The stock market - Tips and Advice?

Okay, I want to start investing in the stock market, to save for future retirement. Do you guys have any personal ideas or links about when/what to buy and/or sell. I just need general all around advice on trading. I've done some watching/pretend "buying" stocks by using press releases and previous charts and saw what the outcome was, but otherwise, I haven't really had much experience in this area. I'd love any help! Thanx!

If it was five years ago, I'd say buy Google stock.

Check your spam folder. There should be lots of good stock tips there.

Srly.

Serily?

roll Do any of you have any real advice?

[quote03748289ce="cwncool"]roll Do any of you have any real advice?[/quote03748289ce]

Squirrel away $150-200 a month in a growth portfolio Roth IRA.

[quote0158ee7fb3="cwncool"]roll Do any of you have any real advice?[/quote0158ee7fb3]
Yeah, don't pick stocks if it's for your retirement. That's really foolish.

Consider investing in some funds designed for retirement savings. Also learn about taxes on what you want to put away and how to avoid them through tax-deferred methods like 401k's (but that would be through your company if they offer it).

[quote2620458d48="hehehhehe"][quote2620458d48="cwncool"]roll Do any of you have any real advice?[/quote2620458d48]
Yeah, don't pick stocks if it's for your retirement. That's really foolish.

Consider investing in some funds designed for retirement savings. Also learn about taxes on what you want to put away and how to avoid them through tax-deferred methods like 401k's (but that would be through your company if they offer it).[/quote2620458d48]
Okay, I can do that, but I'd still like to trade stocks for at least some pocket money. Do any of you have stock advice? I don't care whether you give me advice on long-run or short-run investments, although long-run could be a little better for the future.

If you have little experience, my first piece of advice to you is to find a fantasy stock game and play it for a [bf5bfc1800f]long[/bf5bfc1800f] time to get a sense of the ups and downs of the market (I would say that even six months is not enough, but it's a decent start).

With that said, stay away from volatile and gimmicky stocks; these tend to rise and fall based on popularity, but they've probably reached their highs before you even heard of it, so it's not likely you'll make a return on them.

As a safe yet profitable investment, I would suggest ETF's. They're sort of like mutual funds in that they combine a very large variety of stocks for you to purchase, but they don't require you to hire a fund manager and they're infinitely easier to handle (they can be bought and sold just like regular stocks). However, don't delude yourself into thinking you'll get rich off of them; ETF's usually reflect the market, so if the market's good, their value goes up, but a declining market will bring their value down. Several popular ones to look at are SPY, DIA and QQQQ.

Of course, if you can afford it, the best option is probably mutual funds. My old company opened an IRA pension plan in my name with Oppenheimer funds. Because of the nature of IRA plans, it's pretty hands off, so all I did was select the funds that looked good to me and I occasionally recieve a balance. A few months ago, I was shocked to find that all of my investments had doubled in value (and upset that I hadn't invested more). Even though I did meticulously research the funds I went on to choose, the credit still goes to the fund managers who made the investments profitable. If you can get a professional to do it for you, it is much more likely that you'll come out ahead.

[quotebe5c484ce0="Dr. Doom"]If you have little experience, my first piece of advice to you is to find a fantasy stock game and play it for a [bbe5c484ce0]long[/bbe5c484ce0] time to get a sense of the ups and downs of the market (I would say that even six months is not enough, but it's a decent start).

With that said, stay away from volatile and gimmicky stocks; these tend to rise and fall based on popularity, but they've probably reached their highs before you even heard of it, so it's not likely you'll make a return on them.

As a safe yet profitable investment, I would suggest ETF's. They're sort of like mutual funds in that they combine a very large variety of stocks for you to purchase, but they don't require you to hire a fund manager and they're infinitely easier to handle (they can be bought and sold just like regular stocks). However, don't delude yourself into thinking you'll get rich off of them; ETF's usually reflect the market, so if the market's good, their value goes up, but a declining market will bring their value down. Several popular ones to look at are SPY, DIA and QQQQ.

Of course, if you can afford it, the best option is probably mutual funds. My old company opened an IRA pension plan in my name with Oppenheimer funds. Because of the nature of IRA plans, it's pretty hands off, so all I did was select the funds that looked good to me and I occasionally recieve a balance. A few months ago, I was shocked to find that all of my investments had doubled in value (and upset that I hadn't invested more). Even though I did meticulously research the funds I went on to choose, the credit still goes to the fund managers who made the investments profitable. If you can get a professional to do it for you, it is much more likely that you'll come out ahead.[/quotebe5c484ce0]
Would you recommend any specific fantasy stock games? I was thinking of trying one of these, but I couldn't find any ones I liked. Also, can you link me to some more informations about EFT's, which I've never heard about and sound great, and mutual funds?

