I Have $1500 I want to start investing with? What stocks are the best?

Question

Looking to invest a small amout of money for the next 4-5 years while in college but am looking for good solid companies. I already put $500 into CC and UDW and have lost money because I was so intrigued by the buyout. 35% loss later I'm here looking to invest even more into solid companies with a lot of room for growth.

Answer 1

Better to pick two ETFs for 500 each... EEB ( BRIC countries) or EWZ ( just Brazil)  XME ( metals/mining) MOO or DBA ( ags, grains).

Then take what's left and buy a few share in smaller nat/ gas company... ( oil is NOT going back to $55. )  nat/ gas companiies like HK, EP, SD, CHK are going into a steady uptrend in the next 4 or 5 years ( your timetable )

Answer 2

1500 is not really enough to do anything with try getting into a money market account with a nice interest rate. you are just going to lose 1500 in the market ecspiecally now a days you don't have enough capitol to buy the dipps and sell the highs

Answer 3

A lot depends on your goals.  There are staple stocks which generally don't deviate too much.  You don't make much money, but you rarely lose much money.  They often pay a small divided int he 2-3% range as well.  These are stocks like colgate, cambell soup, pepsico, coca cola, and other such things that we consume every day no matter how the economy is doing.  I would avoid stocks that are in industries that are not doing well such as the auto industry, construction, finance, etc.  I would look into stock that are doing well such as mining, coal, oil, solar.  I would never buy any stock with a price of less than $10, those are usually low quality stocks and even though they can go up a lot, they can come down a lot as well.  Once you decide to invest in a particular industry research the industry and understand it.  Then choose a company and do the financial analyses, don't jump into an investment, just because someone tipped you or is telling you to invest in something.  I like FLY and GLS, because I think it is agrowth industry and they pay huge dividends, but I researched it first.  You need to research the industry and the companies first then decide.  Don't invest because of something that has occurred recently to a particular company such as they are merging or take over targets, you are too late by the time the information gets out.   Also keep an eye out on your company, if it goes down more than 8% chances are it is not coming back up.  Don't believe the buy low sell high mentallity either a company that has been going down will keep going down for a long time.  Before you invest any money read up on the subject at least a few books.  Investing is a complicated thing, you can't just decide you are going to put money into a stock and hope for the best.

Answer 4

If your starting to invest with 1500, stocks are not a good option at all. Stocks are very volatile  and can be very risky. With 1500, I would say start looking at mutual funds. You will hear a lot of talk about keeping a diversified portfolio, but to have a diversified stock portfolio, you will need about 1.2 million invested in typically 150 stocks, but some say 80.

With mutual funds, you already have the managers looking out for your best interest. They are easy to get into and easy to get out of. They are already diversified for you, and then is a drastic reduction in the amount of risk on your investment. Try to find a stable mutual fund who's performance shows a ten year history of over 10% and has a low expense ratio. For my smaller investors, I typically lead them towards American Funds.

Answer 5

small companies in minerals natural resources or fmcg