how would i go about buying a hedge fund?
813228
Unfortunately, one can't simply just "buy" a hedge fund. A hedge fund is an investment vehicle for "accredited" investors. By accredited i mean over 250K in annual income and over 1M in net worth. Hedge funds can only have 99 investors in order to not register with the SEC and most of their clients include large institutions and high net worth individuals.
848511
I don't.  Not every stockbroker has an options specialist, but the larger ones online may have.  They are sold through investment firms, but an options specialist has more training than a Registered Representative, or stockbroker.\n\nYes, there is a much bigger risk, but your risk is the amount of your option price and the transaction costs.\n\nThe only investment vehicle which is more risky is a futures contract or a forward contract.  Investing in a hedge fund runs a close second to trading futures contracts(USA) or forward contracts(Europe and parts of Asia).\n\nBe very, very careful.
726154
Almost all brokers offer a US dealing facility.  You will pay a little more than for UK trades and they will also ask you to sign a W8-BEN form before accepting any US orders.  That is a tax declaration required by the US authorities.  Once you're set up you can buy and sell online, just like you do with UK shares.\n\nIf you want really cheap trading you can open a US dollar account with a US broker.  I use TD Ameritrade, they have have always been excellent and I can buy and sell US shares at $9.99 per trade (about £6 per trade).  They have a special site for UK based investors.
473492
Since you are a beginner and have about $5000, the simplest way is with a mutual fund. \n\nStart at Yahoo, fund screener. \n\nKey in your parameters: $5,000, moringstar rating of 5, turnover less than 100%, expenses less than 1.0% and see what pops up. You will find funds with impressive historical results. Unfortunately, the past is not a great predictor of the future. But this is a good place to start\nOr visit Vanguard.com and key in your investment criteria and they will tell you wich funds they have meet your criteria. \n\nThe link below will show you the results for international stock funds.
206600
1) Open a brokerage account at ameritrade.com\n2) No\n3) Yes (But that makes no sense because you need to pay $10.99 to buy it and another $10.99 when you sell it)
364326
Start by learning How to invest, determining WHAT to buy through Fundamental Analysis and determining WHEN to buy through Technical Analysis. \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 Fundamentals 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\nThe way I personally work is, 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. \n\nIf it's all too daunting or confusing, stick with it, it takes time to absorb.  Start by paper trading.  Yahoo Finance lets you track portfolios for free, try picking a couple stocks and see how they do.  Be realistic with your buy and sell prices if you paper trade, seeing for example if you can actually get in at the price you want during intraday trading.  If Mutual Funds are more to your liking, the same principles mentioned above can be applied to those as well.\n\nGood luck, hope it helps.
17606
Assuming you live in the US investing in the share (stock) market is as simple as:\n1. Opening a brokerage account with one of the brokerage firms such as Wells Fargo, TD WaterHouse, Ameriprise with a deposit of say $1000 and start buying and selling shares online.\n2. Initially you could buy shares upto your deposit amount\n3. As you build assets you will be eligible to borrow against your assets and buy stocks on margin even if you don't have cash in the account. This is a risky strategy and should be employed by experienced investors
47061
3 ways. 1 you might write to yahoo and buy direct from the company. 2 you could hire a broker to buy your stock.  3 open up an account with e-trade or someone like that.
344986
Nothing could be more simple. First you open an account with a brokerage firm. On line brokers charge very reasonable commissions. You normally have to make a deposit of at least $500. But in my oppinion that is not really enough to begin with. You can purchase stocks on margin, which means you only have to fund 50% of the purchase price and the brokerage firm will lend you the rest, at an interest rate of course. \n\nNext, you pick out a stock you want to buy or sell. You can do either. If you do not own the stock, selling it is called short selling. That means that eventually, you will have to buy it back. You then make your trade and wait for the price to go up or down. At some future time, maybe a few minutes, maybe a few hours, maybe a few days, or weeks, or months, or years, you will decide to sell the stock or repurchase your short position at either a gain or a loss. \n\nIt is that simple. If you hold the stock for at least a year and you have a gain, you will be taxed at a rate of about 1/2 the normal tax rate. On short sales, gains for some odd reason are always taxed at the full rate.
560963
You can go to sharebuilder and put some in monthly.  If you pick a company that is known to be stable and pay good dividends then you can reinvest the dividends, it becomes sort of like compound interest, where the interest starts earning interest.\n\nDiversification is nice, so low cost Exchange Traded Funds are an important consideration.  I like the Dow Jones Select Dividend Index Fund (DVY).  It is about $62 a share right now and is within pennies of its Net Asset Value, the worth of the stocks inside the fund.  It has a distribution yield of about 3.60 which is a pretty good rate of return compared to if you left the money in the bank.  Every share you buy is getting a slice of some 114 very profitable companies that share part of their profits (dividends) with you the stockholder.\n\nGood luck, whatever you do.
1000859
You did not specify the type of help you require.  Your first step should be to reads a couple of books on investing. You first need to understand some of the concepts.  \n\nFor those who wish to participate in the stock market but do not wish to spend a great deal of time doing the necessary research to investigate which stocks to buy, there are mutual funds.  They are a good method if you first determine which mutual funds have a good track record in both bull and bear markets.  The internet will provide you with all the information you need.
318964
For us little people, I find the best way to invest is with no-load mutual fund accounts.  That way there are no charges or fees either up front or when you eventually sell out.  Also professional managers take care of the investing and do much better than we could ever do.  Second, I find the best way is to make the investment LONG TERM, let it sit no matter and over time I have found my investments always do well.  May I suggest a conservative long time company:  Lord Abbett Affiliated Fund has been excellent for me.
5468
You can buy them through many investment firms: Schwab, Vanguard, eTrade, etc.  There are many bonds that their rates/mature-period vary somewhat.  Some are also tax-free, others are not.\n\nYou could go to vanguard.com to do some (free) research.  Or you could visit Schwab office, and someone would be happy to go over that with you.
801461
BUY SOME OF THE TOP PERFORMING FUNDS. THEY ARE LESS RISKY THAN STOCKS.
398114
There are lots of mutual funds that will take $100 to get you started.  So a search in Yahoo Finance or MSN for funds that start with a min investment of $100.  I have been an investment advisor for over 23 years.
722674
Your best bet is a no load mutual fund. But you need to be a little selective. I have run a yahoo screen of candidate mutual funds for you to consider. \n\nThe best results come with having a quarterly, some say monthly, investment plan--say add $100 to $200 quarterly. That way you average out the market swings buying less stock when the market is up and more when the market is down. \n\nNote: mutual funds have a year end distribution of realized gains. It is best to purchase right after the distribution because the price reflects the amount distributed.
971920
The best way to do that is go direct through caterpillar via their direct reinvestment progam ( DRIP ).\n\nTheir # is: 309.675.4619\n\nDon't buy through a traditional broker if you can help it due to the high overall commission.\n\nfor other info: http://www.advancedwealthsolutions.com