Posted: 7/9/2013 11:43:44 AM EDT
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I currently have a 401k/457 that I've allocated with the help of a financial advisor. I also recently opened an invenstment account with sharebuilder to start doing some investing on my own. I'm starting out very small. $25 per pay check, I know it's not much but it's what I'm comfortable with right now and honestly what I can afford at the moment. I'm currently saving right at 20% of my pretax income with my other investments. This account is really about me learning how to invest and create wealth, the process is very intriguing to me. My question is where the hell do I go to educate myself on the topic? I have absolutely no idea where to start.
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I learned a great deal on Fidelity's website. If you don't have an account with them, I'm not sure if you can access all the material.
If you do, they have videos and other tools that explain the basics of investing up to advanced topics. All of it is pretty good stuff. |
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I learned a great deal on Fidelity's website. If you don't have an account with them, I'm not sure if you can access all the material. If you do, they have videos and other tools that explain the basics of investing up to advanced topics. All of it is pretty good stuff. Ok, I'll look into that. Thanks |
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I currently have a 401k/457 that I've allocated with the help of a financial advisor. I also recently opened an invenstment account with sharebuilder to start doing some investing on my own. I'm starting out very small. $25 per pay check, I know it's not much but it's what I'm comfortable with right now and honestly what I can afford at the moment. I'm currently saving right at 20% of my pretax income with my other investments. This account is really about me learning how to invest and create wealth, the process is very intriguing to me. My question is where the hell do I go to educate myself on the topic? I have absolutely no idea where to start. Thanks! We aren't talking about serious money right now so why not take a few hundred bucks and buy some shares of some well known profitable company and then sit back and see how it goes. The point being to see the process in action that way you'll have some context when you go to read books or websites on the subject. Make sure to come back often and ask a lot of questions on the web as well. You will get both good information and bad information but with experience comes the ability to filter out the bad information and focus in on the good information. My nugget that I'll throw out is make earnings your god when it comes to investing. As a simplistic rule of thumb, look for companies with a P/E (Price to Earnings) ratio of 10 to 20 and earnings that are projected to grow. That's not a rule to live by but it's a good place to start in order to avoid some of the obvious rookie mistakes that most new investors usually make. A good place to make your first investments is by looking at the Dow Jones Industrial Average components. There are only 30 stocks that make up that index and pretty much all of them are reputable and profitable companies. Pick one where you understand (and maybe even enjoy) their product that way you'll be naturally in tune to the news that comes out about them. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dow_Jones_Industrial_Average#Components I'm a "learn by doing and questioning" type so my advice is based on that personality type. If you learn well by reading and studying then I'm sure other members will post some good reads and tutorials. |
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I currently have a 401k/457 that I've allocated with the help of a financial advisor. I also recently opened an invenstment account with sharebuilder to start doing some investing on my own. I'm starting out very small. $25 per pay check, I know it's not much but it's what I'm comfortable with right now and honestly what I can afford at the moment. I'm currently saving right at 20% of my pretax income with my other investments. This account is really about me learning how to invest and create wealth, the process is very intriguing to me. My question is where the hell do I go to educate myself on the topic? I have absolutely no idea where to start. Thanks! We aren't talking about serious money right now so why not take a few hundred bucks and buy some shares of some well known profitable company and then sit back and see how it goes. The point being to see the process in action that way you'll have some context when you go to read books or websites on the subject. Make sure to come back often and ask a lot of questions on the web as well. You will get both good information and bad information but with experience comes the ability to filter out the bad information and focus in on the good information. My nugget that I'll throw out is make earnings your god when it comes to investing. As a simplistic rule of thumb, look for companies with a P/E (Price to Earnings) ratio of 10 to 20 and earnings that are projected to grow. That's not a rule to live by but it's a good place to start in order to avoid some of the obvious rookie mistakes that most new investors usually make. A good place to make your first investments is by looking at the Dow Jones Industrial Average components. There are only 30 stocks that make up that index and pretty much all of them are reputable and profitable companies. Pick one where you understand (and maybe even enjoy) their product that way you'll be naturally in tune to the news that comes out about them. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dow_Jones_Industrial_Average#Components I'm a "learn by doing and questioning" type so my advice is based on that personality type. If you learn well by reading and studying then I'm sure other members will post some good reads and tutorials. This is awesome. Thank you! I'm taking this as a learn by doing project so your advice hit home perfectly. Will check out the Dow tomorrow and go from there. Thanks for the advice and the nugget! |
