How do I get started with stocks? Or any one time growing investments?
607829
I suggest you to open a brokerage account in Scottrade (I asume you have less than $2,000)\n\nIf you have more than $2,000.00 you can drop me a line to suggest you a better broker for you.\n\nTop 10 Answerer in Business & Finance.
1076880
Nowaday's there are alot of basic how-to's on investing. I suggest taking a financial accounting course at a local college (audit it) to attaina more thorough understanding.
457050
It's just like how you learned to swim.... jump into water as soon as possible.\nThe younger you start, the better you will be. You will never start investing in stocks if you don't have confidence that you will earn profits from stocks investment. You don't need to start with BIG investments in order to learn about stocks investment. Basically, you need to be focused on one industry and get all the information about a company that you would like to have shares.\n\nGood luck..!!
1026567
First you should know what your options for investing are. \n\nIf you don't have a good deal of money (in the thousands), you shouldn't invest in stocks because you won't be able to diversify your holdings enough - you need a well balanced portfolio that fits your goals and spreads out risk.\n\nUsually mutual funds are the most convenient and practical way for most people to invest in the stock market, with fund minimums starting around $1000 for funds like Vanguard STAR (VGSTX, a fund for beginning investors), and most of them being around $3,000 (and certainly going past that).\n\nAnother option is exchange-traded funds. They are baskets of stocks that are traded like stocks, and have lower expense ratios (the percentage that the fund company takes from your total return every year, usually under 1%) than mutual funds. ETFs don't have minimums.\n\nHere's the "Learn" section of a very reputable securities analysis company called Morningstar - they make lots of books about investing which you might want to check out as well.\n\nhttp://www.morningstar.com/Cover/Workshop.html?pgid=hetablearn\n\nIf you take a lot of tests there (and do well on them), you can actually send for a free book. Of course, you'll be on their mailing list after that.\n\nhttp://www.investopedia.com is also another great website for reading about all the different options available to you.\n\nAs for the brokers that you will have to buy your investments through (unless you buy it straight from a fund company like Vanguard, T. Rowe Price, or Fidelity), you have quite a few choices. The more affordable, while still easy-to-use brokers are Scottrade and TradeKing, while E-Trade and TDAmeritrade are very well-established and user-friendly but more costly brokers.\n\nHope I helped.
318491
Well first you need to find a broker. Like ameritrade, scottrade, e-trade, td waterhouse, shwab, ect. \n\nPersonally I use scottrade. only $7 to make a trade unlimited shares, market and limit, no maintenance fees, no inactivity fees or any fees unless you specifically use a service that has a fee, but you will know before you are charged.  \n\nThen once you have contacted a broker and opened an account you can start making trades. The key to success is to make an inversting strategy and follow it. A strategy can be anything, like you might buy stocks between 5-10 dollars, volumes greator than 1 million on a 3 month avg, that have recently had management changes. You then take that list of companies and choose the best one/s. You may also want to diversify by buying companies with negative correlations to decrease risk. But you can do what ever you want.\n\nFor more information call scottrade they have people sitting around that can answer any question you have about investing, even if you don't have an account.
50052
Start with mutual funds. I suggest reading The Zacks Method and How to Make Money in Stocks. These books will teach you how to pick stocks on your own. I dont recommend following advice from magazines. Their picks tend to be old news by the time the magaine is printed.
883965
First of all, unless you have a lot of money, typically you're not going to get advice from a financial adviser(they get paid the big ones).  Before you begin investing you need to saturate your brain with key terms and types of investment products out there.  A good website that has a lot of beginner's tools is Fool.com\nRun by the Gardner brother's their website has free articles to get you a good idea of different investments and methods for investing
1071852
If you live in India, consider buying mutual funds from a company such as HDFC.  There are others but I am most familiar with HDFC.  That way you can get diversification and be able to add amounts when you wish. \n\nNow is a good time to begin.  The market is down considerably and the values are much better than they were a month ago.  But bear markets tend to run longer than people sometimes suspect so if you do decide to invest, do not jump in with both feet. Only invest a portion of the amount that you would desire to invest.  Then a month or two later add a little bit more. And later a little more. \n\nMany people get over excited when the market goes up and they want to jump on the wagon.  When the market has risen a good deal, that is the time to increase your cash reserve rather than buy more investments.
322249
There are sites such as sharebuilder.com that have very low commissions but they execute your order in a non-timely fashion.  It's a decent way to get started investing.
423855
Get a DEMAT account for urself, thats the first step..then i will tell u how to go abt investing.
