Investing in the stock market..

[Joe]

I've been looking at some stocks lately and found one that looks kinda cheap and pretty promising (ironically, I work for them ). I'd like to buy a few shares of the company, but how do to that isn't exactly something they taught us back in Intro to Econ.

How do I go about buying stock? Do I have to go to town and visit a stock broker or something, or are there decent sites online where I can just buy them with a credit card? Or am I completely lost and it's something else?

PS: If anyone's interested, it's Great Wolf Lodge (nasdaq: WOLF).

[trust]

You could go to a stock broker with your parents (you have to be 18 to invest, but they can do it in your name) but those are usually for people looking to invest alot as they do charge commission and stuff. If you do go this route in the future, make sure you get a good one. What they do is they rotate customers, so you'll either get the one that isn't busy or the one next in line...so he could be good or bad. What my grandfather did when he switched brokers was he went in and asked for the best one they had.

But unless a family member already has a stock broker I don't think one would be worth your while, you're better off signing up at e*Trade or some other online brokerage. Your bank might even have one. Also, this allows you to daytrade (risky, but it has quick gains).


btw WOLF took a really sharp drop in 05', look at their 10 year projection..It's still not back to what it was.

[Sidoh]

I'm not very good with this sort of thing, but if I were to invest money in the stock market (and I plan to... just waiting to save up ~$5000), I'd put the money in a mutual fund.  The potential returns aren't as high, but the risks are a lot lower.

[CrAz3D]

I'm not very good with this sort of thing, but if I were to invest money in the stock market (and I plan to... just waiting to save up ~$5000), I'd put the money in a mutual fund.  The potential returns aren't as high, but the risks are a lot lower.

HELL YEAH!

in one year my CD(3.66%) made me $1800
...at the end of that CD(5% if I re entered CD) I invested it all into mutual funds.  In 3 months I had $2,000+ return, whoo!

Still risky, but yeah.

[Sidoh]

Yeah, investing money in the stock market is intrinsically risky.

One of my friends at college who apparently has a couple of thousand floating around in various ways (CD and something else) recommended Vanguard to me.  I have yet to check it out, but when I have sufficient funds (he recommended that I wait until I have at least $5K that I'm willing to throw into something), I definitely plan to invest it in something like this.  Apparently, Vanguard lets you manage everything online.  They email you stock portfolios and such; it seemed like a really convenient way to invest money.  However, I'm not sure how their rates compare to other companies.  It'd probably be wise to shop around.

[Joe]

You could go to a stock broker with your parents (you have to be 18 to invest, but they can do it in your name) but those are usually for people looking to invest alot as they do charge commission and stuff. If you do go this route in the future, make sure you get a good one. What they do is they rotate customers, so you'll either get the one that isn't busy or the one next in line...so he could be good or bad. What my grandfather did when he switched brokers was he went in and asked for the best one they had.

But unless a family member already has a stock broker I don't think one would be worth your while, you're better off signing up at e*Trade or some other online brokerage. Your bank might even have one. Also, this allows you to daytrade (risky, but it has quick gains).


btw WOLF took a really sharp drop in 05', look at their 10 year projection..It's still not back to what it was.

Yeah, Black Wolf Lodge opened in '05, so that drop was them building a huge resort on a loan, I think. For now, they're steadily expanding and making great money.

Yeah, investing money in the stock market is intrinsically risky.

One of my friends at college who apparently has a couple of thousand floating around in various ways (CD and something else) recommended Vanguard to me.  I have yet to check it out, but when I have sufficient funds (he recommended that I wait until I have at least $5K that I'm willing to throw into something), I definitely plan to invest it in something like this.  Apparently, Vanguard lets you manage everything online.  They email you stock portfolios and such; it seemed like a really convenient way to invest money.  However, I'm not sure how their rates compare to other companies.  It'd probably be wise to shop around.

I know it's pretty risky. I'm not stupid enough to toss my life savings into it or something like that, but I may toss $100 or so into it in the middle of the week and sell it on Saturday or Sunday when it's up a few dollars or so.

[Sidoh]

I know it's pretty risky. I'm not stupid enough to toss my life savings into it or something like that, but I may toss $100 or so into it in the middle of the week and sell it on Saturday or Sunday when it's up a few dollars or so.

That was an incidental statement; I wasn't trying to discourage you from investing money.  It's much better than spending half of your earnings on thinkgeek.com...