| I started with a base from my parents, and then a good friends advice who was willing to show me his whole portfolio, and what he had invested in and why for the last 40 years. Then he set me up with a broker he trusted. Then I started reading books and following the news like it was my second job. Its handy if you can find someone who loves it who you can be candid and open with about your investments and chat on the phone. |
| Check out bogleheads.com for more info.... I read some early-retirement.org posts too, just to learn. I would put my money in a 457 or an ira before i started taxable accounts, but that's just me. My 457b makes more each year in interest than I can contribute, but it took a few years of maxing it out to get there... |
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Check out bogleheads.com for more info.... I read some early-retirement.org posts too, just to learn. I would put my money in a 457 or an ira before i started taxable accounts, but that's just me. My 457b makes more each year in interest than I can contribute, but it took a few years of maxing it out to get there... I'm doing a 401k and 457. Wanted to get a hands on approach to investing. |
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What is a hands on approach to investing? Making frequent small amount trades and getting killed on transaction fees, and picking stocks like you pick horses? Hot tip this and hot tip that? Surefire way to lose.
Buy what you want under the umbrella of your 457b, right off the bat you make an extra % of whatever your marginal tax rate is, which will compound over the years. Unless you already max out your tax deferred accounts, of course, but you wouldn't be here then. Otherwise if it's just for fun, set up a vanguard accout for lower fees, or a fidelity one if you want a little hand holding, and a local office you can go to- in my area they put on investment seminars and workshops fairly frequently. |
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Pick up any of Peter Lynch's books. I have my own strategy that mainly involves watching things I like with no ego attached. When I trade, I only trade in things that I don't mind holding for a year or more. That's how I ended up with 13000 shares of KO right now. I made great money on the short term and got boxed into a long term play on something that I don't mind being boxed in on. I just gathered a few shares of LMT for the same reason. It fell below my personal valuation (especially just before earnings) due to the dreamliner fire at Heathrow and people taking earnings from the Bernake bump and the carrier landing this week. All effect the price. That's why it's so important to know the fundamentals so you can look at a valuation and figure a target price or take someone elses target price and figure out why they set that target. I started with just 100 shares of Exxon given to me as a baby by my grandfather. I leveraged and worked and retired a millionaire at 32. I was a multimillionaire before I turned 39. Some through business, most through investing and some through trading. I stick with what I know, but I also have added to that intellectual toolbox through the years. I have read the series 7 exam manual several times just for the education. I read everything I can on technicals vs fundamentals. I have learned what options are and why (despite doing it every now and then) shorting is a suckers game. All that started with my grandfather sitting me down about the same time I could crawl and teaching me about compound investing and what a D.R.I.P. was. What I don't have is a series 65 so I'm not qualified to give real advice. You actually have several guys here who are. |
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What is a hands on approach to investing? Making frequent small amount trades and getting killed on transaction fees, and picking stocks like you pick horses? Hot tip this and hot tip that? Surefire way to lose. Buy what you want under the umbrella of your 457b, right off the bat you make an extra % of whatever your marginal tax rate is, which will compound over the years. Unless you already max out your tax deferred accounts, of course, but you wouldn't be here then. Otherwise if it's just for fun, set up a vanguard accout for lower fees, or a fidelity one if you want a little hand holding, and a local office you can go to- in my area they put on investment seminars and workshops fairly frequently. He's talking about being hands on with small money not big money. That's a GREAT way to learn more about how equities actually work and get some of your painful lessons out of the way on the cheap. Most people pick their mutual funds in their 401ks like they pick horses for the same reasons a person would pick stocks that way. Having him get his hands dirty and being exposed to the fundamentals on the individual equity level is a good way to develop an understanding for how his mutual funds work as well and make him a better consumer of those products. I put my first $1,000 worth of lawn mowing money into the stock market back in the early 90's and lost most of it but learned some good lessons along the way that have made me quite successful with the big money that I have invested now. It's pretty much exactly what OP has proposed to do iirc and I think that's a great idea. If he's planning on picking horses, he'll learn it doesn't work sure enough and that's an education that's worth the price he's paying. |
