Stock Market Questions : Sharebuilder?

[MjMarti85]

Hello Everybody! My name is Matt and I just recentely registered to YE. I'm 21 and live in S. FLorida. I have previously thought about dabbling into the stock market with e*trade, or a company similar. I just today started an account on Sharebuilder. Is anybody familiar with this company and could possibly give me some tips on how to get the most from them. I transfered $100.00 into my account so that sometime tomorrow or Wednesday I can purchase a few stocks. I made myself a mock portfolio months ago on Yahoo! Finance. I know what i'm looking for and I will slowly but surely add more money into the portfolio. Any advice would be great! Thanks!
-Matt

[The Stealthy One]

Hi Matt!

I invest with Sharebuilder (only in one company, F(Ford), now), and have for awhile. I imagine you've already taken a look around inside your account. Do you have any specific questions? I may be able to help with those.

[redliine]

Welcome to YE.

What types of companies are you looking to invest with?

Pennys or bluechip? both?

[MjMarti85]

well for right now, i've been looking at companies like Fuel Tek, started out at $7.00/share and now its already $25.00/share. I've been watching it since around october. Ford Motor Company ( I know it hasn't done well in a while, but I still want to invest) other companies like General Electric, Pepsi, Stocks like that. I've taken a look around the sharebuilder website, but i'm trying to figure out how it works.. Do I just find the stock and buy it ?

[Energie9]

Hey, not here to bash, its awesome to see another young person getting into the stock market, I'm heavily involved (im 19) and if you want to be successful you probably should cut this part out of your thinking...

Ford Motor Company ( I know it hasn't done well in a while, but I still want to invest)

Inless you have a really good reason why you want to buy a stock even you admitted sucks then stay away. I'm not saying Ford is a bad pick but if you admit right away its a bad stock then its a bad buy...

Good Luck tho!!

[MjMarti85]

Hey, not here to bash, its awesome to see another young person getting into the stock market, I'm heavily involved (im 19) and if you want to be successful you probably should cut this part out of your thinking...

Ford Motor Company ( I know it hasn't done well in a while, but I still want to invest)

Inless you have a really good reason why you want to buy a stock even you admitted sucks then stay away. I'm not saying Ford is a bad pick but if you admit right away its a bad stock then its a bad buy...

Good Luck tho!!

Well I will say this, My Dad has run Ford dealerships and even considered purchasing one down here in S. FLorida. The stock isn't doing to well but to be 100% honest, ford is going to be producing alot of vehicles within the near future that will run off ethanoyl (i probably spelled it wrong, but i'm tired, lol). Considering they will be making fuel out of Corn and we live in a country with thousands of miles of it, I feel that in the future, Ford will rise up out of their slum. Only time will tell but I do have confidence in their product. The Mustang is and will always be their #1 car, but no matter what, their trucks will always be their bread and butter!

[Energie9]

well there u go, like I said don't invest in "bad" stocks inless you got a good reason, and you do so your good to go

[redliine]

I don't think Ford is a wise move, but it's your money. Check out GES right now. Guess Clothing. Stock nearly doubled over the year. Pretty good for a bluechipper. Oil is sinking pretty low. Maybe commodities are something you'd be interested in.

Take a look at MLXO.PK.. I know its on the pinks but I put nearly 10g's into this one haha. They are in talks with buying a Bio-Diesel company. They've got steady volume since that last news release. With penny stocks you can make 10% in an hour or a day, or in a week depending on how you wanna play. But be prepared to lose all your money (*dont invest what you're willing to give away).

[The Stealthy One]

Here's the reason Ford is my only stock:

At this point, the company is crap. It's hit bottom. The only place to go from here is bankruptcy. The cars look good, but the platforms are crap.

The company is an icon. It is a cherished American brand name, with a strong presence in Europe (in small cars, at that!). New CEO Mulally has the balls to fix the problems facing the company. Mercury might be axed. Jaguar's for sale. Car platforms might finally be shared on a global basis.

Ford is a company in distress, no questions asked. From a financial standpoint, it's a disaster. The balance sheet looks awful. BUT - it's a gamble that I'm willing to take. If they come back, it'll be with a roar, and it's something I'd like to be a part of.

[Bored]

Hey, not here to bash, its awesome to see another young person getting into the stock market, I'm heavily involved (im 19) and if you want to be successful you probably should cut this part out of your thinking...

Ford Motor Company ( I know it hasn't done well in a while, but I still want to invest)

Inless you have a really good reason why you want to buy a stock even you admitted sucks then stay away. I'm not saying Ford is a bad pick but if you admit right away its a bad stock then its a bad buy...

Good Luck tho!!

Yea I agree,

It especially will not be able to compete with Toyota or the other import car companies.

btw,

I am also really involved in the stockmarket and 19 years old. Just wondering, what helped you start learning about the stock market?

[warren]

How much are you planning to invest in stocks? No offense but $100 seems to be too little to invest in the stock market because you also have to pay commission fees. I believe the commission rate at Sharebuilder is $4 per trade so that will be $8 for buying and selling which means your stock would have to go up 8% before you can breakeven.

You might want to check out Zecco. They don't charge any commission at all for trading stocks.

Good luck!

[The Stealthy One]

warren,

$4 is for scheduled monthly trades. Realtime trades are generally $24.95 per.

[MjMarti85]

I am also really involved in the stockmarket and 19 years old. Just wondering, what helped you start learning about the stock market?

I actually became interested in stocks when I was very young, around 10. My Mom and Dad both have alot of money in the market ($50k+). When I was little, my Dad started to teach me about stocks, and I bought a penny stock, which was a bread company.. I bought it for .11 cents a share, and I had the stock for over a year with little to no movement. I came home from school one day and my Dad was like, well its time to sell your stock. It went from .11cents/share to $4.50/share. So I sold it and put the money into my savings account. Around 2000 I put the savings money that I had into an IRA, which is great because now i'll put money in for retirement. I plan to invest more along the lines of $1,000k in about 2 months. For right now I just want a small amount of money to play with to get back into the swing of things.

[MjMarti85]

Here's the reason Ford is my only stock:

At this point, the company is crap. It's hit bottom. The only place to go from here is bankruptcy. The cars look good, but the platforms are crap.

I dont know if you have been paying attention to Ford lately, but I found a news article that says that they have successfully completed a Ford Edge that runs on Hydrogen. Ford ALSO has asked the gov't for a $500 million dollar grant to work on ways to fund hydrogen fuel and also develope places for people to be able to get it in the United States.. The car runs on Hydrogen and also a battery cell. Seriously bro, I'm almost 1000% sure that Ford WILL bounce back! Look at the history of Harley Davidson, they almost went bankrupt 1,000 times. They always were able to bounce back! Only time will tell, but i'm pretty confident about Ford!

[MjMarti85]

warren,

$4 is for scheduled monthly trades. Realtime trades are generally $24.95 per.

$4 monthy scheduled investment
$15.95 Realtime trade cost for Basic Membership
No Monthy fees
$11.95 Realtime trade cost for Full Membership

*Note - I am going to check out Zecco