[quoteb8626c29d0="hehehhehe"][quoteb8626c29d0="cwncool"]roll Do any of you have any real advice?[/quoteb8626c29d0]
Yeah, don't pick stocks if it's for your retirement. That's really foolish.

Consider investing in some funds designed for retirement savings. Also learn about taxes on what you want to put away and how to avoid them through tax-deferred methods like 401k's (but that would be through your company if they offer it).[/quoteb8626c29d0]

Foolish? Not always.

If you pick some steady earners (blue chips like Microsoft, Proctor and Gamble and big drug companies), you see a steady flow of dividends that you should just reinvest. Before you know it, you'll have a hefty portfolio.

Also, if these stocks ever split, you have potential for all the split stocks to earn. (yes, you can lose too) but let's say 1 stock splits in 2. If both stocks do well, you've got twice the earning potential that you did with the original stock.

Energy stocks are generally pretty good for long term. I purchased $90 of Wisconsin Energy six years ago, and now it's worth $250. But if this is all for your retirement, I'd look into some good mutual funds that'll earn you 10% or so. Also, check out the book Automatic Millionaire by David Bach.

[quote26e803d464="johnjimjones"]If it was five years ago, I'd say buy Google stock.[/quote26e803d464]
GOOGLE's ipo was only a little more then 2 years ago. lol

It amazingly went up from $100 from their ipo date to over $500 just last week and back down to $485 today. I bought 8 shares at $390 a few months ago and sold some today for a $800 gain.

[quote26e803d464="nobody2000"]
Also, if these stocks ever split, you have potential for all the split stocks to earn. (yes, you can lose too) but let's say 1 stock splits in 2. If both stocks do well, you've got twice the earning potential that you did with the original stock.[/quote26e803d464]
Thats not how stock splits work. If a stock has a 1 to 2 split then the price gets cut in half but you own twice as many shares now. It just doubles the amount of outstanding shares and reduces the price of the stock in half. Techinally it should have no effect but usually a stock split happens when a stock's price gets too high.

Take a stock like google currently since a lot of people want a stock split. The current price is around $485. Say you have $2800 to invest, you can only buy 5 shares of goog for $2425 and you still have $325 left over.

If goog had a 1 to 10 split then the stock would be $48.5. At that price you can buy 57 shares for $2764.50 and only have $35.50 left over rather then $325.

[quoteb55a8d4922="climed"][quoteb55a8d4922="johnjimjones"]If it was five years ago, I'd say buy Google stock.[/quoteb55a8d4922]
GOOGLE's ipo was only a little more then 2 years ago. lol

It amazingly went up from $100 from their ipo date to over $500 just last week and back down to $485 today. I bought 8 shares at $390 a few months ago and sold some today for a $800 gain.

[quoteb55a8d4922="nobody2000"]
Also, if these stocks ever split, you have potential for all the split stocks to earn. (yes, you can lose too) but let's say 1 stock splits in 2. If both stocks do well, you've got twice the earning potential that you did with the original stock.[/quoteb55a8d4922]
Thats not how stock splits work. If a stock has a 1 to 2 split then the price gets cut in half but you own twice as many shares now. It just doubles the amount of outstanding shares and reduces the price of the stock in half. Techinally it should have no effect but usually a stock split happens when a stock's price gets too high.

Take a stock like google currently since a lot of people want a stock split. The current price is around $485. Say you have $2800 to invest, you can only buy 5 shares of goog for $2425 and you still have $325 left over.

If goog had a 1 to 10 split then the stock would be $48.5. At that price you can buy 57 shares for $2764.50 and only have $35.50 left over rather then $325.[/quoteb55a8d4922]

Oh yeah, I misspoke. I didn't mean you get twice the value, I said you have twice the earning potential. By doubling the shares and halving the value, you now have it so if the stock NOW goes up one point, you see twice the growth as you would if say the original stock went up one point. I know how it works. Splitting stocks and taking advantage of the newly lowered prices and increased number of shares has made me and my family rather rich in the past 10 years.

Invest in what you know and believe to be a quality product/company. Like Jones Soda --- I have known about them for years, but never thought to look into investing into them and recently they have been booming as far as beverage companies go.

[quote4f2f6f2be6="cwncool"]Would you recommend any specific fantasy stock games? I was thinking of trying one of these, but I couldn't find any ones I liked. Also, can you link me to some more informations about EFT's, which I've never heard about and sound great, and mutual funds?[/quote4f2f6f2be6]

I used to play on http//fantasyinvestment.com, although they now seem to be a part of a website called investopedia.com, which I've never heard of. The game was good before, so I'm hoping they haven't tweaked it too much.

