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I'm 27 and have never bought stock in my life. I don't have a ton of money, and I come from a family that is...urr...how can I put this? Ghetto as HELLLL, where stock trading wasn't exactly dinner conversation.
Best part is, their shares are just .58 cents a piece!
I think this is the company I will finally pop my Capitalist Cherry with. What is the best way for a guy like me to go about buying stocks, through e-trade or something?
Thanks!...and I'm not gonna go crazy, only a hundred or less shares. Worse comes to worse I loss maybe $80, big deal! I spent that much drinking and having dinner a few weeks. At least this way I can help to be part of the solution, instead of just whining a moaning about the problem.
Last edited by victorianpunk; 07-03-2008 at 12:10 AM..
Please take a class on investing. I agree biofuels are in general probably a good investment. However, this company is set to go under. Penny stocks never materialize into anything. NEVER! They are simply to play with to try and make a few bucks as a day trader. Nothing more ever comes of them.
If you want some sound investments in alternative energies, there are hundreds of relaible good companies to invest in for the long run. But you will need to research to find which ones.
I'm 27 and have never bought stock in my life. I don't have a ton of money, and I come from a family that is...urr...how can I put this? Ghetto as HELLLL, where stock trading wasn't exactly dinner conversation.
Best part is, their shares are just .58 cents a piece!
I think this is the company I will finally pop my Capitalist Cherry with. What is the best way for a guy like me to go about buying stocks, through e-trade or something?
Thanks!...and I'm not gonna go crazy, only a hundred or less shares. Worse comes to worse I loss maybe $80, big deal! I spent that much drinking and having dinner a few weeks. At least this way I can help to be part of the solution, instead of just whining a moaning about the problem.
Your not ready yet. Wait till you have a couple of thousand dollars to invest or the commissions and will eat up all your potential gains. Go check out the investing section at your local book store and READ READ READ.
Learn about P/E (Price to Earnings) ratios, how to read a balance sheet, and all that other stuff.
If VALCENT PRODUCTS INC was fool proof the stock wouldn't have fallen 35% YTD (year to date) with the soaring gas prices. Meanwhile many other energy stocks are showing nice gains.
I agree with the above; however, one of the best ways to start is to just do it and learn as you go...
Until you educate yourself:
Do NOT get caught up in penny stocks
Do NOT get caught up in the latest "hot stock" tip
Do NOT buy because someone on TV or Radio said it was the up and coming thing
Do NOT buy with money that you cannot risk
Do NOT buy expecting an immediate gain.
With that said, there is a great way to get started - I put my own kids into this when they were in high school and its been a great learning path. Take a look at ShareBuilder (recently bought by ING Direct).
Its a legitimate site that allows you to buy in small dollar increments.
It allows you to buy partial shares.
It even has a systemic method of investing where you can invest the same amount on a regular basis (learn about "dollar-cost-averaging" - one of the best ways to invest for the average person) - this is what they are built to support and they encourage - you can do it wil very little (e.g. $25/wk) - they call in "automatic investing".
For the small investor that wouldn't qualify for any other brokerage firm they have a great service.
Once you accumulate enough value in your portfolio and you learn a little more of what you are doing then you can close your account and shift to a more traditional brokerage firms (like TD Ameritrade).
When starting out, just pay the basic $4 trade fee - it delays the order (they go to market on Tue), but no need for paying the immediate fee until you understand what you are doing and you have more money to trade with.
The great thing about their automatic investing is it builds a habit of investing which is probably one of the most fundamental ideas in buildiing the longer term wealth.
Note: ShareBuilder is primarily built around stocks which is higher risk than Mutual Funds; however, I think I heard they were starting to allow trades in ETFs. Your risk is reduced by diversifing with a Mutual Fund over Stocks, but ETF's is a good balance. With that said, I'd still rather see someone start learning with stocks than totally staying out of the market and not learning at all.
Until you learn more be sure to buy things that you know and understand. Things that will have a lasting need no matter what happens in the economy. Example: Men will always shave so who supports that? Gillette makes razors and razor blades. People will always mow their yards so who supports that? Toro makes mowers and irrigation equipment. People will always buy consumable items that they need for daily living so who makes a lot of those? Proctor and Gamble makes tons of product you use everyday. I'm not promoting those 3, just giving you an idea of one way for a novice to think.
Read, watch, listen and learn. A couple of good folks to start learning from would be Warren Buffet, Suze Orman, Dave Ramsey. Suze/Dave both have radio/tv shows and websites... several books have been written on Warren and he's always in the news... Do NOT pay for the things they sell on their website, just listen and read to get basic fundamental knowledge. As you learn then begin to develop your own style.
Just found this article: The Pros and Cons of Sharebuilder. No system, company, or method is perfect - but this is a very reasonable solution for young investors or those investors with no significant resources to start.
When I got my kids into the program we found an online promotion code that put money into their account as an incentive to start. Here is one I just saw: New $25 Promotion Code for ShareBuilder Accounts
Final Note and Caution: Buying individual stocks is high risk. You reduce (don't eliminate) that risk by buying Mutual Funds. The problem with ShareBuilder is they only support buying stock. Great news is they have recently started to support ETF's, which are basically Mutual Funds. So, if you go the ShareBuilder route I would encourage you to do your invesing in ETF's and not Stocks.
Victorianpunk; in general investors have NO BUSINESS owning individual stocks. As another poster wrote take an investment class, learn about "individual stock" risk. It's been a lot of years since my graduate school days, but IIRC it takes between 20 and 30 stocks to eliminate that risk.
So, unless you have the funds (and the time, it's a full-time job) to analyze stocks, buy stock mutual funds.
Please take a class on investing. I agree biofuels are in general probably a good investment. However, this company is set to go under. Penny stocks never materialize into anything. NEVER! They are simply to play with to try and make a few bucks as a day trader. Nothing more ever comes of them.
If you want some sound investments in alternative energies, there are hundreds of relaible good companies to invest in for the long run. But you will need to research to find which ones.
I had a customer at my job talking about a penny stock ten years ago, and everyone said he was nuts too...that stock was named Netflix. It didn't materialize into anything....
Your not ready yet. Wait till you have a couple of thousand dollars to invest or the commissions and will eat up all your potential gains. Go check out the investing section at your local book store and READ READ READ.
Learn about P/E (Price to Earnings) ratios, how to read a balance sheet, and all that other stuff.
If VALCENT PRODUCTS INC was fool proof the stock wouldn't have fallen 35% YTD (year to date) with the soaring gas prices. Meanwhile many other energy stocks are showing nice gains.
Good luck.
I never said Valcent was fool proof, only that biodesel from Algae was, which they have the best method of producing.
Also, Exxon stocks fell this year, as have most PETROLEUM DRILLING COMPANIES! All stocks are falling.
You would most likely want to use an online trading account like Etrade or Ameritrade, etc... or whatever, where you pay a small commission to buy shares.
However, one thing to realize is that stock in many established companies pay dividends, so you get money back for holding the stocks. Generally only a few percent, but today that is comparable to the interest you'd get for a savings account. That's how people (mainly "rich" people with large holdings) who hold a lot of established stock get some earnings.
I agree with Sharebuilder as a starting point you don't have to have a lot to invest with them. I currently use them to build my portfolio and I think the price is reasonable for the amount that I am currently investing.
Your customer is misremembering things. Netflix (NFLX), while founded over 10 years ago did not go public until (IIRC) 2002 and came out at about $6/share. By definition it was never a "penny stock". And while it's beaten most averages since (it's about $26 today I think), for every winner like that there are more than a few losers.
golfgod
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Buying my first stocks...EVER! How?
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