[Kelloway]

someone on here mentioned I should invest. I have about $1000 and I was just wondering what my options are. Im 16 so im not sure what my limitations are. any advice or links would be great. thanks

[thenewwallstreet]

First off, it is great to see that you are looking into investing.

Because of your age, you will probably need to have your parents set up a custodian account for you through a broker.

As for what to do with your $1000, you will probably only want to invest in one company at a time. Because you aren't working with a lot of money, commissions will eat up any gains you may get if you try and diversify much. Check out some of the sites on my network, Wall Street 2.0, for some potential ideas. Also, it would be great to see you join the message boards, many of members are very knowledgable and would probably be able to recommend a few stocks for you to look into.

[Fxdome]

You can also learn alot by visiting www.etrade.com they have a learning center to learn how to invest in the market. Also if you ever think in the Future to Trade Stocks, Its good to download the cyber Trade simulation at https://www.cybertrader.com/GettingS...?secure=y&DT=S
That records the prevs day action from the Stock market. Thats how I learned about 4 years ago. And read books ! and the News paper also you will learn and understand how everything works

Good Luck

[akula]

to move forwards, you need to ask something along the lines of, "I'd like somebody to explain to me how financial markets work, and what opportunities may be available to someone in my situation".

the stock market is a very complicated beast, and if you fall for what the average person tells you, you are going to be the proverbial pig going to the proverbial slaughter.

here's some advice that you asked for;

to do well, correct your vocabulary

take it from a financial planner and heed to this advice - you need to ask questions about how financial markets work because your current level of understanding precludes you from making correct decisions about what to do with your money.

for one thing, you are confused about what "investing" means. the correct definition is that investing is a plan, rather than a financial product or a procedure. what you are talking about is a diffrent thing called trading - trading is just one of many options available to investors. It may not be a good option for you, and being a trader doesn not mean that you're an investor. And since you want to learn how to be an investor - trading may not be a good option for you because it won't give you the knowledge you are looking for.

In other words, if you have a financial plan, you may be an investor. if you don't, you are not an investor. if your plan permits trading the stock market; that's great. then what you want to learn is how to be a trader. that's a very large, complicated topic in it self and there are books about it.

so....again...to move forward, you need to ask for more information on how financial markets work, what the role of traders is, and what are some best practices used by traders, to get the kinds of results that successful traders look for. you need to understand the concept of supernormal, risk adjusted returns, alphas, betas, CAPM, SML, and a whole bunch of other things.

direct answer o your question a) understand the distinction between trading and investing b) understand that you are talking about very complex issues and that you need to ask someone to explain these complexities to you.

...this area of knowledge is called finance

[Kelloway]

Originally Posted by akula

to move forwards, you need to ask something along the lines of, "I'd like somebody to explain to me how financial markets work, and what opportunities may be available to someone in my situation".

the stock market is a very complicated beast, and if you fall for what the average person tells you, you are going to be the proverbial pig going to the proverbial slaughter.

here's some advice that you asked for;

to do well, correct your vocabulary

take it from a financial planner and heed to this advice - you need to ask questions about how financial markets work because your current level of understanding precludes you from making correct decisions about what to do with your money.

for one thing, you are confused about what "investing" means. the correct definition is that investing is a plan, rather than a financial product or a procedure. what you are talking about is a diffrent thing called trading - trading is just one of many options available to investors. It may not be a good option for you, and being a trader doesn not mean that you're an investor. And since you want to learn how to be an investor - trading may not be a good option for you because it won't give you the knowledge you are looking for.

In other words, if you have a financial plan, you may be an investor. if you don't, you are not an investor. if your plan permits trading the stock market; that's great. then what you want to learn is how to be a trader. that's a very large, complicated topic in it self and there are books about it.

so....again...to move forward, you need to ask for more information on how financial markets work, what the role of traders is, and what are some best practices used by traders, to get the kinds of results that successful traders look for. you need to understand the concept of supernormal, risk adjusted returns, alphas, betas, CAPM, SML, and a whole bunch of other things.

direct answer o your question a) understand the distinction between trading and investing b) understand that you are talking about very complex issues and that you need to ask someone to explain these complexities to you.

...this area of knowledge is called finance

look im a 16 year old kid. I dont know much in this "area" but what I do know is that I have $1000 and I want to make money off of that. what are some simplistic ways for me to get the best out of my $$$. I should have mentioned that I live in Canada as well.

[clegg]

When you figure out the 'simplistic way' to make money in the stock market, please let me know.
-clegg

[Jerimi]

Looks like they were wrong assuming you meant that you simply want to invest in the markets...right ? I like how people jump to conclusions though - thats always fun.

When someone said to you to "invest" the grand, that has a lot of different meanings. .. you know.. you invest in building a business, a few shares of stock, a CD (certificate of deposit)... etc

I think a good answer to your question would need one little bit of info. How fast do you want to make a profit from this $1000?

there are fast and slow ways -- some with more risk that you will make nothing, some with little risk that take forever! haha. Some are simplistic, ie buy a certificate of deposit - it makes interest till you cash it in (not a whole lot though) . some are wicked complex like trading futures lol....

[NeeJam]

I don't know if it gets offered in canada but at the post office here in the uk(well the post office i use, the offer is closed now though until next year i think) they offer this investment programme where you invest a minimum of £500 and you leave it for 3 or 5 years which get invested into the stock market. They either make upto 75% or 150% i think. You get back the amount you invest even if the investments they make loose 25%etc. But if they make upto 150% on the 5 year plan and you invest £500 you get £1250 back.

[akula]

Originally Posted by Kelloway

look im a 16 year old kid. I dont know much in this "area" but what I do know is that I have $1000 and I want to make money off of that. what are some simplistic ways for me to get the best out of my $$$. I should have mentioned that I live in Canada as well.

if you put this money in the market, you'll lose it, or generate return inferior to what you would by simply buying an index fund.

you can either join an investment club. find one through http://www.betterinvesting.org/ call them and ask where you can find an investment club in Canada. join these people, pool you money together, hang out make friends, learn more and have fun.

or, you can publish a book on how to beat the stock market, sell that, and that's probably the most simplistic was for you to get the best out of your $$$.

or, you can enroll in some kind of course tio make you more employable. That's another way to maximise your expected return.

Now listen, you're 16 y.o. You got now idea how to get from A to B. I'm telling you, to get from where you are now to where you want to be, ask the kind of questions I've advised you to ask.

There is a whole industry out there that preys on people like you, thousands of slick salesmen are just waiting to jump up, tell you what you want to hear, sell you some kind of report, say things like "why trade shares when you can trade derivatives" and end up defrauding you of your money. Stop being stubborn, stop being a sucker.

[akula]

Originally Posted by nik_b02

I don't know if it gets offered in canada but at the post office here in the uk(well the post office i use, the offer is closed now though until next year i think) they offer this investment programme where you invest a minimum of £500 and you leave it for 3 or 5 years which get invested into the stock market. They either make upto 75% or 150% i think. You get back the amount you invest even if the investments they make loose 25%etc. But if they make upto 150% on the 5 year plan and you invest £500 you get £1250 back.

This is called obfuscation. It's a game played by manufacturers of financial products. The trick is to add layers of complexity to disguise the true nature of the investment. In this case, by redirecting the ppl's attention to all the numbers, the manufacturer has hidden the identity of the security they are in the business of selling.

Is it a bond, is it common stock, no one knows? And when no one knows, no one can calculate and compare the investment's risk/return profile. And when there are no alternatives, the only choice is to cut the cheque.

It's a nifty trick.