For ETF's, read here http//sharebuilder.com/sharebuilder/Research/ExchangeTradedFunds.aspx
There's some good information under the "Want to Know More?" section.

As for mutual funds, I've never searched for information about them online; everything I know about them comes from conversations with my old employer's accountant and a fund manager I know. I'm guessing the Oppenheimer website and maybe wikipedia would be good places to start.

I'm starting to look into the basics of investing and instead of making a new topic, can you guys offer more advice? I was looking at ING Direct but I really don't see anything I like. Of course I'm not looking for specific stock recommendations but rather than good research sites for stocks and mutual funds. +KMA for help.

This isn't really helpful to your post Jkirk, but what does everyone else think about Intel stock? They are taking a massive lead over AMD now and I think Apple sales w/ intels will continue to be strong and new Vista OS will fuel sales. Along the same lines, one could expect Microsoft to have a strong year with new OS and Office 2007.

[quote3e028fc8c8="JKirk"]I'm starting to look into the basics of investing and instead of making a new topic, can you guys offer more advice? I was looking at ING Direct but I really don't see anything I like. Of course I'm not looking for specific stock recommendations but rather than good research sites for stocks and mutual funds. +KMA for help.[/quote3e028fc8c8]

I'm putting 3% of my pretax income away in a 401k (employer match). I also am putting $150/month into a money market, as a holding tank for a vehicle down payment in a couple years, and eventually a house down payment. For long-term, I'm putting $150/month into a Roth IRA. I plan on upping my IRA and MM contributions though, since I just got a hefty raise.

[quote990fd17c3d="Gigante"]This isn't really helpful to your post Jkirk, but what does everyone else think about Intel stock? They are taking a massive lead over AMD now and I think Apple sales w/ intels will continue to be strong and new Vista OS will fuel sales. Along the same lines, one could expect Microsoft to have a strong year with new OS and Office 2007.[/quote990fd17c3d]

It's cool, I want this to be more of a discussion anyways. Actually, that doesn't look like a bad idea. I was reading on Digg how Microsoft's future is uncertain so I'm not sure how great they would be. I was actually considering Intel but then again I do have a long list of things I planned to research.

CG, that sounds like a plan but I have no 401k plan since I am unemployed. 8) It sounds like you are doing well though with investing.

EDIT In response to Gigante's post, check out their past five year's though

http//finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=INTC&t=5y&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=

I'm not sure how to evaluate this yet as I'm basically the biggest novice here most likely but it looks a bit risky to me.

From your graph looks like they are pretty low right now comparative to where they have been in the near past. In 2003, when they were really low, if you asked anyone what processor to buy, nobody knew whether to say AMD or Intel. Or it was AMD for Desktops and Intel for Laptops. Intel is establishing their hold on Laptops. Keep in mind, this is really a consumer account and not an investor perspective.

Like Jkirk, I also want to get in the market because I haven't done enough. Doesn't have to be stocks, and a split between stocks bonds and funds would be nice, but I only have about 30k from freebies I am willing to invest so can't do anything fancy. In school w/ no job, so no 401k or anything.

[quote9fef476584="Gigante"]
Like Jkirk, I also want to get in the market because I haven't done enough. Doesn't have to be stocks, and a split between stocks bonds and funds would be nice, but I only have about 30k from freebies I am willing to invest so can't do anything fancy. In school w/ no job, so no 401k or anything.[/quote9fef476584]

Heh, you could definitely do something fancy with 30K. I'm only looking to invest a couple thousand to be honest that I have just sitting in my bank account because I do have a few things to pay for unfortunately. I was looking into Apple mainly. They have been going up from when I looked into it in the past at $56 and haven't stopped.

I will give you too great stock picks COP (great growth low valuation!!) and CNE (great valuation incredible dividend yield) enjoy!

Eh, CNE doesn't look so hot but COP does look decent I suppose.

http//finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=CNE&t=6m&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=COP

I need to turn that 30k into the rest of my college tuition. haha, so someone give me some magic water.

[quote64b1cbee4a="JKirk"]Eh, CNE doesn't look so hot but COP does look decent I suppose.

http//finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=CNE&t=6m&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=COP[/quote64b1cbee4a]

CNE reached its bottom plus with a 17% dividend theres a big margin of safety.

I would reccommend going with mutual funds. They're alot safer than just investing in one or two different kinds of common stock. When you pick out which mutual fund I'd lean toward a more riskier mutual fund for someone who is younger. As you get older you start to move into stuff that is not so risky, like bond mutual funds. You can also go into places like All State and get a IRA. There are no fees or anything. It's nice to do something like that specially if you don't work for a company that offers a 401K or a 403b.