Making Money Off Stock

[Hassman]

Hey guys I am 18 years old and have about $800 in my account. Obviously I am not going to throw all that money around. But I was woundering if any of you knew about how I could invest my money in stock. I'm not looking to get huge companies like Google, but even just like $5 stocks and stuff. I know the basics of stock and want to invest my money. Anybody know where I can start?

[akula]

yes, you need to be taught how to construct markowitz portfolios

that's where you start if you want to attract capital and have a professional career as a money manager

after you've been taught how to construct portfolios, you can construct and shop around a differentiated portfolio

(i.e. a chindia energy portfolio)

[Hassman]

well I am not looking to make it my career. I am just wondering if there are places where I can simply put my money in a company and make a few bucks off it

[akula]

like stock exchanges? is that what you mean?

eeeerrr, I don't understand, what are you trying to get done?

[Hassman]

like buy a few shares of stock of a company at like $5 a share. Yes like stock exchanges I guess. Again I could be way off and now what the heck I am doing. just want to make money by doing nothing I guess, invest my money in something.

[akula]

hassman, if you wanna trade stock, log onto etrade.com and place an order.

when making a financial commitment (buying stock) for the purpose of deriving a future financial commitment (selling stock for capital gain) - you're not "doing nothing"

on the contrary, your job is one of bearing risk. it's a very tough gig.

when trading stock, to succeed, you'll need to become good at bearing risk, by being able to anticipate price movements before they happen, and place yourself in situations where you can get maximum capital gains with minimal risk

this job is so difficult that several Nobel prize winners have systematically proven this job as one that's impossible to succeed at

as a side note, and this is supposed to be offensive, it is obvious that you have more money than you have sense. you are an ideal candidate for a scam because you "want to make money by doing nothing" .

To avoid being ripped off, I strongly encourage you to recalibrate your attitude towards financial management

[Hassman]

yeah I know what you mean. Do you remember 12dailypro.com? If only there was something as easy as that still around.

[akula]

you're a stange guy, hassman

even a cursory google search, fully well explains how thousands of people got swindled by 12dailypro and why the SEC shut down that ponzi scheme

...but you already knew that...which makes everything so weird

I'm obviously not qualified to comment on this matter, but if you are experiencing a compulsion to get involved in scams, you might wanna talk to someone about it

[Hassman]

haha, yes I knew it was a scam when i got into it, but I made some good money off it, and got out of it just in time. But look at treasuretrooper.com you do almost nothing, yet make money. I know it's unrealistic, but it would be nice if there was a site like that which could actually pay more.

[The Stealthy One]

http://www.sharebuilder.com might be a good place to look.

[vek5]

Hey Hassman,
I in the same situation as you. 18 with money, looking to invest. My parents gave me around the same amount you have, as a graduation present and said I could only invest it. I set up an account at Scottrade.com and picked three stocks I was familiar with. For people like us that don't know all about stocks (yet) its good to look at stocks of companies we are familiar. Me for example, picked MEDI (I worked there for a summer and thought it was a great company, BBBB (My highschool and university use the software), and CMG (Because CHIPOTLE BURRITOS are AMAZING). These stocks aren't 5 bucks, but they are better than buy a stock for $5 of a company you know nothin about. Read some books, taking Accounting now, So I look at some of the financial statements see if I think they are good companys.

So in college, every once in a while I check my stocks, make adjustments, look for new stocks, etc. The whole thing is a learning process. And hey, I've gotten a 14% return ever since i started 6 months ago.

[Finandom]

Hi Hassman,
In order to make a more steady and long term income, please forget about those "make money fast", "get rich quick" money games.

You are making a good decision to get started in stock market. However, please remember, it TAKES TIME to start making money from stock trading.

First I would recommend you buy a few books, learn a few trading strategies. Then open a demo trading account to gain some experience. Once you feel that you are able to make some money, then start the real game with the enter and exit plan. At this stage, you have to learn how to control your emotion. When you get used of everything, stock trading will be your skill just like driving.

[kaibong]

Hassman, you might want to try Zecco. They apparently don’t have any commission fees for trading stocks. It might be a good place to start since you don't have that much money to begin with. You might also want to check out TradeWithCed.com. This guy is also a college student who invests in the stock market and he seems to have done pretty good in the past year.

[ltpmedia]

I use Fidelity.com. It's worked great for me. It says you have to have $2,500 as an account minimum but you don't need that much, unless you plan on investing in mutual funds. Once you open an account you can call them and they will help you out over the phone with stocks and such. It's definitely worth it, I've already doubled my money in a few months.

[rogerzubaz]

also keep in mind the avg. return in the market. in the above example you'd need a 10% gain just to cover your commisions

and i think scott trade has the lowest minimum for starting an account btw.

Remember Ryan Zywotko, to be successful, you need to be honest. As long as you conduct yourself and your business with high standards your name should not be ruined. However, should you cross someone, or cheat someone, the internet can be your worst enemy.