stocks

[cmdmfr]

My wife and I are planning on buying some shares of stocks but have never dealt with them before can anyone advise me who I can contact to guide me, and help me with the purchase. We are only planing on buying about $300.00 worth so we do not loose much money.

 

[ricoba]

For that amount, I suggest you use Sharebuilderhttp://www.sharebuilder.com/ or a similar broker where you can buy fractional shares.

Their website is easy to use and understand.

 

[geekette]

Sharebuilder is an excellent idea!

You might check out motleyfool.com to start educating yourself. There are many financial magazines and websites to help you also.

I'm a big believer in DRIPS (dividend reinvestment plans), which allow you to start with small amounts, and have the dividends reinvested to buy more shares over time. It's a bit of a dollar cost averaging method and totally appropriate for me, a small timer with a long time line. I was able to buy in to some plans with as little as $50 - 100. Given the amount you plan to invest, DRIPS might be worth a look so you could diversify, even with a small starting sum.

Before Sharebuilder took it over, netstockdirect.com had listings of the plans. I'm not sure where to find one now, but you can google for it.

Do you know what you are going to buy yet, or are you just now at the "let's look into this" stage, and not sure what company, or even industry, you plan to invest in? If that's the case, do research, lots of it. I like to buy companies I believe in over the long haul (I'm a buy and hold investor, so far) and direct my research that way. evaluate your reasons for investing and goals and research towards that.

Good luck. And congratulations for deciding to seize an opportunity vs just seizing.

 

[Eric in McLean]

What are you doing in terms of saving for retirement? I suggest you go to talk a financial advisoir who can map out a strategy for you.

 

[PigsDad]

Another option is to find a brokerage that has low trade fees and no minimum balance / activity fees. Scottrade ($7/trade) is one that I would recommend in this category (no affiliation other than a satisfied customer for several years).

Kurt

 

[DeniseM]

Unless you are just doing this for the experience, there is little point in buying $300 worth of stock, especially if it's money you can't afford to lose. When you buy stock, you can lose all of the money invested. If you just want a little investment - buy a CD or a bond. If you tell us what your objective is, we can probably make more accurate suggestions.

 

[Icarus]

I don't know if this is targeted or not, but I got a promotional email from ING/Sharebuilder for a $50 account credit after your first trade or purchase.

$50 New Account Bonus
To make it even easier, we're going to give you $50 to get started. Simply open a new account using the promotion code ORANGE50CASH and make a trade before 12/31/08. Within 4-6 weeks you'll see a $50 deposit in your account.

I took the opportunity to set up a $100 monthly purchase plan to buy Costco stock. I love Costco and from everything I've read about it it's a very well managed company that treats their employees very well. So I guess I'm buying what I know and like, regardless of the price.

-David

 

[geekette]

Unless you are just doing this for the experience, there is little point in buying $300 worth of stock, especially if it's money you can't afford to lose. When you buy stock, you can lose all of the money invested. If you just want a little investment - buy a CD or a bond. If you tell us what your objective is, we can probably make more accurate suggestions.

I disagree (except the 'can't afford to lose part'). My first few investments years ago were smaller than that and over time have grown nicely. You don't have to save up thousands to buy stock.

CDs aren't quite growth assets, with fixed, and very small, rates of return. And you can't sell when you want without incurring penalties. Bonds will go down when the market goes up.

Totally agree that OP's objectives would be helpful to know.

 

[ricoba]

In a market like our current one, and with stocks going all over the place, this is a great market to do long term investing through Dollar Cost Averaging, which is very easy to do through Sharebuilder.

 

[AwayWeGo]

Taking Chances.

I'm cashing out what's left of my 401k & investing it all in Power Ball tickets.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[PigsDad]

I'm cashing out what's left of my 401k & investing it all in Power Ball tickets.

I know you are making light, but the sad thing is that there really are people out there who honestly believe buying lottery tickets is an investment!

To the OP: I agree w/ Ricoba, $300 is not too small to invest in the stock market. If that is your only savings, that would be a different story -- but it sounds like you just want to diversify out a bit.

Kurt