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Hello, I would like to buy stock in certain companies like Disney, Harley Davidson, etc. I am not at all wealthy but would like to purchase stock in certain companies. I do not have a clue the first place to look but I prefer to not use a financial advisor. I am good with basic finance. How many shares should I buy to start with? I appreciate all of your help!
If you want to manage your purchases yourself, you can research the stocks you want to buy to see if any of them offer direct purchase. (Disney apparently does, go to the Disney shareholder website to find it). Many companies use a transfer agent for direct stock purchases. The shareholder services section of the company websites will have that information. In that case, you would go to the transfer agent's website, register, set up an account, transfer money to it, and make your purchase. The transfer agent will keep track of your purchases and send you statements. Some of the big transfer agents are Computershare, Wells Fargo, American Stock and Transfer, JP Morgan Chase, and BNY Mellon (there are others, these are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head.
If you want to go through an online brokerage, you would research the various brokerages, choose the one you like, sign up for an account, transfer money, and follow their instructions for making purchases. Go to the money page of any big news website (CNN, MSN, Fox, CBS, etc.) and you will see ads from many online brokerages. That's a place to start looking for one you like.
If you insist on not using a financial advisor (and I can't blame you there), I would recommend checking out several of the online discount brokerages such as Scotttrade, E-Trade, TD Ameritrade, Charles Schwab, or Sharebuilder. Having an account at one of these brokerages offers you the convenience of having your stocks all in one account rather than help in accounts with each individual company.
If you are planning to simply build long term investment positions in some on the companies you named, I would recommend Sharebuilder. They offer very inexpensive $4 regular stock purchase commissions, and it's a great site if you don't plan on doing much trading and don't require really heavy duty research features. If you do plan on more frequest trading, I suggest looking at some of the other site I listed.
As for what companies to invest in and how many shares to buy, you're on your own there. The answers to those questions depend entirely on what your investing goals are, and how much money you can afford to invest and how much risk you're willing to assume. As a beginner, if you plan to invest on a regular basis and build long term positions, I would suggest you read up about dollar cost averaging as see how it suits you. Good luck!
I had the very same question about 4 years ago. I got an account at a Brokerage firm, did a LOT of reading, and slowly started buying some stock. I started out in things that I knew...one morning I was eating a bowl of Cheerios, so I figured Id buy some General Mills. I only buy stocks that pay dividends.
I now have a pretty nice portfolio of about 30 stocks, and add to it monthly.
As for single stocks, I would not suggest it at the start. Not that you shouldn't though. However, it is best to have a nice stable base in a broadly diversified fund (or more than one) provides good growth to offset that speculation. Start with good index funds and track them, and pick a wide variety of stocks (and industries) to keep track of them on a spreadsheet or a Fools account. Get comfortable with looking at stocks and their wild swings. Sometimes worry is the greatest detriment to returns.
my opinion is if you are asking this question you are not ready yet to buy a thing.
learn your basics and if buying individual issues learn how to read a balance sheet and understand what makes a stock a good candiate other than you heard of the name.
If you wish to buy individual company stocks, I would recommend using an online brokerage service. I've had accounts with E-Trade and TDAmeritrade and they are very easy to use. I expect that all of them are--and they all charge $10 or less for a trade. With such a low trading fee (compared to the exhorbitant fees that used to be charged by the likes of MerrillLynch and others) there's really no reason to bother with trying to buy directly from a company. Having a single account simplifies your record-keeping by having everything in one place.
But you shouldn't just set up an account--you should make at least one account a Roth IRA account so that you can grow your investment tax free. Of course, a Roth IRA account would be exclusively for long-term investments geared towards retirement. You may want some investments that you can access before that time.
If you're going to invest in individual stocks, there's really no need to have a super large portfolio. Odds are that you won't be able to sufficiently research and track that many stocks anyway. Keep it to a manageable number, say a half dozen or so. Of course, opinions will differ on the number of company stocks you should own in order to be diversified. Watch Jim Cramer on CNBC for some ideas (but don't consider anything anyone says as gospel).
Try not to do too much trading--even cheap fees can add up. But monitor your stocks regularly to keep informed of what's going on. With dividend-paying stocks you should also look into dividend re-investment plans, where instead of cash dividends you automatically receive extra shares of stock. This compounding effect is great for long-term investing.
Also, try not to buy too small dollar amounts of a stock. If you only buy, say, $50 worth, your $10 commission charge will be 20% of that amount; 10% for a $100 purchase. With a $1,000 stock purchase your fee is only 1%. You get the idea. There's no sense losing a good percentage of your principal through commissions.
Only you can determine your level of risk, your long-term goals, and the amounts you wish to invest. Take your time as you learn...and don't be afraid to take some profit, especially if you're trading through a Roth IRA account--but, again, don't go overboard on the number of trades you make. You need to be in it for the long haul.
Open up an account with a discount broker. Use the internet to research the companies you're interested in. There's no need to pay for any of this information when all of it is truly at your fingertips.
If you don't have a lot of money, rather than individual stocks, you're best off investing in ETFs or low-cost, no-load mutual funds. A lot of these can be purchased commission free through discount brokers (lists are provided on their respective websites). Also, you can do all of this online. If you still insist upon buying individual stocks, buy as many shares as you can of each stock (but do your research and invest in good, solid companies), but watch your commissions; they can add up quickly (that's why it's a good idea to use a discount broker, because commissions are much cheaper). Make sure you get into dividend reinvestment (DRIP) as well. Don't hire a financial planner or adviser; it's a waste of money, especially if you don't have much to begin with.
Thank you everyone for the helpful and very interesting advice. I learned a lot from all of you and appreciate your comments.
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