I've read everyones advice that I asked for in my other thread and I'm finally started to act on it.  I plan on buying some shares, buying some bonds, eventually going to put some in a mutual fund, and while I'm doing that I'm going to do research on putting money away for retirement.

First I want to buy some stocks and I'm looking around at several brockerages like fidelity, E-trade, Scott trade, etc.  I have realized that I'm in over my head here.  They all offer so many different things that I don't know which one to choose.  I plan on only buying $1,000 in different shares right now, maybe some more in a few months.  Could someone give me some advice on which brockerage would be the best for me?

Also, while i'm at it...I want to BUY stock, but all the brockerages talk about TRADING.  Do they mean trading as in trading $$ for stocks?  Also, I keep thinking stocks and shares are the same thing.  Am I wrong?

Thanks ahead of time.

I'm no expert so don't take my info as being from an expert.

Look into Vanguard mutual funds.  That's the company that I have.  They don't do regular stock investments(I don't think so at least) but they are VERY user friendly and have a great reputation.  They also have a $1000 minimum to open an account so you're in good shape there.  I don't have much money with Vanguard but I've made a profit last year with my mutual fund there (about 8%) and things have been good this year.  Check out the Star fund.  It's very safe and it's the fund that I used last year to return 8%.

I wanted to get into a little stock trading myself but after a year of looking at things on my own I still don't know enough.  Based on the info that you have provided, I think that mutual funds are what you need to look into at the moment.  Invest your money in mutual funds first and then look at other possibilities as you learn.  

I just read a great little book called The Automatic Millionaire.  It's got lots of easy advise on how to make your money work for you and to build wealth.  

Good luck.



Edited because I was wrong about them not brokering stocks.  They do.

I currently use Schwab for what you want to do, they administered the 401k I rolled over into my IRA.
You might check out E-Trade and Scott Trade for what you want to do.
Share Builder might be another way to go.

By trading, they mean frequent buying AND selling of stock.

You buy and sell shares of stock. example, you "buy shares of GM stock"...or you can say "I bought some GM stock"....same thing.

If you don't need alot of hand holding/advice, go for the lowest commission rate...currently Scottrade.

Through a brokerage account you can buy almost any security, including mutual funds.

I have E-Trade now since they bought my Harrisdirect accounts.

E*Trade customer service SUCKS.  

I am switching to Scottrade...

Quoted: By trading, they mean frequent buying AND selling of stock. You buy and sell shares of stock. example, you "buy shares of GM stock"...or you can say "I bought some GM stock"....same thing. If you don't need alot of hand holding/advice, go for the lowest commission rate...currently Scottrade. Through a brokerage account you can buy almost any security, including mutual funds. I have E-Trade now since they bought my Harrisdirect accounts. E*Trade customer service SUCKS.   I am switching to Scottrade...

ok.  Thanks a bunch for the help!  I really appreciate it.
I'm glad to hear that I can buy mutual funds as well.  That will make things easier.

I am with Scottrade, I am happy with how it was been for me.

I use Wells Fargo Sharebuilder.  I'm young and a small player in the market, but I like this service.  If  you aren't going to day trade it is only 4 bucks a trade but you can only trade on Tuesday (I don't know why it's only Tuesday), but you can also do real time trades for 13-15 bucks.  Plus it has no minimum.  What I like is if you put money in the account but don't buy any stocks with it they put the balance in a money market at like 3.5 to 4%.  So I use this as my "savings account".  If you have a wells fargo checking account you can transfer back and forth and it only takes a day or two.

I am considering putting $500 in an online brokerage account to actively trade and see what happens.
It's money I am willing to gamble with... so I will be very risky and trade actively.

Which would be best for real-time trading and low brokerage fees?

THanks guys... glad I found this thread!

Quoted: I am considering putting $500 in an online brokerage account to actively trade and see what happens. It's money I am willing to gamble with... so I will be very risky and trade actively. Which would be best for real-time trading and low brokerage fees? THanks guys... glad I found this thread!

At $7.00 a trade, I think Scottrade is the lowest priced you will find.  I believe you can open an account with $500.00 minimum.  Most places are higher.

Good luck with your idea.  Just remember that whatever you buy is going to have $14.00 added to your cost basis ($7 in, $7 out) which means you need a move of anywhere from 12% or more to bring you back to even when dealing with small trades.

Also, the market is full of crazy, emotional, trigger happy folks (not to mention the games played by the Market Makers to drive a stock down for someone's benefit) who, once moving become the herd from hell and wipe out any gains in their path.

If you're new to this, let me suggest you start here:

www.investopedia.com/

It's got a lot of good information for any level of knowledge.

I also found this book to be pretty good.  The reviews are mixed and I will say that some of it is like a printed infomercial, but there is good info as well on what you want to do.

Hot Trading Secrets

Quoted: At $7.00 a trade, I think Scottrade is the lowest priced you will find.  I believe you can open an account with $500.00 minimum.  Most places are higher. Good luck with your idea.  Just remember that whatever you buy is going to have $14.00 added to your cost basis ($7 in, $7 out) which means you need a move of anywhere from 12% or more to bring you back to even when dealing with small trades. Also, the market is full of crazy, emotional, trigger happy folks (not to mention the games played by the Market Makers to drive a stock down for someone's benefit) who, once moving become the herd from hell and wipe out any gains in their path. If you're new to this, let me suggest you start here: www.investopedia.com/ It's got a lot of good information for any level of knowledge. I also found this book to be pretty good.  The reviews are mixed and I will say that some of it is like a printed infomercial, but there is good info as well on what you want to do. Hot Trading Secrets

Hey man... thanks for the info.
I've got a B.S. in Finance, and have been out of the market for a while.
I just thought it would be more fun than going to the casino for the wekeend and the checking account I opened for this is SOLEY for toys, guns, gutiars, gadgets, etc.

I think we should probably have some scott-trade $500 stock-challenge, that may be a good idea?

Scottrade works for me. IMHO buy into a good fund and hold it. Trading will eat your profits. Look at it this way, if it were easy to make money trading all the top traders would have their own mutal fund. As it is even the best pro managers barely beat the Russell or the SP 500 on a regular basis.

Quoted: I think we should probably have some scott-trade $500 stock-challenge, that may be a good idea?

Hah, the Scottrade 500 - sounds like a NASCAR race!