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What is a hands on approach to investing? Making frequent small amount trades and getting killed on transaction fees, and picking stocks like you pick horses? Hot tip this and hot tip that? Surefire way to lose. Buy what you want under the umbrella of your 457b, right off the bat you make an extra % of whatever your marginal tax rate is, which will compound over the years. Unless you already max out your tax deferred accounts, of course, but you wouldn't be here then. Otherwise if it's just for fun, set up a vanguard accout for lower fees, or a fidelity one if you want a little hand holding, and a local office you can go to- in my area they put on investment seminars and workshops fairly frequently. He's talking about being hands on with small money not big money. That's a GREAT way to learn more about how equities actually work and get some of your painful lessons out of the way on the cheap. Most people pick their mutual funds in their 401ks like they pick horses for the same reasons a person would pick stocks that way. Having him get his hands dirty and being exposed to the fundamentals on the individual equity level is a good way to develop an understanding for how his mutual funds work as well and make him a better consumer of those products. I put my first $1,000 worth of lawn mowing money into the stock market back in the early 90's and lost most of it but learned some good lessons along the way that have made me quite successful with the big money that I have invested now. It's pretty much exactly what OP has proposed to do iirc and I think that's a great idea. If he's planning on picking horses, he'll learn it doesn't work sure enough and that's an education that's worth the price he's paying. This was exactly my thinking. I want to learn the process by doing. Will do a lot of reading before I do anything which is why I'm here asking questions (among other places). I'm not interested at all in blowing money and playing real life monopoly. |
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This was exactly my thinking. I want to learn the process by doing. Will do a lot of reading before I do anything which is why I'm here asking questions (among other places). I'm not interested at all in blowing money and playing real life monopoly. Quoted:
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What is a hands on approach to investing? Making frequent small amount trades and getting killed on transaction fees, and picking stocks like you pick horses? Hot tip this and hot tip that? Surefire way to lose. Buy what you want under the umbrella of your 457b, right off the bat you make an extra % of whatever your marginal tax rate is, which will compound over the years. Unless you already max out your tax deferred accounts, of course, but you wouldn't be here then. Otherwise if it's just for fun, set up a vanguard accout for lower fees, or a fidelity one if you want a little hand holding, and a local office you can go to- in my area they put on investment seminars and workshops fairly frequently. He's talking about being hands on with small money not big money. That's a GREAT way to learn more about how equities actually work and get some of your painful lessons out of the way on the cheap. Most people pick their mutual funds in their 401ks like they pick horses for the same reasons a person would pick stocks that way. Having him get his hands dirty and being exposed to the fundamentals on the individual equity level is a good way to develop an understanding for how his mutual funds work as well and make him a better consumer of those products. I put my first $1,000 worth of lawn mowing money into the stock market back in the early 90's and lost most of it but learned some good lessons along the way that have made me quite successful with the big money that I have invested now. It's pretty much exactly what OP has proposed to do iirc and I think that's a great idea. If he's planning on picking horses, he'll learn it doesn't work sure enough and that's an education that's worth the price he's paying. This was exactly my thinking. I want to learn the process by doing. Will do a lot of reading before I do anything which is why I'm here asking questions (among other places). I'm not interested at all in blowing money and playing real life monopoly. While you read start paper trading. In other words, give yourself 10K of "play money", make up a spread sheet, figure out what stocks you like, "buy" some and see how you chose. This will help when you really start investing. Don't get too greedy and not take some profits from time to time. Don't fall in love with the stock and not cut losses. If you are putting away a small amount every month like someone else suggested get an account into a fund of somesort where you can deposit and not pay commission with every deposit. Or, save up those $25 every couple weeks till you have a good chunk so the commission of buying individual stocks doesn't kill you. |