Any Smart Financial People Here? Anyone Own Stocks?

[stewaat]

Re: Any Smart Financial People Here? Anyone Own Stocks?

https://www.zecco.com

Only $5/trade which is about as cheap as you're going to get.

You can buy stocks based using two different methods:

Fundamental - You believe the fundamentals of the company are very strong and you believe their stock will go up in the future.

Technical - You look at historical charts and use certain indicators to make the best guess of how the stock will move. This method is used by primarily day traders. (I do not suggest this at all! Very risky unless you are very good. Trust me, I've lost some money with this.)

Here's how you make money:

Buy 1,000 shares of Fannie Mae (FNM) @ $0.40 (was this low about a couple weeks ago)
Sell 1,000 shares of Fannie Mae @ $0.90

Bought at $400
Sold at $900

Profit = 900-400 = 500
Trading commissions = 10
500-10 = 490 PROFIT

Or look at my example with FNM:

Bought 1,000 shares of Fannie Mae @ $0.96 ($960)
Thought about selling at $0.40 because I was scared...if I had:

400-960= 560 LOSS

580 total loss because I'm using TD amertrade which is $10/trade (buy & sell)

However I held and it is at $0.86 right now, which is a $100 unrealized loss for me right now + the $20 I will owe in commissions.

The market is very volatile at the moment and unless you want to "gamble" I would highly suggest about investing, unless you use the fundamental approach and do it for long term.

I'm holding on to FNM for a while because I think they will be bailed out and recover.

[BTB]

Re: Any Smart Financial People Here? Anyone Own Stocks?

www.zecco.com

Only $5/trade which is about as cheap as you're going to get.

You can buy stocks based using two different methods:

Fundamental - You believe the fundamentals of the company are very strong and you believe their stock will go up in the future.

Technical - You look at historical charts and use certain indicators to make the best guess of how the stock will move. This method is used by primarily day traders. (I do not suggest this at all! Very risky unless you are very good. Trust me, I've lost some money with this.)

Here's how you make money:

Buy 1,000 shares of Fannie Mae (FNM) @ $0.40 (was this low about a couple weeks ago)
Sell 1,000 shares of Fannie Mae @ $0.90

Bought at $400
Sold at $900

Profit = 900-400 = 500
Trading commissions = 10
500-10 = 490 PROFIT

Or look at my example with FNM:

Bought 1,000 shares of Fannie Mae @ $0.96 ($960)
Thought about selling at $0.40 because I was scared...if I had:

400-960= 560 LOSS

580 total loss because I'm using TD amertrade which is $10/trade (buy & sell)

However I held and it is at $0.86 right now, which is a $100 unrealized loss for me right now + the $20 I will owe in commissions.

The market is very volatile at the moment and unless you want to "gamble" I would highly suggest about investing, unless you use the fundamental approach and do it for long term.

I'm holding on to FNM for a while because I think they will be bailed out and recover.

Shoulda got in on some of the other bailout candidates

Not gonna name names, but I got one at around 2 when it was bailed out and is now at around 8. Solid.

[TMagic]

Re: Any Smart Financial People Here? Anyone Own Stocks?

So are there any industries that are bad stocks to buy compared to others? Like pharmaceutical vs. Video game companies (I thought about getting stock in "Take two", expecting a buy out).

And I see there are a lot of numbers to look at, but have no idea what they are indicative of. Didn't know if I should ignore these, and just go with my gut. Just buy stock in companies that I think will have great success in the future.

[p_rushing]

Re: Any Smart Financial People Here? Anyone Own Stocks?

Sorry but you don't need to be buying stock yourself. You need to first max out your 401k if you have one, and then if you have money left over, look at other options. Talk to a financial planner and let them know what you want to do and they will have lots of things you can put your money in. Right now, you probably don't have a lot of money, so you just need to open some type of account where you can put money into each month and let them handle it. If you want a safe bet, just get some CDs, you can get over 4% and that is guaranteed and backed if the bank goes under.

[auburntigersfan]

Re: Any Smart Financial People Here? Anyone Own Stocks?

There really isn't too much money to be made in stocks by the average person.

[billysims]

Re: Any Smart Financial People Here? Anyone Own Stocks?

Again, I don't know much about stock. But to me, it would seem like it would make more sense to buy now as the stocks look like they are super cheap. Then just wait it out, until the stocks climb back up again.

TMagic: as you can now see, lots of opinions and alot of answers. But you have to do what's best for you. Ther's no one right or wrong way.

One thing to consider, rather than buying stocks of individual companies, is to buy into a mutual fund. There are tons of companies that offer them, and they all offer lots of different types mutual funds for different types of investors. A mutual fund essentially is made up of stocks (or bonds) from many different companies or municipailities (and they usually hold some highly liquid money market investments also). Different mutual funds have different goals (for example, growth, income, capital preservation, etc). The good thing about a mutual fund is that the risk is spread out over many different stocks or bonds that it holds in the fund. You buy mutual fund shares (like you do of any stock), you get a monthly statement, you can invest the same amount of $ regularly if you want (I recommend that), or you can buy and hold your shares and wait to see how it goes. I found mutual funds to be a really good way to get started in investing. Try Vanguard or T Rowe Price; they have alot of different funds for lots of different investment goals that you might have.
Good luck....

[Trevytrev11]

Re: Any Smart Financial People Here? Anyone Own Stocks?

Sorry but you don't need to be buying stock yourself. You need to first max out your 401k if you have one, and then if you have money left over, look at other options.

Assuming there is a company match, then I agree. If not, then your limiting your investments to the handfull of funds your company's plan offers (often only between 10-20 funds). He may be better off putting his funds into one of the many IRA's offered.

[TMagic]

Re: Any Smart Financial People Here? Anyone Own Stocks?

So is there a specific technique that people follow when investing in stock of a company?

Or is it just your opinion?

Like I was looking at a stock for a company with a buddy of mine who knows what the hell he's talking about. At least when it comes to all the numbers and what they mean.

But he looked at the numbers for this company I was interested, and basically said that they wouldn't be good to invest in.

But me personally, I feel like the company will blow up for my own reasons. It is my opinion that the company will get pretty big and have great success.

I didn't know if the numbers he showed were definite in showing what is to come for them, or if they are merely "tools" to predict the future of the company without really knowing.

So are the numbers important, or should one going with their gut?