422619
As far as I know, you can only buy stocks from a broker.  If you're a beginner investor and want to invest in stocks while lessening your risk, start out by investing in stock mutual funds.  Some of those you can buy direct from the mutual fund company.  Fidelity has a large array of funds you can choose from.
517192
Buy a diversified series of mutual funds. Individual stocks are just way too risky in most cases, especially for novice investors, even if they look like a sure thing.  How are Enron and Worldcom doing right now?\n\nMake sure you hit all the assets classes, like Large cap stocks, small/mid cap stocks, international stocks, emerging markets stocks, government debt, corporate debt, hi-yield debt, foreign debt, emerging markets debt, real estate, commodities, and precious metals. That's 12 categories right there, so let's say you get started with with $1200, you're talking about $100 each. \n\nThen sit back and rebalance each year, back to your original percentages. This is called asset allocation. The thinking being, what's BEEN hot is more than likely not going to STAY hot. All markets, after all, are cyclical.  This is why people who invest their 401(k) by just putting in whatever's had the most recent best numbers never get anywhere--they're investig in something that DID will and IS probably NOT doing well.\n\nThis sort of portfolio should average 8-12% per year, so just split the difference and say 10%. Will it do 10% EVERY year? Of course not. I'd be surprised if it ever did EXACTLY 10%. That's an annual average. With that average, your money should double roughly every 7 years. \nSo, in 7 years you should have about $2,000\nin 14 years you should have about $4,000\nin 21 years you should have about $8,000\nin 28 years you should have about $16,000\nin 35 years you should have about $32,000\nin 42 years you should have about $64,000\nin 49 years you should have about $128,000\nin 56 years you should have about $256,000\nin 63 years you should have about $512,000\nin 70 years you should have about $1,024,000!\n\nOf course, if you keep adding money in, say $100 a month, you'll become a millionaire MUCH sooner. The key is discipline, and sticking in when markets are up OR down. Don't try to time the market--you'll NEVER get it right.\n\nHere's a handy formula:\n\n$100/month x 12% retutn x 20 years = $100,000.  \n\nSo if you invest $300 a month, you can expect to have $300,000 or so in 20 years, depending on what return you get.  And remember, even if you stop there, that money itself will double again in 7-10 years, depending.  Then double again.  Then double again.  You get the idea.\n\nIn short, you can make a HELL of a lot of money, with a small output on your part, if you do it right, and are patient.\n\nOh, and if you qualify, and do this all in a Roth IRA? Then every penny will be 100% TAX-FREE. That's a deal that's too good to pass up. That's why I tell all my under-30 clients--if you make under $90,000, and therefore qualify to do a Roth, you'd be a fool not to. Just having the power of youth (and therefore time) on your side is such an advantage, to squander it would be such a waste!\n\nHope this helps!\n--J.\n\nP.S. The previous answerer's advice about contacting Edward Jones is gold.  I would go to their website at www.edwardjones.com, enter your zip code, and find the closest office to you.  Chances are there's one within 10 miles.  They have 10,000 office in the US, UK, and Canada.  And they will take care of you right if you decide you don't want to go it alone.
521753
Investing in the stock market is generally a good thing, but stocks under $5 are usually the 'junk' of the market, and while you might make a lot on a few of them, the vast majority will only lose you money.  I'd recommend paying a few dollars more for something that has greater potential.  I've been following a $9 stock called Landec (symbol LNDC), which I think has potential.  In the under $5 range, you're usually gambling.  UNIB is a gamble that might be viable, but it's hard to know.  \n\nRather than just randomly buying stocks that anyone on the interet is touting, I'd suggest you do a little more reading about the market first.  Pick up some books by Peter Lynch or Benjamin Graham first, and that will help you become a better investor.\n\nBest of luck to you.
382151
This is just the process for opening an account and starting to trade stocks.  Learning which stocks to trade can take years, and is way to complicated to try to explain here:\n\nTo open an account, go to a brokerage firm (like Schwab, Etrade, Scottrade; whoever) and get a form to open an account, or you could just download the form from the internet.  \n\nFill out the form, and send it to the brokerage firm (or you can drop it off at the brokerage firm).  \n\nWait for the firm to open an account for you, it won't take long and they'll send you the info when its open or you could call/ drop by their office.  \n\nNow start trading.  You would typically trade by calling the firm and telling them what to buy/ sell, or doing it over the internet.\n\nThis is a very very general explanation, but there are about 100 details you will need to decide for yourself along the way.  ie what kind of account; are you rolling an ira or something into the new account (the brokerage firm will handle this, you just fill out another form); do you want a full service broker (more expensive but gives you more advice on what to buy) discount broker (less expensive, some advice) or deep discount broker (cheap, but you are on your own in terms of what to buy); and many other details.  \n\nOf course the brokerage can help you with most of the details, but they can't teach you how to choose which stocks to buy/ sell (and quite frankly the picks given by the full service brokers may not be any better than throwing darts at a newspaper); this part takes years of trial and error to figure out - so hey, get going.  No time like the present to start.\n\nGood luck.
