I'm a 19 year old college student. i'm interested in stock and would like to know more.?

Question

I'm a 19 year old college student. i'm interested in stock and would like to know more.?

Answer 1

Standard investment advice is that you should invest in a diversified mix of stocks, bonds, and money market funds.  If you are like most people you will invest part of your money aggressively in stocks, and part conservatively in money market funds and bond funds. However, some young people will go all stocks.  The links below have on-line questionnaires which will give you an idea of how to do "Asset Allocation," determining how much to put in each type of investment.



You want to buy a diversified portfolio of stocks as individual stocks are too risky. Highly knowledgeable people can buy a properly balanced portfolio, but most folks have a difficult time balancing things on their own. They will misbalance their portfolio by buying all small stocks or all growth stocks, or some other misbalanced assortment of stocks.  Back in 2000, Some people bought all internet stocks; they got burnt when they all crashed together.   You have to diversify across industries.  Unless you know what you are doing, it is best to buy mutual funds.  Buy no-load, low cost funds.  Mutual funds should have expense ratios of less than 0.5%.

If your company offers a 401K plan at work, try to invest the most you can. The money grows tax free, and some companies will match your contribution. Investing in a mutual fund IRA is also a good idea. If you have children, you may want to consider a 529 plan or other college savings plan that grows tax free.

I like index funds. Because of their broad diversification, you are less likely to have a dramatic drop in value. They also have the lowest expenses. For stock funds, I would suggest putting ~70-80% of your money in the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund. and ~20-30% in a foreign stock index fund. However, there are many different opinions out there on what the best mutual funds are. Read the links below and form your own opinion.

If you have high-interest debt, like credit cards, it is best to pay this off first before trying most of the investment ideas above. You should also have 3-6 months of salary saved up as an emergency fund in a bank or money market fund before trying more risky investments.

Believing advice you get on Yahoo answers can be risky, so read these websites for further information. If you find it too confusing, contact a professional financial advisor. They will charge you significant commissions, however.

Answer 2

Hello Rajae,

Whatever you do, invest cautiously.  I know this sounds obvious, but, you should only invest the amount that you can lose.  Believe me, I have been through the whole cycle (lost a bunch but I doubled my money too recently on a stock, Tengasco [ticker: TGC]).  One important, but not the only metric, is the projected price to earnings ratio (PE) or PE to Growth (PEG).  You want to buy companies that are priced less than the industry average PE or PEG.  Please do some research and read up on this philosophy.  Of course sometimes a company trades with a PE or PEG that is lower because it has problems (such as management issues, missed earnings, huge debt, etc.)...but if it is a quality company, and if the company is undervalued (that is, if the PE and PEG is low relative to the average PE or PEG of its industry)...its probably a good stock to buy...here is the link to a website I have found that ranks stocks to help you pick stocks (it also has an article in the link at the bottom that starts "Guidance..." that can explain the PE and PEG thing more):

http://www.freestockvalueranker.com/

hope this helps!!

Jack

Answer 3

I would suggest creating a practice portfolio at http://www.top10traders.com - it's free - plus you can see what the best traders are buying and selling.

Answer 4

There are a number of sites that offer free information on investing in stocks. Don't buy any programs that promise to make you millions because those are all scams. Take your time and do a lot of reserarch.

Answer 5

A good place to start learning about the stock market is

http://www.investopedia.com/beginner.asp

This website even has a Stock Simulator where you can practice trading stocks and stock options using virtual money.  All you need to do is open your free account there:

http://simulator.investopedia.com/home.a...

Answer 6

check out the motley fool site...

Answer 7

Start your education by learning why you should invest and the importance of being able to make your own decisions or how the pro’s make theirs.

Here is some reading material that can get you started in the right direction.

The first book you should read is Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki

Then try some of these

What Works on Wall Street by James O'Shaunessey

Beating the Street by Peter Lynch

One Up on Wall Street by Peter Lynch

The Warren Buffett Way by Robert Hagstrom

How to Make Money in Stocks” and 24 Essential Lessons for Investment Success both by William O’Neil

Get into the habit of making daily visits to some websites like MSN Money and Yahoo Finance.  (http://moneycentral.msn.com/home.asp http://finance.yahoo.com/ )

While at MSN following the strategy lab analysts to get a feel for what the pros are doing and why.  This site has some basic information for beginners. If any site offers free information, take it.

Other website that can provide instructions and help with procedures and terminology are

Investopedia - http://www.investopedia.com/  Stock Charts - http://stockcharts.com/

http://www.investorshub.com/  http://www.1source4stocks.com/



Visit some of the more professional websites like Zacks - http://www.zacks.com/

Smart Money - http://www.smartmoney.com/  Schaeffer’s – http://www.schaeffersresearch.com/

Some of these web sites will have advertisers who are worth looking into also.  And remember, if they offer free information, get it.

You at least have made the right decision to start investing, this is the first big step and it won’t be your last. Keep taking those steps forward and along the way never take the advice from people that are not in the market or try to tell you not to invest. Good luck on your journey

Answer 8

I am 15 and I am really intersted too

I observe some Stock exchanges but I don't understand anything it is too difficult to me

I started following events in the Beirut stock exchange (www.bse.com.lb) and I started to understand a little something but the problem of how we calculate indexes is always in my mind

good luck to both of us!