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[Descan]

This is their "Why Use E*Trade Page"


A friend linked me to them, and I figured I'd talk to the smartest bastards this side of the internet. I'm basically terrible at financial research, and I was wondering if anyone used these guys or heard good/bad things about them?


They seem to be an investment help company. You know, online chats, programs to buy to 'make it easier', that kind of thing. And hey, I'd like to invest in companies. I just don't want to get shanked. And as long as Google, Microsoft, even Apple don't go down the tubes in a year, I should be nominally safe, yeah?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I always feel weird making topics. Not sure if I'll get anything out of this.


You all know me! You know I'm not a spambot! So yeah. Answers plox. :>

[Bauglir]

They're legit enough to have had television commercials with a talking baby for years.

Yeah that probably doesn't help you.

[Descan]

Talking babies are definitely pluses.

Wait no. The opposite of that. Forever.

[Lord Dullard]

If all you're looking to do is invest in Google, Apple, etc., why even bother with them? Just go through Scottrade or something, there's no reason to look for advice.

Edited to add:
What most of these investment advisor types will tell you is that with large, established companies you won't see a lot of potential growth because they're already large and secure. This is true, but if what you're looking for is a lack of crazy risk, just invest in the large, established companies.

[Ancre]

Talking babies are definitely pluses.

Wait no. The opposite of that. Forever.

Yeah. I hate that ad so much. Please go away, talking baby.

[Pnx]

Talking babies are definitely pluses.

Wait no. The opposite of that. Forever.

Yeah. I hate that ad so much. Please go away, talking baby.

And of course having advertising doesn't mean they're legitimate, it just means they've managed to stay in business a long while.

I mean FreeCreditReport.com has been doing those annoying ads for years and that site is a total scam.

I wish I knew something about making investments so I could give advice.

[Sir Finkus]

If all you're looking to do is invest in Google, Apple, etc., why even bother with them? Just go through Scottrade or something, there's no reason to look for advice.

Edited to add:
What most of these investment advisor types will tell you is that with large, established companies you won't see a lot of potential growth because they're already large and secure. This is true, but if what you're looking for is a lack of crazy risk, just invest in the large, established companies.

Which is a good idea.  You shouldn't play the stock market like a slot machine unless you really know what you're doing (you don't).

[Descan]

Yeah, I'm not looking to play the stock market. I'm just looking to make a little money on the side with some spare cash.

[Pnx]

Investing in big companies is essentially considered a replacement for savings accounts, since savings accounts no longer actually have a high enough interest rate to offset inflation, so you're technically value off of money you have sitting in a savings account. I believe Truean said the reason banks don't offer a high enough interest rate to offset inflation is because of a law put into place when inflation was lower that put a cap on interest (regulating interest is a good idea because it stops crazy interest rate shenanigans).

[RedKing]

Another good website that offers financial and investing advice is The Motley Fool. While they no longer have quite the hipster-geek cachet that they did in the 90's, it's still a pretty good site.

They had seemed to be sage advisers in the 1990's, but that was partially because the market was BOOMING during the 90's. Seriously, a chimp flinging dung at random stock picks could have made money. Dunno if they still have it, but they used to host an online trading browser game with prizes for the monthly winners. I pretty regularly could get 30-40% return in a few months back then, which wasn't even near the top 10% of the pack. You had these guys who'd throw all their money into penny stocks, and then (I always suspected) went and bought some in real life. Stock goes up a few cents and they're looking at 800% returns in game....yay for metagaming the system.