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Buying stock?
kathos
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So I wanted to buy some stock, I have around $100 to play with. But I know nothing about buying stock.
Is there a guide somewhere I could look through (or someone I could talk to in Toronto, and tips would help greatly.
For the record, I have RRSPs, mutual funds etc, so this $100 is completely disposal income. And I live in Ontario, Canada (Toronto).
Thanks!
Is there a guide somewhere I could look through (or someone I could talk to in Toronto, and tips would help greatly.
For the record, I have RRSPs, mutual funds etc, so this $100 is completely disposal income. And I live in Ontario, Canada (Toronto).
Thanks!
kathos on
0
Posts
If you can save up $2500 and invest in stocks through Zecco then you can get ten free trades per month.
I learned about 1500 bucks worth of that lesson a few months ago (ironically, a month or so after Thanatos and I had a bit of a mini-debate on whether it was better to put money in the stock market or in an IRA... a debate that, in retrospect, I realize he was entirely correct on). Since that body blow to the wallet, I've had a solid change of heart in my opinion on the intelligence of purchasing penny stocks, as well as my own intelligence up to this point in my life.
But I digress... don't learn it the same way I did. Try to keep out of the penny stocks.
As the economy grows (and inevitably, over a long period of time, it does), so will the value of (stable) stocks/mutual bonds/etc... and therefore, so will your IRA.
Now, don't take that as a deterrent. You may want to just put it in a savings account, add a little, and then eventually once you've gotten around ~$2000 then you can fiddle around. But take it seriously, stay constantly informed, never, ever, ever invest in penny stocks, diversify your assets across different companies and industries in general, and have a little bit of patience.
As it is right now, February~April is looking like a bear market, so you could find some bargains.
If it makes you feel any better, I just got the annual report on my domestic high-yield contrarian fund, and the growth on that was 1.3%. My savings account did substantially better. :P However, the three-year APR on that fund is 9.5%, the five-year APR is 13.5%, and the ten-year APR is around 11%. Since it's a Roth IRA, you're in it for the long-term; worrying about having a bad year (and the past year has been exceptionally bad) is just gonna give you ulcers. If you think the fund is a genuine loser, you might want to pull out, but most of these high-yield funds (which is where you should be) are gonna have years like that.
I think the best description of penny stocks that I've head is that they're for people who want to gamble but can't get to Atlantic City.
If the OP is serious about getting into the market, he should look into mutual funds. American Funds are pretty good, and their A-class fees are only .54%, so he'll get most of his money invested.
Aye, in retrospect I think that's EXACTLY what was wrong with me. My whole family is really into gambling and I never liked the concept of it... but I eagerly jumped into the shark's pool of penny stocks with the same glee that my older brother would jump into a blackjack game.
When it's penny stocks, it's as much gambling as if there were cards or dice involved. Possibly even worse, because there's some really crafty assholes out there who have ways of manipulating the price of those small-value stocks by spreading rumors and such. Basically making the whole well poisoned to begin with.