First time investing in ANYTHING. I have no interest in trying to pick stocks. I want to put around $200 into a online broker account each month and purchase something with low-medium risk and a decent rate of return (> 5%). I do not plan on withdrawing from the account any time soon, but also do not want to invest in anything that will tie up my money for more than a few years. I just want something to put my money into that I do not have to worry much about and can more or less forget about. I have thought about opening a sharebuilder.com account which can do monthly deductions from my checking account for the funding part of it. Where do I go from here? Thanks for any suggestions/help.
Buy the symbol SPY. It's a tracking fund for all 500 stocks of the S&P 500, which is the 500 largest companies in the United States. It should return about 10% yearly for however long you have it. That is an average of course. It may go up 20% one year and down 10% the next.
It is a really safe way to play the market with the best companies in our economy.
If you really need to play it safe, buy TBills/Govt bonds but that should only get you around 5% yearly but you have no downside risk what so ever.
It is a really safe way to play the market with the best companies in our economy.
If you really need to play it safe, buy TBills/Govt bonds but that should only get you around 5% yearly but you have no downside risk what so ever.
It doesn't really matter what he buys, if it's 200 bucks at a time, then commisions will eat him up. But you bring up a very good point that commissions will destroy him. Therefore my best advice would be to save your money in a short term interest bearing account and buy 2400 bucks worth of SPY yearly or 1200 bucks worth of SPY twice a year. The interest should cover the commisions.
Tell me more about your trading the SPY options for a living, Potter? I have full option power and can sell naked calls and puts. I'm guessing you are selling options naked if you are making a living?
Tell me more about your trading the SPY options for a living, Potter? I have full option power and can sell naked calls and puts. I'm guessing you are selling options naked if you are making a living?
I'm off to see Superman right now Potter but I would love to continue to talk to you more about this tomorrow or later in this week.
Knowiedge:
Make sure you take into considerations any monthly fees that your broker may charge you. You will just be spinning your wheels if they are feeing you to death. Find an online broker that doesn't charge you any monthly fees.
Knowiedge:
Make sure you take into considerations any monthly fees that your broker may charge you. You will just be spinning your wheels if they are feeing you to death. Find an online broker that doesn't charge you any monthly fees.
mrpotter1 said:
What is the difference between buying a single share of a $124 stock, 10 shares of a $12.40 stock, and/or 100 shares of a $1.24?
Answer: No difference whatsoever. The whole notion of having "more" shares is false reasoning.
What matters is the total dollar amount of investments...not the aggregate # of shares.
Knowledge, if you are working I recommend you begin a Roth IRA with whatever stock/fund you choose. The gains (if any) will be tax free after you reach retirement age. That greatly adds to any return you accumulate.
DAWOOFDADDY said:
There is a difference though. If he chose a $124 stock he would only be able to buy 1 share and his commissions at lets say $12 per transaction would be 10%. If he really wanted to invest each month and chose a much smaller stock he would be able to spend the whole $200 and therefore make his commission of $12 only 6%.If he just waits every 5 months and invests a $1000 he can lower his percentage to 1.2%.
