Beginner investor... looking for input from the Huge clan

[Diamond_D]

hey everybody... I'm a neighbor of Mr. Market, who I met attending many of the same Springsteen shows as myself. It was hard to miss him, covered in other men's wives and girlfriends who could barely keep their hands off when they weren't feeding him beers.

Anyway, on to me... I just turned 20, have a steady job in addition to going to school, and am looking to start doing some investing. First of all, where do you guys do your actual trading? I see Stenzrob mentioned ETrade, how does that compare with the others like Ameritrade in peoples' experiences? I've been practicing Mr. Market's portfolio selection theory and investing on Marketocracy.com with fake money for a while and am quite happy with the results. Once I get the minimum $1k together, I will open an account and get going.

Just other financial background, I also plan to get a head start and begin a retirement plan with Vangaurd in the near future... no time like the present.


Thanks for the input, and I look forward to making money with you all

[MEA_1956]

hey everybody... I'm a neighbor of Mr. Market, who I met attending many of the same Springsteen shows as myself. It was hard to miss him, covered in other men's wives and girlfriends who could barely keep their hands off when they weren't feeding him beers.

Anyway, on to me... I just turned 20, have a steady job in addition to going to school, and am looking to start doing some investing. First of all, where do you guys do your actual trading? I see Stenzrob mentioned ETrade, how does that compare with the others like Ameritrade in peoples' experiences? I've been practicing Mr. Market's portfolio selection theory and investing on Marketocracy.com with fake money for a while and am quite happy with the results. Once I get the minimum $1k together, I will open an account and get going.

Just other financial background, I also plan to get a head start and begin a retirement plan with Vangaurd in the near future... no time like the present.


Thanks for the input, and I look forward to making money with you all
FIRSTRADE is were i Place my meger pennies, Why wait. I started with only $150.00. Opened a Share Builders Acc. bought me some HDI and been in the hole ever since. So come on in the water fine. ===>MEA

[tx_damnyankee0]

hey everybody... I'm a neighbor of Mr. Market, who I met attending many of the same Springsteen shows as myself. It was hard to miss him, covered in other men's wives and girlfriends who could barely keep their hands off when they weren't feeding him beers.

Anyway, on to me... I just turned 20, have a steady job in addition to going to school, and am looking to start doing some investing. First of all, where do you guys do your actual trading? I see Stenzrob mentioned ETrade, how does that compare with the others like Ameritrade in peoples' experiences? I've been practicing Mr. Market's portfolio selection theory and investing on Marketocracy.com with fake money for a while and am quite happy with the results. Once I get the minimum $1k together, I will open an account and get going.

Just other financial background, I also plan to get a head start and begin a retirement plan with Vangaurd in the near future... no time like the present.


Thanks for the input, and I look forward to making money with you all

I have Scottrade and love it. You can start with $500.00 and they will train you how to do research and place orders. I have doubled my $$$ since July. REad all the posts, do your own research and put your stops. Don't be greedy. Sell at your % profit and stick with it. The Rothchild's had a rule of 10%. You place it where ever you are comfortable. Good luck!

[billyjoe]

Diamond D, Don't accept any 'tips' on hot stocks from anyone. They will almost always be wrong. Don't buy based on 'hunches'. You will lose. $$$Mr. Market$$$ is successful because he takes the human factor out of the process. 99% of us can't do that. Read and study everyday books and papers that use facts, not opinions about what is going to happen in the future. Ask yourself, if someone is offering stock advice, especially for $ why can't they support themselves with their own trading skills? As a teenager over 30 years ago I lost 95% of my money on the advice of a respected broker who had me buy Minnie Pearl Fried Chicken. I never made money until I began making my own decisions. Good Luck , Billyjoe

[The Kid]

Diamond D

There has been some fine advice offered here, especially Billy Joe's. My own two cents is if you have any spare pennies, nickels, dimes or dollars, do NOT put them into a regular account. If you have not done it already, open an IRA account immediately. And even better than an IRA account is a ROTH IRA account. Please look into them. They are the best things I could possibly recommend for someone your age. I mean open it up ......YESTERDAY. You can contribute up to $3000 a year into it, but can put in as little as you have. With an IRA account you can trade and follow the recommendations of the HUGE ONE and not have to worry about paying taxes at the end of the year. Please, trust me on this one. If I had opened an IRA account when I was your age, and made the kind of percentages I have been making lately, and followed BillyJoe's advice about not taking other peep's stock picks on whims, I would be retired already.

