Online investing

[George K]

Is anyone here an online trader? I have been thinking about getting into the game for years, and now I have some $ set aside and a few stocks that I have been watching are looking good.
Any recommendations on which service is the best? This is not a high dollar investment, so I don't want to be eaten to death with fees.
Right now, I'm leaning towards TD Ameritrade...
Anything good/bad about them or the others (Scottrade, E*Trade etc.)

[Erik]

Yeah, I've been doing it for years.
However, I dont know the US online services, so I cant help you there.
(I think E*trend has been available here, and I think I used their interface, but I'm not sure.)

What you look for is:
* Safety, you want a service that is easy to log into, but still safe from someone else getting access. I dont think this is a problem anywhere, but I do know that a few services I've seen is a pain to log into. I find that annoying,
* You want it to work, and dont go down all the time, or at the worst times. And you want a good phone support if there's a crisis.
* User interface. you want it to be easy to check how your stocks are doing, and keep up-to-date with what's happening. Also nice to have access to diagrams and history. I think all of them offer this now, but it's always a personal choice if you like the interface.
* I'd like the possibility to call them to buy or sell. Even if it's a higher fee if you call, it's nice to have the option. In case you really want to buy/sell and cant get online...

Apart from that, just go for the cheapest one. But check all prices that apply, for everything. They price it differently, some charge a minimum fee, and that can be different too.

If you're not sure, just try one that is wellknown, and if you dont like it, change. I'm currently using two different banks myself.

[mekender]

what kind of starting $$ would one need to get involved?

[George K]

I'm seeing $500 to $1000 at most places for stocks. Mutual funds or other investments may require more to start... (don't really know for sure, I'm just wanting to do stocks...)

[Erik]

what kind of starting $$ would one need to get involved?

Again, I dont really know how things are in the US, but my recommendation is that you should be able to buy at least 4 different shares without having the minimum fee being higher than the percentage fee for the buy. Otherwise, the fees will eat up any profit.
If you want to be serious about stock investment, you need to have at least 4 stocks to be sure that the occational wrong pick wont crush you.

If not, you are probably better off investing elsewhere. Unless you want to do it more as a hobby, then you can start with what you got, and try to build it up slowly.

[Erik]

$500 or $1000 will work, if you are a bit selective with your picks to start with.
Anyway, if you want to, go for it. It's an interesting hobby, and it's fun too. And if you use your head, it can be very profitable too.

Right now is probably a pretty good time to start, with stocks cheap. As long as you pick the right ones, that will take off later. And have patience to wait it out.

[mekender]

any suggestions on where one would go to get started with info and suggestions on stocks etc?

[Erik]

My tip:
Watch the news, read financial papers, WSJ, FT, etc... Just read up on what you can, the more you know the better.

First thing is to find candidates, and you can do that by finding a good market, or just find a good company. There are so many companies, you need to limit it a bit before you can research the companies.
So if you think oil is going to do well, you start looking at oilcompanies, if you think IT companies will go well, you start looking for IT companies that look promising, etc..

Then read up on them, see what other say about them, usually you can read what some of the pros recommend. That's a good starting point.

Then you can log into the site where you do your investing, and check how the stocks have been moving. And usually, they provide some tips too.

One tip I can offer:
Get whatever tips you can from others, but dont ever buy just on someones say so. Taking a loss wont feel that bad if you made a mistake, but you will really get mad if you loose money on a stock you didn't pick yourself.

[rightisright]

To echo what Erik said, read, read and READ.

I'm assuming you are looking for growth and not a quick buck. If that is the case, buy yourself a few bluechip stocks. If you have a bit more to invest at a later date, an index fund can help spread your risk.

When I first started investing about 15 years ago, I would read all the mags, WSJ and what was available on the web at the time. Over time, you will start to get a consensus of what sectors and particular stocks are going to give you good growth. DON'T rely on just one or two sources of info. Obviously, when I started investing, tech stocks were the bomb. I picked some losers (Iomega), but overall I did pretty well. Most importantly, I didn't just throw cash at every dot-com that had an IPO.

I made some decent bucks in that market. I'd like to say I was a genius and foresaw the tech bust, but the truth is, I wanted a large down payment for a house so I could minimize my mortgage payment, so I took a lot of money out of my portfolio just before the big crash. For the most part, I was lucky.

I did learn a lesson from the tech bust. I realized I don't know nearly enough about the market to make quick buy and sell choices. Now, I don't follow the market nearly as closely as I used to. Hell, I didn't even look at my portfolio this week. I'm too scared!!!!

My investments are much more conservative now. I'm 41 and am looking for long term growth. If I want to gamble, I'll head to Atlantic City (which I do on occasion). My broker makes suggestions, I do a bit of research and make a decision.

Bottom line is you should start out with some blue chips as your foundation and build from there.

Usual caveats apply.