I see many people in the bank, buying and playing with the , is there a way or can anyone teach me how to begin investing? How dificult it is?

 

  • Paul U 8:04 am on November 28, 2009 Permalink

    As you have probably noticed there is a lot of information out there regarding investing. The difficulty is figuring out which arena to participate in. Stocks have certainly had a nice run this past year or two; mutual funds are good choices to diversify your portfolio with a good mix of stocks. Personally, I have been finding the most fun and profit has been in the foreign currency market.

    The challenge for you will come in the fact that the investments with the most potential profit will usually also have the greatest risk. The foreign currency market (Forex) has a great feature called leverage where a small investment can control a sizeable amount of currency. As I mentioned this could be good or bad depending on which way the market moves. Many of us use a process called hedging where we are protected regardless of which way the market moves. This technique is working great for me in keeping any losses small while capturing frequent nice sized gains.

    I would be happy to discuss this with you further. Just drop me a line at your convenience.

    Best wishes for a prosperous 2007.

    Paul

  • Matt C 8:04 am on November 28, 2009 Permalink

    Its extremely easy. You can go to tdameritrade.com and start trading online.

  • The Homeless Guy(NYC) 8:04 am on November 28, 2009 Permalink

    Depends.

  • atomm19 8:04 am on November 28, 2009 Permalink

    Its not that hard you just have to do your homework. It might help you to pick a few stocks and track them over a few weeks to see how you do. The key is to be an educated investor, meaning you watch whats going on in the market with particular sectors or companies. A great way to start would be to go to your banks financial advisor and get started in mutual funds. These funds have a variety of stocks in what is called a portfolio. They often have a fund management team that takes a small commision off the funds earnings in exchange for running it.

  • Rabbit 8:04 am on November 28, 2009 Permalink

    Oh, yeah, it is hard. Recently, I bought some Gateway stock. News was good, prospects were good, and it even rose a few cents for a while. When a piece of news recommending the stock came out, I sat back and smiled–I was on the right track. But then it fell, and fell, and fell–so I sold it. Then it rose, and rose, and rose.

    Sometimes it is hard to separate trading from investing. Sometimes stocks are like fish you try to catch with your own hands. That is the hard part. Meanwhile, I also picked another company, that rose, and rose, and rose, and I still have it. It too will flounder in time, but I’ve got to be patient.

    Your friends who are "playing" with stocks, are gambling with real money. But stocks don’t have to be a casino bet. That is where investing comes in. Read about companies and what they are doing. BusinessWeek and CNN.com/Money have piles of articles about companies doing good things, doing bad things, doing new things. When one strikes your interest and you say, I want to be part of that! Then shake loose a few bucks from your discretionary savings, money that wouldn’t kill you if you lost it, and buy some shares (Scottrade and Sharebuilder.com are two easy brokerages to help you make the purchase). Then ignore it except every now and then over the year. When you see good news, you can confidently say, "I’m part of that". It is like watching your team score. That is investing, that is easy.

  • nighthawk 8:04 am on November 28, 2009 Permalink

    Its hard for those who try and time it.

  • moneytalks0987 8:04 am on November 28, 2009 Permalink

    trading is easy, but investing takes a lot of time and knowledge, see http://ibooyah.com for more stock tips and investment matters.

  • 4XTrader 8:04 am on November 28, 2009 Permalink

    Trading is easy, making money trading is tough. According to a study conducted by the Harvard School of Business, 97% lose money trading.

    It takes time to learn how the markets work, how to do your analysis, how to develop your trading plan and learning discipline. There is a learning curve and it (for the most part) takes time. Just like you don’t just decide 1 day to be a doctor and start working at a hospital the next day, the same thing applies to trading. You have to learn and become educated and the losses you’ll incur are your tuition. It takes time, but when you finally learn the ropes, boy is it great.

  • Carlos G 8:04 am on November 28, 2009 Permalink

    With the advent of online brokers trading is easier and cheaper than before.

    The hard thing is to know which stocks to buy/sell.

    You need to try out your trades at least half a year on simulators -paper trading- before starting with real money.

    Start out with ETFs like SPY. After all before you invest in stocks, you need to know where the market is going. You need to learn about technical analysis and economy indicator to do so.

  • cowgirlblu2 8:04 am on November 28, 2009 Permalink

    Sure I can tell you what I know

    IM beard51279@yahoo.com