Please, for your own future finacial security and happiness, open a ROTH IRA today and contribute as much as you can to it (up to the maximum) with discipline EVERY year. Please, please, please believe me. Do that, and in fifteen years you will be smiling like you NEVER imagined! :D

Finacially yours,

The Kid

P.S. - Who is this Springsteen guy you speak of?

[kingofthehill]

here is my advice ... stay away from BROKERS ...

STOCK BROKERS
TICKET BROKERS
INSURNACE BROKERS

THEY ARE ALL AFTER YOUR HARD EARNED MONEY

best of luck

[RL]

AMEN BROTHER AMEN

[Diamond_D]

Today I sold my first two stocks (fake money, marketocracy for practice but it's a good feeling). Each for 15% gains in only 10 days, GI and FPIC using the Mr. Market screens courtesty of Karels wonderful work on the Reference forum.

And Kid, after reading lots of prospectuses and such, I am getting the minimum balance together as we speak to open a Vangaurd RothIRA before the start of the new year. Thanks for the push on that front.

[The Kid]

DiamondD,

No need to thank me now. You, your future wife and children can thank me thirty years from now when you are retired and travelling the world. :D You will be amazed to see how few people your age have opened a Roth IRA account and also amazed at how few people in the general populace realize that you can trade stocks in your IRA account. So many people have their IRA accounts in CDs, money market accounts or, at best, mutual funds. By opening an IRA account, especially a ROTH one, at such an early age, and by wisely investing in good quality companies' stocks, like those researcged by the Huge One, Stenz and others, you will be well on your way to growin' up and enjoying your glory days. :wink: :) :lol:

Happy investing, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year......Happy the rest of your life,

The Kid

[casinoboy3]

Likewise I am 19 and beginning with the stock market too. I would like to thank Mr. Market because I have bought both URBN and DHI which are now both up about 13% since I got them. You are HUGE!!!! All your stocks do is go up!

Anyway, a few questions. I put my money into a regular account. I was going to put it into a Roth IRA, but I just don't have the discipline to limit access to that money. Unless I buy a house or something, I can't touch it until I retire, right? It's just something in my mind I guess- even if I know I'm making money, knowing that I won't see any of that money for forty years doesn't make me feel to good when I could use it now. Yes, I know--- no taxes and a better retirement---- but for some reason, giving 15% of my earnings to the government now just seems (yes, I guess I'm crazy) like the better option.

Also- is there a computer program, or better yet, a website that I can carefully monitor my portfolio? Ameritrade shows my balances and trades and all that stuff, but I like graphs and statistics and the like. Seeing my profits when compared to the averages makes me feel good- but I can't really see it to well by just looking at numbers.

And an unrelated question for Mr. Market... what do you do when the market isn't so bullish? I would think your model works just as well, it just takes a little longer then 4-6 weeks? Just curious.

Again thank you!

[The Kid]

Casinoboy3,

Your user name alone makes me wonder about the nature of risk you like to take. I urge you......URGE to open a ROTH IRA. The only way I could give a person of your age better financial advice would be if I were able to give you next Saturday's Mega-Millions numbers today. :shock:

At the VERY least, open both a regular account and a ROTH IRA. Please take my advice here. As for the government taking 15%, I believe you are incorrect. Since it seems most of these holdings will be for less than six months or a year, the government (full of very, very bad people :( who do not know how to handle large amounts of money) will tax your profits as income. While your current tax bracket may indeed be 15%, with any success, a decent job will soon land you in a far higher tax bracket, and quick trades and profits will be taxed accordingly, not as capital gains (15%) but as income at whatever tax bracket you are at.