[Joe]

I did have a good laugh from the things that I bought from there, though. But yeah, that was a real waste.

Select from a number of convenient ways to fund your account ($1,000 minimum for cash accounts and $2,000 for margin accounts)

Looks like etrade is out of my ballfield. Anyone else have some suggestions?

[CrAz3D]

I did have a good laugh from the things that I bought from there, though. But yeah, that was a real waste.

Select from a number of convenient ways to fund your account ($1,000 minimum for cash accounts and $2,000 for margin accounts)

Looks like etrade is out of my ballfield. Anyone else have some suggestions?

Dont do it.

With anything less than $1000 (even then, I'd say thats ALMOST pointless) you're not going to make much of a return unless you get in on the ground floor of something (Google, Yahoo, etc).

My 2 $2,000(ea.) CDs have made $110 in...I think about a year, or just shy.

Just save up til you have a more substantial amount to invest, and then, do it in mutual funds.  Look into a Roth IRA (you can put your money there, "before taxes" to deduct from your income, and it is tax sheltered til you withdrawl it...and even then it may be tax exempt depending upon when it is taken out & what it is used on).
I have a $4,000 Roth IRA account and am about to go add another $4,000 over to it so that my taxes end up being cheaper (dear God, maybe I need an accountant with these 51099's + Roth IRA)

[trust]

Yeah, Black Wolf Lodge opened in '05, so that drop was them building a huge resort on a loan, I think. For now, they're steadily expanding and making great money.

I doubt the investors thought they'd lose money, at least not enough investors to totally bomb the stock. If anything an expansion should raise the price.

But yeah $100 is nothing and no brokerage is going to touch that. I think there MIGHT be one or two that will go as low as $500 though, so search around.

[Joe]

Yeah, Black Wolf Lodge opened in '05, so that drop was them building a huge resort on a loan, I think. For now, they're steadily expanding and making great money.

I doubt the investors thought they'd lose money, at least not enough investors to totally bomb the stock. If anything an expansion should raise the price.

But yeah $100 is nothing and no brokerage is going to touch that. I think there MIGHT be one or two that will go as low as $500 though, so search around.

It wasn't an expansion. Black Wolf Lodge in Wisconsin Dells was the first one.

[Rule]

I think if you're at least a little clever, are willing to do a lot of research, and want to make substantial gains, you would be best not to use a broker.  Brokers will generally suggest/make safe/boring investments for their clients, and charge extremely inflated rates for doing so. 

[trust]

I think if you're at least a little clever, are willing to do a lot of research, and want to make substantial gains, you would be best not to use a broker.  Brokers will generally suggest/make safe/boring investments for their clients, and charge extremely inflated rates for doing so. 

A broker wouldn't be right for his situation, but in some instances it is. I also think you could find a stock with a better return than WOLF, but either way you definitely need more money or it's not worth it. I don't know how this applies to daytrading, but when I was younger my grandpa told me it's really not worth investing if you are going to buy under 1,000 shares.

[MyndFyre]

Yeah, investing money in the stock market is intrinsically risky.

One of my friends at college who apparently has a couple of thousand floating around in various ways (CD and something else) recommended Vanguard to me.  I have yet to check it out, but when I have sufficient funds (he recommended that I wait until I have at least $5K that I'm willing to throw into something), I definitely plan to invest it in something like this.  Apparently, Vanguard lets you manage everything online.  They email you stock portfolios and such; it seemed like a really convenient way to invest money.  However, I'm not sure how their rates compare to other companies.  It'd probably be wise to shop around.

Out of curiousity, why did your friend tell you to wait until you have $5000?

I put money annually into a Roth IRA - I pay tax on the money now, and it's tax-free when I take it out, but the maximum annual contribution is $1500 a year.  But I can put it into funds, stocks, whatever.

[CrAz3D]

You can contribute up to $4,000/yr (next year $5k I think) into Roth IRAs...
...do you have investment stuff, MyndFyre, that counts as a tax deduction?

Trying to lessen the blow of the $585 due to the feds & $9 to the state

[Sidoh]

Out of curiousity, why did your friend tell you to wait until you have $5000?

I put money annually into a Roth IRA - I pay tax on the money now, and it's tax-free when I take it out, but the maximum annual contribution is $1500 a year.  But I can put it into funds, stocks, whatever.

I assumed he had a reason for it, but I neglected to ask, probably because I thought it would have been rude.