what is the cheapest way to invest in the stock market or mutual funds?
488939
Generally speaking, there is no such thing as cheapest way to invest in stocks.\n\nYou need to have plenty of fluff and lot  of knowledge to really make it in the stock market
15288
If by short you mean 2 to 4 years try investing in life settlements or viatical settlements.  These investments can get very high returns from typically about 16% to 22% and sometimes higher,and with little to NO risk to your priciple if you find the right companies.  Be weary though, there are a bunch of crap companies out there that will just rip you off, but I have had personal experiance with a couple of top notch companies and have seen it happen.  I guarantee that a majority of the folks on here have never even heard of these investments, but there is an alternative to the stock market and mutual funds.  You just have to know where to look.\n\ngood luck
273119
beginnersinvest.about.com and earlyearners.com\nTwo websites you can check out. Best way to start investing is to just by setting aside a small about each week or month i.e. 25.00/week and letting it set in a savings account until you find a certain investment you would like. Whatever you do make sure that the investment is something you are comfortable with. And whatever anyone tells you nothing will guarantee a return except goverment obligations such as government issued bongs and banks. OTher than that there is risk. However risk isn't necessarily bad. Just research before you buy.
219173
The cheapest and often best way to buy funds is to deal directly with a 100% no-load mutual fund company. If you find a fund that interests you, call the company and ask for a prospectus and application. With true no-loads you pay no sales charges, exit fees or other charges. Load funds can charge from .5 to 9 percent in sales charges plus other charges. These sales charges are deducted directly from your initial investment and subsequent deposits. The Investors Alliance feels that most investors should buy directly from the fund company and purchase no-load funds or low-load (less than 3 percent sales charge) funds. Keep in mind also that if you buy no-load funds through a broker instead of directly by mail, you still must pay a broker's commission.
329108
A mutual fund is your best bet.  Remember that "quick" money means risky when it comes to investing.  Better to go slow and not lose your money.
185751
3 years or less I would have to say a CD or ING Direct.  That is not enough time for a mutual fund.
358597
None.  IMHO, you should start by learning how to invest, determining WHAT to buy through Fundamental Analysis and determining WHEN to buy with Technical Analysis. \n\nIMO, newsletters only make narrow recomendations based on their system of analysis and investment strategies, and often they are compensated heavily for their recomendations and therefore dangerously biased.   I firmly believe that to get a clear picture about any stock, and to determine whether you're actually going to invest in it, it's best to do your own research and adapt a system that meets your investment needs, style and risk level.  There are many stocks ripe for the picking just about at any time if you know how and where to look.\n\nStart with Investors.com, it's William O'Neil's online version of Investors Business Daily.  The How To Invest section is the best place to start learning the importance of Fundamentals and the basics of Technical Analysis.   The site has the IBD 100, a cross index list of the market leaders, the Stock Checkup, a great tool for checking fundamentals on any stock, and articles and analysis of stocks and general market conditions.  They also run various screens every day which in addition to the other lists, (IBD100, New America, stocks under $10, CANSLIM select, ect) are very helpful for finding investment ideas with solid Fundementals that are ready to move.  The CANSLIM method alone is a very successful and popular trading system, but I prefer to use a combination of Fund & Tech Analysis, rather that just the rating system alone.\n\nFrom there you can move on to more detailed study of Technical Analysis.  \n\nStart with StockCharts.com, they have an excellent free Chart School which helpfully explains various chart patterns and Technical Indicators and overlays.  Pay particular attention to the Chart Patterns section, and make sure you learn about Zig Zag patterns, Bollinger Bands, Moving Average, Volume, RSI, the MACD (Mac-D), The Williams %er, Stochastics, and the Chaikin Money Flow.  Sounds complicated, but when you start chart reading you'll want about a half a dozen or so of these overlays and indicators.  I personally rely heavily on the ZIG-ZAG, MACD, Chaikin Money Flow, Volume, Moving Average and RSI.\n\nStockTA.com is also an excellent Technical Analysis site, with charted Fibonacci resistance and support lines and will tell you if the stock is bullish or bearish in the short, medium and long run.  The site also has an extensive Candle Pattern Glossary and a fantastic technical screener.\n\nThe above sites do have premium services, but all the services I mentioned are free.  After you've absorbed some of the Technical information, do some reading on Fibonacci numbers and Elliot Wave theory, there are good links in the "School" section of StockTA.com.  I've been using Elliot Wave and Fibonacci's to help refine my in and out points.  StockCharts.com's "ZigZag" overlay helps me plot and count the waves and that helps determine where I am in the overall pattern.  \n\nSo basically I'll find interesting stocks through the screens on Investors.com or StockTA.com, run them through the Stock Checkup at Investors.com, if they measure up I'll run them through the Analyisis & Fib Analysis at StockTA.com and do an extensive chart study, examining the 2 yr, 1 yr, 6 mth, 3 mth, 1 mth & 5 day.  I'll also do my due dilligence, studying the profile, key statistics, headlines, etc. through Yahoo Finance and web searches.  If it all measures up and the stock is in a base or in a pull back and it's starting a wave 1 or wave 3, it's time to buy.\n\nRemember, always protect your downside with a stop loss or a trailing stop loss.  Once you have absorbed a few of the things I've mentioned, the fog will begin to lift and you'll start seeing which stocks should be bought or sold and you'll be able to do your own analysis on any stock, no matter where
302032
The best way to learn about the stock market is to open up a 401(k) account at work and pick some mutual funds to invest in. At least then, you will lower your taxes and you can start to get the feel for your money fluctuating in value.\n\nYou should not invest one dime in the stock market outside of your 401(k) plan until after you establish an emergency fund. This fund should be in cash (CD'S, money market, savings account etc etc) where you can get to it. You should have at least 3 months worth of living expenses in it.\n\nAfter you do this, you can invest all you want in the stock market....but you have to remember...the stock market is like a casino........dont be greedy.......make some money and get out........financial experts lie to you......the longer you are in the market (casino) the greater your risk is. Your risk doesnt decrease by time horizon.......your risk actually increases the longer your money is in the casino....opps...i mean market.
