who plays the stock market?

[bhome83]

cnn.com, msnbc.com, cnbc.com, are there any other websites i can go to, to get up to date info on companys/stocks? i wanna retire before i graduate college, so would love more info. on whats going on in the economy. if only google would drop $100 or so...heheh, thanks guys!!!

[IntegraGSR]

Do a LOT of research. Motley Fool, Morningstar, etc. I use Sharebuilder as I put a little in at a time to build it up. I recommend getting the Motley Fool paperback of "Foolish Investing" if you are serious

[David M]

I don't think very highly of the financial websites for finding good investments. Afterall, they are only someones opinion. They are good for news though..sometimes. Stock screeners are a good start for sorting the wheat from the chaffe....but you still have to do your due dilligence such as the research into a company, reading of SEC statements, news etc.

I own some shares of different companies but I consider these longterm and medium term investments. I don't like the term "playing the market" because it implies a less than serious approach to investing. If you are going to buy shares you need to take it seriously otherwise the chances are you will never see more money than the amount you invested in the market in the first place. Someone who buys and sells frequently is considered by the IRS to be a trader and the tax consequences are higher...thats if you are good enough to make money in the first place...and the tax writeoffs for traders for losses are minimal compared to the risk assumed.

Your chances of retiring before you graduate from college are virtually nill because risk and reward go hand in hand. In other words, the greater the chance you take the greater your chance of making lots of money or more likely, of losing lots of money. There is no magic bullet that can give you little downside and lots of upside although there are pleanty of scam investing websites that will try to tell you this. If high risk is how you want to "play the market" then you may as well place it all on black at the roulette wheel in Vegas....the odds are better actually.

Time is your best friend when it comes to investing. Take the time to let your investments grow or compound. The younger you are the better off you will be at retirement.

Get a Roth IRA or a 401k....this is a no brainer. This is the best way of sheltering the growth from the tax man.

The best way to invest is to first educate yourself on how investing works before you invest even a dollar. Not learning how investing works is like going into the Registry and to start changing things if you do not even know the most basic computer fundamentals. Chances are it will be disasterous. From an investing standpoint the Wall Street experts will eat you alive.

Learn first...then invest in individual stocks. No website is going to feed you good stock picks. Some will offer you picks for a price...but then you would be buying blindly with no clue as to why it is a supposedly good pick. Would you buy a car or a house this way? ... by letting someone else pick one out for you?

Motley Fool at fool.com is a good place to find out where you can get good educational resources for teaching yourself. Motley Fool itself is okay...but there are pleanty of other places where you can get good info for the individual investor.

Let the idea of getting rich quickly go...It's probably not going to happen. Getting rich over time is realistic and probable if you learn and are patient. Think retirement...not where can I get the quick buck. The more educated you are and the more patient you are the sooner retirement will come.

[XenaWP]

Do what these guys said. Learn about the basics.

Then, wait for a disaster. When 911 happened, I said to myself, I bet when the market reopens, security firms' stocks skyrocket. They did. When hurricane Katrina hit, I looked at stocks for construction, contractors, disaster recovery firms operating in/around NO. They went through the ceiling the next week or so. (It helps lessen the horror when you think about profiting from disaster.)

Thing is, to make money you gotta have money. There is also absolutely no guarantee of return, and no recourse against loss.

You aren't likely to start with $5k and end up retiring.

[bhome83]

thanks for the tips! actually im pretty well educated in stocks. i have quite a few myself. msft, ebay, sbux, etc. etc. just looking for more resources to help me along the way. i was being sarcastic a little btw. but i have a roth ira for retirement that i invest with. i mainly go with secure stocks like a msft, so i know i wont be slammed (most likely). i made the mistake of not even being in the market after 911. now im looking into hybrid cars and seeing what automakers are going to make a push in that sector. ford earnings came out and they got a small hit so that may be an interesting buy, but ill see where i go. thanks guys!

[doctorgonzo]

I don't "play the market." I invest, generally in low-fee index funds. I'm in it for the long haul; I'm not interested in trying to win the lottery.

All of the resources posted here are good ones. Most of what I know came from The Motley Fool. If you want to seriously invest in individual stocks, be ready to do the research not only on that company, but on the entire sector as well to determine if that company is a good value.

