just hope it splits and be in it for the long haul...
 
I have money invested in two different places, and for someone who doesn't have a lot of time to track the market and move stocks around (plus a limited income) I would think these would work well for you as well.

1) Open an IRA. This will allow you to save $4000 a year to a retirement account and you will make a few hundred dollars a year at first in return, and then more as your account grows. I put $333 a month into mine.

2) Find some good mutual funds and invest in those. My wife and I were getting about 7-8% return before the market started to loop recently and they are more stable because they are spread across multiple things, not just single stocks.

You can set both of these up through a local investment office such as Edward Jones or Citibank. Look around and see who seems to have their act together.

I think if you do this you will have a good base to start with and then when you get some more disposable income you can start dabbling in stocks more. Why waste the money that you can barely afford to use if a stock takes a tumble? I know as a student I didn't have much extra cash laying around so putting money away for the future early seemed to be the best bet.

Just my thoughts. If you really, really want to trade stocks for the fun of it, no one can stop you.
 
P1et said:
Haha! I sold all of my Dell stock and put it all into VMWare. I made more in one day on VMWare than I did in more than two years in Dell.

WOOHOO!!!

Just wondering whether I should sell when it hits $80 or just hope it splits and be in it for the long haul...
Click to expand...
I'd hold, even if it drops a little after hype or doesn't split, you still made nice gains either way. If it splits, will be even easier to sell for profit with the new liquidity and price, more poeple buy at split price with the extra volume of shares = Surfer pissed at P1et for not reminding him sooner :mad: :D

Ryan - $500, I'd paper trade to get a feel, and go from there, if the $500 is play money your not worried of risking to lose, can start reading up on stocks after paper trading for a couple weeks and and open an account and go from there. I don't have the time right now so mine is pretty much all in funds, mid caps etc. You could use the money to invest in a fund to play it safe as Pauly said, but I honestly can't remember some of the caps for requirements right now. Personally if it were me, 500 won't do squat in a fund right now, and if your willing to use it as "play money" I'd start trading after a couple weeks of doing paper trades while researching stocks, but thats just me. Have a couple thou in account for trading but sitting there right now as I don't have the time to look around stocks right now....kicking myself in the damn ass for forgetting to set order for VMWare, ughhh, Surfer = Idiot lol
 
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I second the vote for an IRA, I started one in april to get a tax break and I put the max in there which I think is 4k, than I think I have made about 200 so far on it. It is mindless investing. I know as a student I do not have time to keep up with the market and although I do have money in the market it is with a broker and not personal trading.

Do you parents by chance have a broker, if so they might not mind doing small trading for you.
 
Most Mutual Funds now require a minimum purchase of 1000.00. Look into some low cost offerings, like those from American Funds. They dont advertise, and thus keep there expenses in check. Stocks are like diving into the deep end of the pool before learning to swim, sure you'll likely make it back to the side but not without treading some water.

The IRA is a nice offering, especially consider as a student you likely have little or limited income. As such a ROTH would be a great choice. No tax break now, but all it nets is free after retirement. Just rememeber its a long way to 59 1/2 and touching those funds. (some limited ways out early)
 
The people that make tons of money out of stocks have a) a lot of time to track the market, research options, and learn the ins and outs of trading, and b) enough liquid capital to play around with. You really do have to spend money to earn money in this case, and have enough wiggle room in your budget to allow for the fluctuations of the market. You aren't going to go all Donald Trump overnight with $500, and most likely will have to spend an inordinate amount of time and effort to get that to grow enough to reinvest your earnings and keep going.

If you are in this to play around and try and make a little money because you are interested in the stock market - do what others have advised and paper trade for a bit and then see what you can do.

If you are looking at this for long-term savings and a potential retirement plan, then be modest and go for IRAs, mutual funds (I second the American Funds, that's what my money is in) and stuff that you don't have to babysit as much.

Citi Financial Planners will do a free financial analysis on you if you refer 5 of your friends to them (with no obligation for anyone, including you, to purchase any services from them). My wife and I did this and they really show you what you should be paying off first and how much you should be saving to meet your goals and prepare for the future or emergencies. If you want a good basis to start from, get one of those done. That way you can make a more informed decision as to how you want to spend/save your money.

We ended up getting a money market account that also doubles as an emergency fund (you can write checks against it) that makes around 8% instead of the amost 0% a typical savings account makes, as well as an IRA for my wife. We also reduced our debt about 20% faster than we would have otherwise by paying things off in a certain way. It's not rocket science, but hey, it's a free service they provide!

P.S. - In the short term you'll make a lot more money doing well in college and getting a good job and saving for your future then you will in the stock market, anyways :p
 
I would suggest you seriously look into a Roth IRA. When you open the account just tell them you want it to be a Roth. deposit the $500 into it and have it ready to go.

The reason being is that if you use a regular account and make a trade here a trade there at the end of the year you will have to list all trades on your tax return and it can be a pain.

Pick a couple stocks to watch, paper trade, etc. In my opinion, look at stocks that pay dividends, GE, WMT, etc. That way if you just buy a stock and you are busy doing other things at least every quarter you probably will have a dividend deposit into your account. These stocks will not shoot up 20% in a day, so that may not be want you are looking for. But remember, risk comes at a price. One day you could be up 20% then next day down 50%.

Just my two cents..
 
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