Have some questions about the stock market..

[sohowcome]

I have a few questions about investing in the stock market. I was wondering what you guys do? I want to get in and dabble a little. I am already participating in my companie's 401k plan 6% of my salary and they match 65%. I am setup pretty aggresive through them, because of my age. Do I open an account with a company like Scott Trade and put in some money and start trading that way? I plan to start with about $100 a month. I have been reading and listening to Jim Cramer and decided I would like to start and try and earn a little money. Any ideas would be great.

-Zach

 

[sohowcome]

anyone?

 

[ezernut9mm]

i haven't a clue. good luck tho!

 

[Mo Boost]

I invest on a regular basis.

My 401k has been maxed out at 15% pre-tax & 2% after-tax for a while now. My company has a 4% match, not much, but considering the returns have been pretty low or negative this year on the Dow, S&P, & other indexes....4% helps.

I listen to James Cramer on occasion, but don't adhere to his advice. To invest in a company, you have to understand the business & the underlying economic trends affecting that company.

When I started out, I bought books dispensing wisdom from Fidelity's Peter Lynch & the "Motley Fool" (the Gardner brothers).
To be a decent investor, you have to pick decent companies making a consistent profit over time, and most of these are large, establishd companies, some with expensive share prices.

Take Exxon Mobil, for example. They have been around for years, they've beaten the S&P 500 index average FOR THE LAST 20 YEARS, and have paid decent dividends on shares every quarter (3 months) since becoming a business. I got interested in them in June, 2004, after buying my first shares in 2000....the share price has gone from the $45.47 to about $58 in a year, PLUS $0.27/share in dividends paid per quarter.
I had a 30% gain in my one pick in 1 year alone, but that was because oil prices increased giving Exxon a huge profit margin. Even if the share price drops short-term, they still pay me 27 cents per share every three months...free money.

I own shares of companies I know & product from them that I use & understand.
I own Exxon, Symantec, Coca-Cola (in my girl's fund...they pay dividends, too) and a company called CIENA that does optical networking & sells equipment to telecom companies.
Two mutual funds, both small-caps (FSLCX & OTCFX) are also in my account. OTCFX is closed, but the shares of the FSLCX (Fidelity Small Cap Trust) is still around $17/share....and I am buying it regularly for my IRA.

 

[Mo Boost]

I would advise you to look at an outfit called "ShareBuilder".

http://www.sharebuilder.com/about_us/ir/trimble_navigation/index_ir.htm

These guys allow you to invest as much as you want at a really low price...$4 per buy. I have an account with them, along with my Fidelity account.
Fidelity is expensive, charging me about $10.95 per market order (trade). They have a Gold, silver, and bronze level that categorizes your account based on assets & number of annual trades....but I like them because I get FREE research papers written by financial analysts who do the math for a living.
I glean what I want from the reports, and sometimes make decisions based on current events & trends.
They make pretty charts. It sounds lame, but I like charts because it gives you a visual about trends. :-D

 

[Mo Boost]

Sorry....maybe this link would be better:

https://www.sharebuilder.com/sharebuilder/Setup/Index.asp

Gets you to the info, and not the advertising section of their page.

 

[harry gilbert]

Personally, I met with a professional financial advisor, who helped me analyze my goals and then suggested a balanced portfolio. Over many years this has proven profitable. You can choose a fee-based advisor, or one who works on a percentage basis. One that has proven reputable for me is UBS financial; of course it depends on the individual advisor you pick.

How profitable? About 8x my original investment over 20 years, which averages 11% per year. Not too bad, considering this includes the losses of the past several years.

Oh, and don't invest anything you can't afford to lose.