[mbossman2]

i too prefer index based low cost mutual funds as my investment vehicle of choice, with the ocassional forays off into a single stock from time to time.

the mutual funds have, over time, turned 9-11% per year (some higher some lower but this is the average - inlcuding the shellacking in early 2000's), on individual stocks I am just slightly (<5%) ahead.

So, based upon that less than stellar performance, I prefer dollar cost averaging into a well diversified set of index based funds: international, small cap, large cap,blue chip, natural resource (almost too volatile for my tastes) and selected bond funds. it is non-glamorous, unspectacular, non-sexy but it does one small thing: it works.

oh yeah: the market is not a game. it is not a casino. it is not a get rich quick scheme. it is a long term vehicle in which to accumulate wealth.

[Nuclear Krusader]

David, do you know of any good literature to learn about investing? As a noobster in this area, one can easily drown in the gargantuan amount of information from the web which, as you stated, is not all that good or comprehensive. If you can point someone (me) who doesn't know jack about investing -other than it exists-, I'd be most grateful.

[David M]

thanks for the tips! actually im pretty well educated in stocks. i have quite a few myself. msft, ebay, sbux, etc. etc. just looking for more resources to help me along the way. i was being sarcastic a little btw. but i have a roth ira for retirement that i invest with. i mainly go with secure stocks like a msft, so i know i wont be slammed (most likely). i made the mistake of not even being in the market after 911. now im looking into hybrid cars and seeing what automakers are going to make a push in that sector. ford earnings came out and they got a small hit so that may be an interesting buy, but ill see where i go. thanks guys!

There is no money in making hybrid cards...it is not even close. People know that purely from a financial standpoint that hybrids do not pay for themselves. I would be more inclined to look at the companies who make the specialized parts for the hybrids. The shareprice for the hybrid auto parts suppliers rise and fall depending on what investors think are the future for hybrids. This sector has cycled up and down a few times. You may want to buy when you think the sector is at a low and then wait for some good news. This includes the battery makers, fuel cell companies, electric motor companies and the companies that make the controllers. Everytime government legislation or some new technology comes along that promotes hybrids this sector seems to do well.

Remember that the people who sold the goldpans and the pickaxes to the miners are the ones who got rich. :)

AMD made a nice bounce HAL.
http://bigcharts.marketwatch.com/quickchart/quickchart.asp?symb=amd&sid=0&o_symb=amd&freq=1&time=5

[mbossman2]

investing for dummies
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0764599127/sr=8-1/qid=1154720383/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-8296453-8713455?ie=UTF8

some fool books:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0743229967/ref=pd_sxp_grid_pt_2_0/103-8296453-8713455?ie=UTF8
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0743201744/ref=pd_sxp_grid_pt_0_2/103-8296453-8713455?ie=UTF8


Remember that the people who sold the goldpans and the pickaxes to the miners are the ones who got rich. :)
I like that...

[blue60007]

Remember that the people who sold the goldpans and the pickaxes to the miners are the ones who got rich. :)

Wise words, very true. ;)

[David M]

Krusader...sorry, I just noticed your post.

Go to http://robblack.com/ and click on Store for some good books and then click on Links for some great websites, most of which I use as well. For a beginner though, focus on the books that explain how Wallstreet works but have a look through the websites.

"Beating the Street" by Peter Lynch is a classic that every new investor should read. Peter Lynch managed the Magellan Fund for many years which was one of the most successful funds ever. The technology has changed some but the fundamental ideas remain the same. The other books I think are also good to excellent reads.

Look at Map of the Market http://www.smartmoney.com/marketmap/ It shows graphically the size of the whole market and of companies and sectors with respect to each other. Put the cursor over a company and it brings up a menu you can use to get more info about that company or sector. Its really an interesting thing to spend time checking out.

Check out Rob Blacks site as well. I have a lot of respect for his investing and money management approach. It's all good common sense. He is not one of these types of people who is trying to sell you something in order to "make you rich"...and himself in the process.

[Nuclear Krusader]

Thanks, David.

[SARGE]

I use a firm like Edward Jones or others. They invest my money where I tell them to. I was in mutual funds this year and events started happening around the world plus an election year and my values started nose-diving. I had them move the money into a bond fund and doing nicely.