I’ve just recently gotten really interested in the stock market. This mainly due to my finally having enough disposable income to do anything with (Although its still not much, Ive been broke as a joke for a long time). I got into my first two stocks about six weeks ago or so. I got Dicks Sporting Goods (DKS), and Underarmour (UARM). Dicks was at 38.26, and is now still flaoting around 38-39, and I got UA at 34.35, and its now around 39 to 41 range. I really think Ive gotten into a couple good ones, UA especially. Just wondering if anyone else on the board is really into the market and has some favorite hot stocks, or for that matter, least favorite ones.
[QUOTE=Chisox17;181279]I’ve just recently gotten really interested in the stock market. This mainly due to my finally having enough disposable income to do anything with (Although its still not much, Ive been broke as a joke for a long time). I got into my first two stocks about six weeks ago or so. I got Dicks Sporting Goods (DKS), and Underarmour (UARM). Dicks was at 38.26, and is now still flaoting around 38-39, and I got UA at 34.35, and its now around 39 to 41 range. I really think Ive gotten into a couple good ones, UA especially. Just wondering if anyone else on the board is really into the market and has some favorite hot stocks, or for that matter, least favorite ones.[/QUOTE]
I don’t buy individual stocks, just mutual funds in my retirement accounts. Be ready to take a beating every now and then and buy when everyone else is selling.
the Coal Industry is in a good position, especially in places like China for the foreseable future…find a good company in that market and it should be good investment
I facilitate brokerage training at Wachovia, but as the above poster said I do most of my investing through my 401K and mutual funds. I buy some individual stocks on my own but not too many. The market is hard to figure out these days. Too many things pressuring investors, interest rates, inflation, energy costs and general geo-political unrest. Still there is money to be made there… just depends on your strategy.
I take Warren Buffett’s advice. Unless you are a financial genius, buy index funds.
I take Warren Buffett's advice. Unless you are a financial genius, buy index funds.
Quoted for truth. John Bogle was really a pioneer of indexing while at the head of Vanguard. Regardless of indexing, mutual funds will give you instant diversity as opposed to one or two stocks.
I enjoy following the stock market but don’t know much about where to get started. I’ve taken a few classes on it and won the stock market contest thing but still yet to figure out how I can actually get started with real money.
I have gotten some good returns over the past year on SLB, NUE, and SBUX.
[QUOTE=BofANiner;181294]I have gotten some good returns over the past year on SLB, NUE, and SBUX.[/QUOTE]
Starbucks = legalized drug dealer…I noticed they are opening a second starbucks on other side of Concord Mills…another one right down the road between their and speedway…what a gold mine.
of course now that they are successful(rich) the crazy lawsuits are following to shake them down.
Mutual funds through 401k and some on the side. I bought MTV stock when it first came out…like what 25 years ago. I sold it about a year after to buy some baseball cards.
SU, TJX, GEL, XOM, PFE
[QUOTE=LeftyNiner;181298]Mutual funds through 401k and some on the side. I bought MTV stock when it first came out…like what 25 years ago. I sold it about a year after to buy some baseball cards.[/QUOTE]
Ouch. I hope they were the rookie cards of Tony Gwynn, Roger Clemens, Nolan Ryan and Cal Ripken!
Actually, it may have been to buy a stereo and some other stuff. Seems like I was about 16.
I do have rookie cards for Gwynn, Ripken, Bonds, Schmidt, a few others, though. Haven’t looked at them in a while. I used to pull them out every all star game and look up the values.
I’d sell the Bonds one before he gets put in the slammer…imo
I buy and sell pretty often using an online service called InvesTools thru Success Magazine (Investortoolbox.com). The subscription is pricey but a TON of good information. All of the research that would take you months is all done in an instant: Volume Ratios, P/E Ratios, EPS Growth, Industry Performance, Cash Flow, Debt/Equity Ratios, etc.