923463
I would certainly invest in the stock market.  I think the best way to find good investment ideas is to look at what the best traders are buying.  This is the idea behind the site http://www.top10traders.com - this is a free site that lets you create a portfolio of stocks with $100,000 in "play" money.  Each day the site ranks the best performing portfolios, so you can see how your picks perform compared to other investors.  You can also read posts on investing from the best traders, as well as share your own investing ideas.\n\nHere are this month's best traders:\n\nhttp://www.top10traders.com/Top10Standings.aspx\n\n\nGood luck!
122720
Here's the basic knowledge. Don't start investing in low price stocks. You can easily lose all your money overnight.\n\nInstead consider the following no load mutual funds. Although most of their assets are in higher price companies, these funds do invest in carefully select low priced issues. To see the charts of these funds, click the link below. \nASMCX,Accessor ADV:Small/MidCap,\nCGMFX,Cgm Focus\nFAIRX,Fairholm Fund\nFAMEX,Fam Equity Income,\nFAMVX,Fam Value\nFLPSX,Fidelity Low Priced Stock/316\nFLVCX,Fidelity Leveraged Company Stock/122\nFSDAX,Fidelity Sel Defense & Aero/67\nFSLSX,Fidelity Value Strategy-N/14,\nFSRPX,Fidelity Sel Retail/46\nFVDFX,Fidelity Value Discovery/832,\nGTSGX,Mosaic MidCap Growth,\nHFTFX,Hennessy Focus 30\nHSGFX,Hussman Strategic Growth\nICCCX,Icon Consumer Discretionary\nICLEX,Icon Leisure & Consumer Staples\nKMVAX,KirrMarb Value,\nMARFX,Merrill MidCap Value Opportunities-I,\nMVALX,Meridian Value,\nMXXVX,Matthew 25 Fund,\nNIGVX,Numeric MidCap,\nOBMEX,OldMutua MidCap-Z,\nOSTFX,Osterwes Fund,\nPAGRX,Permanen Aggressive Growth,\nSOPFX,WellFarA INV:Opportunity/24,\nTAVFX,ThirdAve Value\nTGVOX,TCWGalil Value Opportunity-I,\nTWAOX,ThomasWh American Opportunities,\nVSEQX,Vanguard Strategic Equity/114,\nWTMCX,Westcore MidCap Value
261930
This question has different answers for different people.  It will depend on your risk tolerance and time horizon.  If you have a short time horizon and low risk tolerance then a money market fund would be the answer.  If you have a long time horizon and low risk tolerance then a bond fund may be the answer.  And if you have a long time horizon and a high risk tolerance, then a stock fund would probably be the best choice.  Keep in mind that proper diversification is always best.
1097883
Hi fren, I think it is not advisable to invest in Mutual Funds this time, provided u have some other investments which can compensate any loss u might incur. I say so because if u follow market, u can see that for few of the very strong funds the NAV has gone down.\nMutual funds, depend on share market and currently all the analysts (national and international) have advised their clients to take a vacation.\nI think for a new investor like you, u should wait for some time, let the market stabilise once then u can think of getting in.
437445
That's Simple.\n\nIf you have 10+years, there are several balanced mutual/index funds, that have returned more than 10% on average.\n\nUse a fund stock screener - you can see them - pay attention to upfront and ongoing expenses.\n\nIs it the best way? - It's the only one I know that is available to the average guy.\n\nGood Luck!
