Stock market. How do I get started?

I am looking to buy some stocks. I have been researching a little bit and I have some cash in a checking account that I keep in case desperate times call for desperate measures. Now with the way the market is right now it is buying time. I have 60 years to wait for it to go back up when i retire. So I am not worried if it doesn't go up in 3 days. I got plenty of time to wait it out.

But I have never even thought about this before. Where do I start? What are some good sites to read up on/start buying stock.

I am not looking to make a quick buck here. I want to put some in and just watch the market go back up and make some money for retirement.

So what do you guys suggest? My ears are open.

hey hey.... welcome to hell on wall street...

no seriously i was in your situation a couple weeks ago, wondering, and tho i haven't bought any i know quite a bit more about the market right now.

I think your best bet is just to do some research- read some of Jim Cramer's books- he's a stock market god.

then just start doin some research- mostly i just went on wall street journal online and looked at all the market data... but I think Jim Cramer's books hold some excellent information IMO

remember i'm not giving you investment advice- i'm giving you advice on resources...

Jim Cramer's books helped me out alot to understand the market

also, i went on yahoo's finance website and they also had some great advice articles-such as choosing a broker, all about mutual funds, risk vs. return..

Thanks for the info. I will def look into that guy and do some reading.

Even if I only buy 100 bucks in stock with the market the way it is I could buy a decent number of stocks. When the stocks make their climb back up...cha ching. Like I said I got 50 years to let it sit there waiting for it to go back up. It will sooner or later.

yea no kidding markets ridiculously low right now. I'm thinking bout maybe getting a few stocks... with all of my 100 dollars or so..

but that 100 dollars, depending on what you buy, could get you almost 50 stocks..

and then when they go up, you make some dough,

this is the site i use to keep track of stocks

http://online.wsj.com/mdc/public/page/marketsdata.html

To start trading stocks, you need to open a brokerage account, typically the minimum balance (depending on institution) is between 1000-2000.

For long term investing I'd definitely suggest investing in index funds. With the direction of the market, this would be the best bet, because who knows who will be standing in 5 years, and for that mater who would be the true players.

Here's two stocks I would recommend looking into.

One, look into a hearing aid company that you think is going to do well. With the HUGE increase in speaker technology (100W used to be unheard of) kids are going to be in serious need of hearing aids later on in life. This should cause companies to make it big later on.

Two, there's this company that does hypersonic sound. They are starting to make things for the military. I'll see if I can determine what the company is. They have some serious potential in non-lethal weapons.

Do your research and pick some companies that you can see a future in for a specific reason.

Thanks for the info guys. But sadly I don't have a grand sittin around to drop into an account. I was thinking of just starting with like a 100 and go from there.

Thanks for the info PwrRngr. You def know your sound stuff. Makes sense though.

Dan- also look at companies that are rapidly growing, but you've never heard of. A great way to choose stocks IMHO, is to look at the current events today, look where that will lead to and invest there as pwrrngr said.

that's what my friend's advice to me was, and he's going to school for accounting/investing

Use e-trader, easy and online, you will pay transaction fees just like they were broker fees..

XM/Sirius was a good one a couple year ago but they flat lined... Sirus bought XM tho...

I have shares of friggen Schering Plough grrrr
I have shares inof FedEx, grrrr
I have very few of Amazon and Microsoft
and a couple others as well...

All of my stockes are dropping...

;/

Just do a little personal research and find out what you feel comfortable with. Take your own chances, so that way you can learn market trends...

You know that all metals & oils are going to stay the same... you can also look into a mutual funds as well..

Go for penny stocks, up and coming companies...

thesull wrote:

All of my stockes are dropping...

Everybody's are

Most brokerage firms will require a minimum 1000 investment to open a trading account.

You can use a brokerage firm or use some of the online ones which offer trading for a small fee but do not require any other fees for advice etc. They will offer you free trading tips and all the graphs and charts you need, you just simply have to make the decision for yourself. A firm will look at these for you and direct you in a way to invest your money the wisest, as they see it.

Right now you can get stocks for pretty cheap, but keep in mind they are cheap for a reason and the bottom of this thing has not hit yet. Stay away from Financial Stocks, Automotive Stocks....a good investment right now would be Commodities such as Gold, Silver, Diamond etc. Stay away from retail investments right now with the holidays coming up, they are going to see a HORRIBLE Xmas sale which will have their stocks diving.

Their is always a risk and nothing is set in stone. If you are looking to invest long term some of these stocks would be a good investment with the price low given they dont go bankrupt. I would recommend starting a portfolio of a wide range of stocks and possibly a 401K if you have not dont so already. That way you can keep track of the market and move your funds around.

02BlueStang wrote:

Their is always a risk .

Their or There is? hahah FORUM NAZI

thesull wrote:

02BlueStang wrote: Their is always a risk . Their or There is? hahah FORUM NAZI

haha good one...I originally had typed something else and then went back and changed it...obviously forgot to change the most important word

Don't worry about "losing" money b/c the stocks are going to go down. You don't lose money unless you sell. Since you're looking for long term investments (as you should w/ the stock market), you'll make money b/c the stocks will go back up (assuming you don't pick a company that goes under). There's really no fear of losing money if you invest in an ok company b/c you're not selling when prices are low. You'll sell much later when prices are high.

You might as well buy now b/c it's a buyers market.

If I were you, I'd look in to a financial planner. Stock markets are not always the best for long term investments.

Brandon wrote:

If I were you, I'd look in to a financial planner. Stock markets are not always the best for long term investments.

Please inform me b/c I'm very interested. What's better for long term investments? Historically, stock will earn you ~12% gain. If there's something better please inform the rest of us b/c I would be VERY interested!!

PwrRngr wrote:

Brandon wrote: If I were you, I'd look in to a financial planner. Stock markets are not always the best for long term investments. Please inform me b/c I'm very interested. What's better for long term investments? Historically, stock will earn you ~12% gain. If there's something better please inform the rest of us b/c I would be VERY interested!!

I agree with you on this. Maybe not shares in individual companies, however, in Index funds you're going to see great growth as the economy grows.

However, the a good idea to start investing is to do so when you're not in debt. Pay off them cards first, then start putting money away. 600 gainin 6% interest is earning less then you're spending on keeping a CC debt of 600/month going. Diversity is also key, you don't want to tie all your money up in to certain stock despite it's short term return.

I bought a safe. Bought gold bars and a few hundred in foreign bills. Call me crazy. In total around 8k of USD.

Moss wrote:

I bought a safe. Bought gold bars and a few hundred in foreign bills. Call me crazy. In total around 8k of USD.

not crazy, smart. Can't go wrong with Gold, Silver etc when the money markets start going down and the Dollar starts falling. It's always a smart choice to have investments that regardless of the economy will continue to earn money due to supply and demand.

I think Gold is up somewhere close to 60% over the last year, don't quote me on that though.