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[mainiac]

But lacking basic prinicples, Panicking and overconfidence can kill very quickly.
Even with the principles, when people buy and sell based on emotion, they are usually wrong.
(according to Jim Cramer from the TV show Mad Money)

If you make it your cardinal rule that Jim Cramer is an idiot who doesn't know what he's talking about, you won't do too badly.

But the best thing you can do with stocks is just buy a broad portfolio and wait.  You are young, so this strategy is always good.  But now is a particularly good time.  A massive bubble burst recently, meaning that there isn't much overvaluing left in the market.  So barring the end of the world, the market as a whole is going to be going up from here in the long term future.

[h3lblad3]

My business professor has constantly said to buy stocks.  Buy buy buy buy buy!
So that, if we don't play it stupidly, we should be able to make enough money for an early retirement.

On a side note, a month or two ago I was listening to something interesting on the radio.
Apparently China was giving out lots of nice stimulus packages.  Money everywhere!  And, supposedly, some people over there are under the impression their economy will die soon because of it.

[mainiac]

That makes even less sense then it does over here.  China has a massive bankroll to fund their comparatively tiny stimulus.

On further consideration, I think I understand.  Depending on your point of view, China is either possibly or certainly experiencing a bubble.  If they don't unwind it properly, it could make for a very jarring shock to the system.

[Valid_Dark]

so, I'm looking for an online broker at the moment,
I've narrowed my decision down to 3 choices, and was wondering if anyone had any sort of opinions.

E-trade, Scottrade, and Lowtrade.
here is a basic rundown of each, along with pro's and cons of each.

E-trade,
big company easy to set up account / transfer funds to, no opening amount.
$10 per trade plus 75¢ contracts,  but E-trade also trades in Futures which I might expand into eventually (but probabbly not).
they do margin trading, but at like 8.5% (Margin trading is when you get a loan from them against your current investments with them, then you invest the money you get from the loan, as long as it makes more than the interest you're paying on the loan, it's another source of income)
if I can prove to myself that I can steadily make more than the interest rate, I might consider going this route.
Also, they are very easy to start an account with and easy to put money into / out of, and they have really neat stock market tools and programs that seem really helpful, and have Level 2 quotes for free.

Lowtrades,
small company, hard to set up an account, have to print off paperwork and fill it out, and have to send them a check to put money into the account.
$5 per trade, plus 60¢ contracts,
but they charge $15 a month to use their trading programs and lvl 2 quotes,  and they don't offer futures like E-trade, OR margin trading.

Scottrades
somewhat imbetween Lowtrades and E-trade,
$7 per trade, and $1.25 per contract, no futures either, but has margin trading at lower interest rate, something like 7.7%
has programs with lvl 2 quotes for free.

E-trade looks like it has the best programs and phone apps, and they have a local branch that offers free seminars and stuff to members, and I can go in and meet with financial advisers and get their opinions on my portfolio etc.

as of right now I think i'll be using a contract for most of my trades, a contract is where you set a certain price on a stock and it will automatically buy / sell when it gets to that price. 1 contract works for 100 shares,.. I think,...

oh and Lowtrade has a min. opening amount of $500, but thats how much I was planning on starting with anyways, the other 2 don't have any sort of min. opening amount.

soooooo opinions?
I think i'll have 2 or 3 different stocks at a time, going to try to aim for stocks with lower values, or maybe even penny stocks if I can work it out.

because buying a stock thats $20 and selling at $25 is a 25% profit, while a $1 stock going to $1.25 is also a 25% profit, and a stock is more likely to climb 25¢ than $5 in a short period of time,

I realized nobody really looks in the advice board, so I'm making a thread about this in the general board.

[Virex]

@ Nilocy:Not a good time to buy, you should be waiting a few years and the economy will slowly climb back up.

If you believe that, you should be going short.

[Valid_Dark]

Starting paper trading today, after 5 or 10 successful trades, or as soon as I get comfortable enough doing it, I'm going to switch to real money.
and I decided I'm getting a used car instead of a new car, and putting that extra money I was going to spend on a New car into the market.

[Azthor]

Pray tell, why are brokers even being suggested as the first option for people who've made a point out of wanting to start small? Direct Stock Purchase Plans & Dividend Reinvestment Plans, though more restrictive, are the superior choice for sums where the transaction fees's fixed value will often match the percentual profit margin. If you are inexperienced, you are only barely more likely to make money than lose it, and that is disregarding whether you cover monetary devaluation; stacking it against yourselves by enduring fixed fees totaling to a significant sum of your investment is just a way of gambling with the odds stacked against you.

because buying a stock thats $20 and selling at $25 is a 25% profit, while a $1 stock going to $1.25 is also a 25% profit, and a stock is more likely to climb 25¢ than $5 in a short period of time,

That is an illusory advantage at best; if anything, even if the relative variation of the $1 stock were to be greater than that of the $20 one, the same would apply to losses, ultimately cutting even. Also, you should use price-earnings & price-equity to determine how expensive a stock is, not just their current absolute value.

Spreading your investments through multiple stocks is, indeed, the way to go, lest your investments be held hostage by the swaying of a single factor.

*notices the thread is from 2010 *facepalms*

[LASD]

@ Nilocy:Not a good time to buy, you should be waiting a few years and the economy will slowly climb back up.

If you believe that, you should be going short.

Did you intentionally quote a 3-year old post? But yeah, here's a great chance for us to wonder if the economy has actually climbed back up.

[Levi]

@ Nilocy:Not a good time to buy, you should be waiting a few years and the economy will slowly climb back up.

If you believe that, you should be going short.

Did you intentionally quote a 3-year old post? But yeah, here's a great chance for us to wonder if the economy has actually climbed back up.

Well my stocks sure haven't.   

[Valid_Dark]

I haven't started paper trading yet,
I signed up with a broker and everything, but I just got a wii-U and have been busy playing with it.
I'll get around to stocks sooner or later.

[Immortal]

I use Questrade personally. They are super cheap, and it shows. You get what you pay for though! I'm not playing with much money (5k).

On the topic of penny stocks, that's what I trade in usually. Things pop and burst easily though.

So does anyone have some interesting stocks? Also holy crap necro.