661299
Buy a diversified series of HIGH QUALITY, LOW EXPENSE mutual funds. One good piece of advice is that especially when just starting out, owning individual stocks is just way too risky. In many cases, it's more akin to gambling than investing. So go with mutual funds, which are much more diversified, and therefore spread the risk among many, many more holdings. The key, of course, is buying quality. So make sure you hit ALL the asset classes, like Large cap stocks, small/mid cap stocks, international stocks, emerging markets stocks, government debt, corporate debt, hi-yield debt, foreign debt, emerging markets debt, real estate, commodities, and precious metals. That's 12 categories right there, so with $1200, you're talking about $100 each. This is called asset allocation, and it's a step beyond simple "diversification", which most idiots think is buying a hardware tech stock AND a software tech stock.\n\nAdd systematically on a monthly basis. That means make sure you put the same amount of money in every month, no matter what. Soon you won't even care what any of the markets are doing. They're up? Great! Some of my investments are worth more. They're down? Great! Now I'm buying quality investments at an "on sale" price.\n\nThen sit back and re-balance each year, back to your original percentages. Again, this is called asset allocation. It's is very important, perhaps the most important thing you can do with your money. The thinking being, what's BEEN hot is more than likely not going to STAY hot. All markets are cyclical. There's hundreds of years of data to back this up. Yet some people still think they can ride the next hot wave. They usually wind up begging on the street for beer money.\n\nNow, this sort of portfolio should average 8-12% per year, so just split the difference and say 10% on average. Will it do 10% EVERY year? Of course not. I'd be surprised if it EVER did EXACTLY 10%. That's an annual average. With that average, your money should double roughly every 7 years.\nSo, if you're starting with $1200 or so like I said in my example, then in 7 years , even if you added no more money, you should have about $2,400\nin 14 years you should have about $4,800\nin 21 years you should have about $9,600\nin 28 years you should have about $19,200\nin 35 years you should have about $38,400\nin 42 years you should have about $76,800\nin 49 years you should have about $153,600\nin 56 years you should have about $307,200\nin 63 years you should have about $614,400\nin 70 years you should have about $1,228,800!\n\nOf course, if you keep adding money in that $100 a month, you'll become a millionaire MUCH sooner. The key is discipline, and sticking in when markets are up OR down. Don't try to time the market--you'll NEVER get it right.\n\nBy the way, here's a handy formula:\n\n$100/month x 12% x 20 years = $100,000.\n\nSo if you need $300,000 in 20 years and have no idea how to get it, just save $300 a month and you're there. If you don't get 12%, you'll wind up with less naturally. But IF you still wind up with $250,000, I'd call that one hell of a failure.\n\nOh, and if you qualify on income limits (generally, if you're a single filer and make under $90,000/yr), and do this all in a Roth IRA? Then every penny will be 100% TAX-FREE. That's a deal that's too good to pass up. That's why I tell anyone who's under 30--if you make under $90,000, and therefore qualify to do a Roth, you'd be a fool not to. Just having the power of youth (and therefore time) on your side is such an advantage, to squander it would be such a waste!\n\nHope this helps!\n--J.
169203
First, I like to welcome you aboard.  Never too late or too early when it comes to investing. \n\nSecond, Let's talk business, and that business is stocks. \nI want you to diversify.  what do this guy mean by diversify?  Good question.  Split your asset into at least three to five different sectors.  For example, you can put some on Technolology, Pharmacuetical drug company, Financial, Retailer, and energy or oil refineries.\n\nFinally, research each of those sectors, and try to find a leader in each or everyone of them.  You can do this.  One of the way to look for is to read newspaper.  Investors Business Daily is good source to start.  I find them very useful compared to other newspaper like Wall Street Journal.\n\nKeep post your question if you need further help.\nBest of Luck from THINKMAAN.
757720
commodity is a sure way to make $ quickly but also loose all of it very quickly.  Set up sharebuilder and research and choose a stock of an established company.  put in $500 each time over the next 12 months into that stock ( that's 4 x @ $4 each time). or buy $150 each month over 12 months or even more... as now you've just started the process of investing on very little savings.. Otherwise, set up and scot or etrade and day tray on established companies.