By the way, did I recommend a ROTH IRA? :lol: (With a ROTH IRA and Mr.Market sized-percentage increases in your portfolio, you will not mind taking out some of your money pre-maturely for a 10% tax penalty.......when you see how much money is in that account in TWENTY years.....not forty. 8) :shock: )

Happy investing,

The Kid

[shannonkeo]

I couldn't agree with kidd more on this one. Open the ROTH, its the best thing going (unless you get a free company match in your 401k, do that first). The deal about not getting to your money is just because of your age. It will pass. Read a few books, do a few calcs on how much money you'll need to retire, and you'll soon see that you HAVE to put money away that you don't touch, or you'll work all your life.

In a couple years, you will thank yourself (and us) for openin the ROTH. And, as kidd said, if you HAVE to have the money, all you'll have to pay is the penalty, which is less than the taxes you'll be throwing away right now.

Being 28 now, and starting this process when I was 22, I would have been extremely blessed to have someone tell me to start this when I was 19. I started as soon as I knew how, but if you start now and we have similar gains, even if I invested considerably more, I'd never catch up to you in later years.

Good luck.

[Steve]

CasinoBoy,

I have to agree with the advice presented here. Like most youths I knew then, I spent the first 5 years of my adulthood in financial folly. I saved nothing, I invested nothing, and worst of all, I bought things on credit. It took the next ten years before I was able to arrive at a financially stable position, based mostly on healthy current income. But at 35, I now have a long way to go to catch up in order to avoid working until I die, or until I'm too old to enjoy retirement.

Best advice:
1. Try to put 5-10% of your income into that IRA, now. A decade makes all the difference, to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
2. Don't use credit! If you can't buy it with cash, wait until you can. Houses and cars are the obvious exception, just don't kill your take-home because your paying off that Humvee loan each month!
3. Slow and steady wins the race. A lucky stock pick could double or triple your money in a quarter, but the unlucky second or third pick could wipe out your portfolio in even less time. (Remember the effect of Enron.)
4. You'll look really cool driving that Corvette at age 23, but you'll look even cooler driving that 50' yacht at age 40. Scarifice now pays huge dividends later on!

[viktoriya_a]

Don't buy cars on credit. Its not an "obvious" exception.

[JerzeyGuy]

Hey Casino,

One more thing about Roth. I believe if you need cash u can pull out your contributions at any time WITHOUT penalty. For exp. you place $3,000 in your IRA and you earn $1,000 trading Mr. Market stocks. You now have $4,000. You can pull out $3,000 with no penalty or Tax, since Roth IRAs are post-tax income. However, if you pulled out all $4,000 next year, then you would have to pay a 10% penalty on the earnings, which is still less than the 15% that you would pay to the govt if you were not trading in a Roth. Can anyone confirm this correct? I just recently read about this myself.

[casinoboy3]

Well after reading these posts I have no choice but to open a Roth IRA. Thanks for all the help and suggestions. I'd be saving so much money on taxes by putting the money into a Roth account now, as I would imagine I'll be in a much much higher tax bracket come a few years. And the comment about "lucky stock picks" - I couldn't agree with you more. Sure everyone would like to double/triple their money, but it's just too risky for me. I hope that by following Mr. Market's lead I'll at least beat the market.

[tscanlon]

Hey Casino,

One more thing about Roth. I believe if you need cash u can pull out your contributions at any time WITHOUT penalty. For exp. you place $3,000 in your IRA and you earn $1,000 trading Mr. Market stocks. You now have $4,000. You can pull out $3,000 with no penalty or Tax, since Roth IRAs are post-tax income. However, if you pulled out all $4,000 next year, then you would have to pay a 10% penalty on the earnings, which is still less than the 15% that you would pay to the govt if you were not trading in a Roth. Can anyone confirm this correct? I just recently read about this myself.

The 10% penalty is in addition to the income tax at your marginal rate for ordinary income (even if you had long term gains in the Roth (the transaction for a LT gain was "in" the Roth so not taxable the distribution is a separate taxable transaction). There are certain circumstances that are exceptions but require holding for 5 years first (actually if you open it in 2003 you "get credit" for the full year), the only likely one for casino would be the first time homebuyer.