Quick Wealth Network

Investing????

Where do I start? I am 24 years old and have never invested any money in anything except for a savings account at the bank. I am wanting to start putting my money to work to make more money. What do I need to do to start? I am completely new to all of this, so please answer in "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Investing" style. Please give as many details as possible! What I mean is stocks, bonds (whatever they are), etc... I don't even know what else there is! Thanks!

Public Comments

1. Invest in yourself, if you seriously going to get into the market go get the education you need first.
2. Forget stocks and bonds. The world is crooked. Certificates of deposit are the best. Discover Bank offers a CD for 4.13% right now.
3. invest in playboy or something that you know will always succeed. Never invest in banks, and gold doesnt always go up. point being is go to the bank and ask them about investment opportunities.
4. You should make sure that you diversify your investments. There is no holy grail solution to investing your money. Stocks are my favorite form of investment, because they offer high liquidity. A diversified stock portfolio out performs most other investments over the long term. Real estate only manages to keep up with inflation over the long term. Cash will definitely lose value over time. Commodities and precious metals may seem nice, but they are subject to volatility just like anything else.
5. There are lots of great online tutorials of the "Complete Idiot's" type. Yahoo-Finance has a good one. Also, check with your bank, or preferably with your credit union if you have one, to see if they have free investment councellors available that you can use. The credit union ones are less likely to have a hidden agenda to push specific products. They can help you understand what products are available, what they think is best for you to invest in in the current market conditions, and you don't HAVE TO buy anything through them if you don't want to, although it's a good learning experience for you to use them to make some simple investments, so you see what is involved. Typically they will charge you a buy or sell fee for their trouble when dealing with stocks, or they will be paid a comission if you buy a long-term investment. Once you get more comfortable with investing, you can move up a notch and do your own investing thru places like TD Ameritrade for a reasonable fee per transaction.
6. First, you should open a retirement account with your employer, ie a 401K. You can have a certain percentage of your paycheck get taken out and automatically invested. Usually, employers match up to a certain percentage of the money you invest... that's free money! Once you do that, you should open up a mutual fund. These are the easiest ways to get into the market without having to know too much about the market itself. Instead, you leave it to the fund manager who's sole purpose is to study the market! So, you just pick a fund that matches your ultimate investment goal and keep contributing to it! Here is some great info on mutual funds:
7. Under normal circumstances, you should not seriously consider investing unless you had satisfied at least one of the three following conditions: You have six months income worth in savings. Your current assets equal to your current liabilities. You have just acquired a sudden windfall or inheritance, which should be thought as capital and not as current income. Once ur sure of the above :u need open a demat ac, with any of the brokering firms, Reliance Money, ICICI, Sharekhan, Indiabulls and many more. A safe and convenient way to hold securities; - Immediate transfer of securities; ur good to for now, - No stamp duty on transfer of securities; - Elimination of risks associated with physical equity share certificates such as bad delivery, fake securities, delays, thefts etc; - Reduction in paperwork involved in transfer of securities; - Reduction in transaction cost; - No odd lot problem, even one equity share can be sold; - Nomination facility; - Change in address recorded with DP gets registered with all companies in which investor holds securities electronically eliminating the need to correspond with each of them separately; - Transmission of securities is done by DP eliminating correspondence with companies; - Automatic credit into demat account of equity shares, arising out of bonus/split/consolidation/merger etc. - Holding investments in equity and debt instruments in a single account.
8. I am 29 and have just started investing as well. I do not have much money to invest so I am dabbling. I knew nothing so I signed up on E*trade to make investments. They do a really good job at keeping track of my stocks and answering any question within minutes of me asking. I needed advice though because I know nothing of what to invest in. I went to http://www.shareplanner.com. It is a $210 yearly commitment, but they have done a very good job. They tell me exactly what to do, what the risk rate is, and what type of trade it is (long term investing, swing trade, shorting, ETFs, etc.). They also give very good instruction about each trade, and they do every trade with you. I have made some good money with them.