You can do searches to narrow down to the most profitable companies in the most active sectors with the most stable fundamentals. Nothing is foolproof but they give a lot of great information. They also give Moving Average indicators and stochastic indicators (under/over value indicators) to help track when is the right time to buy and sell the stocks.
That being said…DHI (DR Horton) made me about 40% last year and this year has been HANS (Hansen Beverage). HANS went from 60 to 80 in 2 weeks and I bought it. It went to 100 and I sold it when it dropped to 95. I checked on it again 3 months later and it was up to 180!!! I bought it again when it dropped to 160 and still hold it. It went up over 200 and just recently (Monday) split 4 to 1!!!
Great site. I recommend it to anyone interested in investing without a broker. It does a lot of the necessary homework you need to be doing before investing.
First I want to state that I have an active interest and a biased opinion within this thread.
As was mentioned by other posters, it is best to go with mutual funds. These give you a balanced and relatively safe way to invest your money. Their are some mutual funds that are more aggressive. I strongly recommend to anyone who is new to investing to go with mutual funds above hot stocks.
However if you are looking for the most aggressive, hands on policy then picking stocks is the way to go. However take an accounting class at UNCC so that you can learn some of the basic information that businesses report that will help you to understand which business are stronger in their respective domains.
This is not to say that investing in the market is the only way to make money. The blessing about the rising interest rates is that CD and Money Market rates go up. For example, I work for RBC Centura in Huntersville/LKN/Cornelius. We have CD’s that you can invest 1,000 dollars in that can net you 4-5.50% or more. If you have a little nest egg that you want to grow before you invest, now is the time to do it. The inflation rates will most likely curb market growth and consumer spending causing your investments to be riskier.
To illustrate.
At RBC we have a Primelink 1 yr CD. It requires 1,000 to open and is tied directly to prime rate (the interest rate). It remains 4 points below prime (which is now 8.5%). Plus you can add into the CD during its duration. So as prime goes up you can put in some more if you desire. If prime were to go up another 5 or 10 basis points, you could be seeing a return of 6% on your investment. Plus when the CD expires you could roll it into a 24 month rising rate CD. If you can catch the rates right before they start to go down, you can make excellent rates for 2 years that are locked in. Right now the blended rate would be 5.5 APY.
If you are looking to invest for something far in the distance, but can not risk a loss (like a Child’s education fund). This would be another good option.
To illustrate why:
You open a Primelink 1 year CD (4.50% APY) and the interest rates rise another 2% during the 12 months. You’ve chosen the annual interest payment (You now get 6.5% at the end of the first year. Then you roll it into a 24 month rising rate CD (assuming Prime is about 10.5 you’ll probably get a blended rate of 7.5%). When that CD matures you’ll have netted a couple of hundred bucks off a simple 1000 investments. However what really is the kicker is that if interest rates go back down, now you can go back to spending/investing while the time is good.
So the point is that investing/savings is a long term game. Short term investment can be very risky especially with the current instability and inflation and keep in mind that their are ways to make good returns with security on your principal.
HSBC has 5.05% APY savings account, $1 min.
No fees either.
You also can get an ATM card for deposits and withdrawals.
Find out if any beer/wine wholesalers in the Manhattan, KS region are publicly traded. Those companies are about to explode.
[QUOTE=Charlotte2002;181343]HSBC has 5.05% APY savings account, $1 min.
No fees either.[/QUOTE]
And Emigrant Direct has 5%, and ING Direct has 4.5%. No minimums with either, it’s insured, and you can withdraw as much as you like as often as 6 times per month. Sounds better than a CD to me. Now if only I had money to put in them.
Those are both incredible rates that you won’t find in a bank.
They are online accounts.
The only problem is making a deposit. They tell you to either A send money in the mail (security risk) or B transfer funds.
The problem with B is that it’s not going to be cheap. Your bank is going to charge you a wire transfer fee (usually 15-30 dollars).
If you feel comfortable sending money through the mail, then yeah that is a killer rate for a savings account.