706736
Your question reveals the fact that you are a complete newbie with very weak basic, fundamental knowledge in the stock markets and is about to do something you might regret for a very long time.\n\nInvesting or trading the stock markets never start from asking how to buy a certain stock (lets not even get into why you want to buy SIRI in the first place because you won't be able to answer why either.)... it starts from adequate investment and trading knowledge. There are quite a number of things you need to learn before you can even start thinking of the stock markets ...\n\n1. You need to understand how the stock market works and what it is exactly about.\n\n2. You need to know what are the different styles of trading in stocks and shares. \n\n3. You need to read about why so many people lose their shirts in the stock markets so that you can avoid their mistakes and also decide if this is a risk you want to take.\n\nFor all these issues and more, you can read about them from some of the articles that I wrote at http://www.mastersoequity.com/articles.htm \n\nAfter you are adequately armed with the basic concepts and ideas, you need to know how to find profitable stocks to trade or invest in. You can do that the easy way by subscribing to stock pick services (example http://www.stockpickmaster.com ) or you can learn to use charting tools and softwares to find stocks with parameters that you can pre-define. (example http://www.worden.com ) \n\nAll in all, investment and trading is a lifelong education and non stop learning. No one is ever done learning and catching up with changes in the markets. \n\nIf you care to read about how I went from completely broke to retired millionaire trading stocks and options by 28 years old, you can go to http://www.mastersoequity.com/\n\nRemember, the slogan "Just Do It", Just won't do for the stock markets. If profiting in the stock markets is as simple as buying a single stock , then why are so many people still poor?\n\nAfter you have all the above mentioned knowledge, you need to ask the following golden questions before you can decide whether a stock is worth buying or not :\n\n1. Why are you of the opinion that this stock will rise?\n\n2. Is your opinion valid in the first place?\n\n3. When are you expecting it to rise? Can you hold on for that period of time or longer?\n\n4. What is your expected entry price? After what price would your expected profit margin be too thin to enter upon?\n\n5. Where is your expected stop loss point? What is your stop loss point based on? Where will you tell yourself that it is time to take a loss and get out?\n\n6. Where is your expected profit taking point? What is your profit taking point based on? \n\n7. Does the way you are buying the stock allow you to hold on until your expected profit taking point?\n\n8. How much of your money should you dedicate to this one trade?\n\n9. What is the level of primary, secondary and idiosyncratic risk you are undertaking when deciding how much of your fund to use?\n\n10. What is your cashflow need? Does your cashflow needs allow you to hold the full lifetime of the stock?\n\nAfter you are able to answer all these questions confidently, THEN you are ready to... PAPER TRADE your stock strategy. Yes, even at this point, you are NOT READY to trade for real. You should trade on PAPER for at least 6 months and become consistently successful BEFORE you take your stock strategy into real life.\n\nThen.. you are ready to start... but there is still no guarantee of success as paper trading is very different from real trading. You will need another maybe 1 year or 2 trading very little money and be consistently successful BEFORE you are ready to increase your stakes.\n\n\nSo, as you can see, success in the stock markets is not easy at all the the less knowledge you have, the more risk you undertake.  I lost hundreds of thousands in the stock markets before I become successful.\n\nTake heed and good luck.\n\n\n\n
171907
If you have to ask this question, I would recommend that you not even pursue this course until you have studied the existing options for investing.  If you are referring to buying stock commonly traded on an exchange, you have several options, none of which is advisable for a beginner, nor for someone who does not have already, considerable savings on hand, especially if you are a student.\n\nIf you are referring to buying equity shares in a private company, then that is a different matter altogether.  Unfortunately, as terminology can vary from country to country, and as you haven't provided many details, it is impossible to reliably advise you.\n\nI will assume you are talking about buying "stocks" on an exchange.  If you are in the United States, one normally opens an account with a broker.  There are online brokers you can use like Scottrade, Ameritrade, etc.  Normally one fills out some paperwork and sends it in with a check/draft/wire deposit.  You can then buy and sell stocks through this broker.  You place an order on a stock, like GE for example, which the broker fills.  \n\nI would experiment with this on quote.yahoo.com before doing it for real.  There are also lots of places you can turn to for investment advice.\n\nA safer thing to do with your money if you are a student (at university if you are out of the house) is to put the money in savings, certificate of deposit, money market fund, or other low risk option.   An option many investors use to buy stock at slightly lower risk is called a mutual fund.  Research these options thoroughly.\n\nGood luck.
466957
Vanguard will give you the lowest fees.\n\nSchwab will probably give you the best service.
774034
Unless you have a lot of money to invest, a million plus, an on line broker is perhaps the best.  The other brokers do not wish to be bothered with you in general.  There are exceptions but they are exceptions.  \n\nAmong the on line brokers, there are basic brokers which allow you to trade stocks at minimal cost.  TDAmeritrade and Scottrade and TradeKing are among those with fees ranging from $6.00 to 10.00 per trade.  Then there are the ones that offer somewhat greater services for somewhat higher costs.  Schawb and Fidelity and ETrade fall into that category.  They offer more research material and somewhat better customer service in general for a somewhat higher commission in general.  Fidelity for example has about a $25.00 commision per trade for small accounts but offers a wealth of research material.