I need info on stocks...

**Thevoice** · 03-29-2008, 09:10 AM

and investing. Especially getting them on-line. What are the pros and cons oin that? Is it safe to do stock biz on-line? How does it work, say if I pay only $4.00, and only get a percentage, what percentage do I get from that amount?

If you have some, what do you recommend especially for a person who don't a lot of money?lol

**cc5k** · 03-29-2008, 08:36 PM

Until you are well educated in stocks & trading or other types of investing, the best two things to start with are saving money (obvious, I know), and investing in mutual funds for long-term. (What kind of mutual fund? Probably a targeted retirement date one if you're starting from a clean slate.)

The absolute worst thing you want to do is to be buying and selling all the time, because small fees are charged with each transaction... they really add up! Money.com has done countless studies on the long term profits of "day traders" and (if my memory serves correctly) less than 2% of them outperform simple buy and hold people that have little/no education of the stock market.

One market that will typcially offer the highest return on investment (ROI) is real estate; mostly because of the high leverage ratios available. However, that is a double-edged sword because if you make a bad investment, the losses are leveraged also. I plan on moving into real estate in the next couple years, but I have been reading up and researching the topic for over 5 years now. You really have to know what you're doing before diving in.

Hope this is helpful!

**Thevoice** · 03-29-2008, 10:51 PM

Thanks cc, this is the reason why I'm asking. I remember this topic here, back in the day on Blackmystory, it was very informative.

I will take my time and do the research though.

**atomiclarry** · 07-22-2008, 01:54 PM

I recommend you work on some tutorials at investopedia.com before you start "buying stocks". this aint checkers, its chess.

**atomiclarry** · 07-22-2008, 01:55 PM

and when you are ready consider zecco trading and or scottrade, depending on if you are starting with more or less than $10,000

**nunoire** · 07-29-2008, 04:25 PM

Before getting into the stock market, I advise looking on the other parts of your financial situation. Do you have a budget? Are you sticking to it? Do you have an emergency fund that covers at least 3 (preferably 6) months of your living expenses? How much debt do you have and are you handling it well. These things should be in place before you start investing.