Stock Market

[Omaha Red Sox]

Bumping this up.


I never did take the plunge of dabbling in stocks myself. I have a broker and really only pay attention to it quarterly. But, I'm getting more and more interested and have started to study up.

Anybody try out Investopedia? It's basically a stock trading simulator. Pretty cool. At least could prepare you a little bit in terms of the basics, which is where I'm starting.

I have a buddy that basically lives off of the income he makes from trading stocks. I will definitely be picking his brain. His first bit of advice was against Day Trading. Too complicated and the fees will add up.

Anything else anyone could add to this "old" discussion?

[biju]

I would strongly recommend these two books as reading material as they will discuss some strong investing concepts:

The Intelligent Asset Allocator
A Random Walk Down Wall Street

You can read the first chapter of the first book on Amazon for free if you're interested in the style and concepts you'll encounter, along with the author's general attitude on investing. I hate to mention my particular stock market investments because I'm a single data point and ultimately an outlier in terms of typical return during a recession, but I will say that my returns over the past 3 years are far above what one might expect. Regardless, these books were the recommendations of some really smart and experienced investors I know and I definitely pass the same advice to you.

Good luck!

[Omaha Red Sox]

Awesome biju, thanks! For the record, the majority of our money right now is invested elsewhere. I was considering something like a smaller chunk, something like $11K, just to put towards some aggressive trading. However, it appears the more and more I look into it, as with most things, it’s about who you know and “it depends”. Still might give it a shot at some point, after extensive research.

[scottaa1]

Awesome biju, thanks! .

x 2. I'm going to give those books a look myself.

[moochman]

I will gladly help with any trading advice that anyone has. I have been actively trading for the last two years and have learned much. The most important advice is to do your own due diligence. Getting help and advice from friends, websites, or Cafeholics is great, but it is your money, your wins and losses, your decision. Do your homework, you are solely responsible for your trading.

If you don't have one, start an IRA. At once. If your job offers to match any funds you put in, take full advantage of that. That's free money, and you don't see that very often. There are different types of retirement accounts, most noted are the 401K and Roth IRAs. The best advice I can give anyone of you is to make sure you are putting something into an IRA.
I recommend you do what is called dollar cost averaging with your IRA.
My preferrence is for a blend of funds and high dividend paying stocks along with a small portion of riskier growth stocks. The one thing I don't want to do is gamble much in a retirement account.

As biju said, find some good investment books, find something that suits your stlye. There are several free stock trading simulators out there, like Ohama Red Sox mentioned. Use them like you would a mock draft site, be serious and you will learn much. Goof around and you are wasting your time, and eventually your money. There are many trading strategies, and a simulator is a great way to see how strategies perform.
Again, I am a very active trader and love investing. More than happy to trade ideas with my fellow Cafers.