For some time now I have been considering investing in stock trades. Has any body had any luck with it, and care to share some advice?
I am wanting to get, among other things, a Ph.D. in psychology and medicine so this may be my only option to pay for such an expensive endeavor without racking up a debt that will take many, many years to pay off.
My car is going to be paid off in a few months, and I am wanting to invest a part of what would have been my payment, so my budget is very small. But I still have a couple years to let even a modest budget grow before my tuition goes from about $1,500 a semester to about $4,000 a semester, and the text book prices I complain about now will seem pretty cheap.
Like education true stock investment you must do your homework. Second even with reliable information stock investment is still a gamble. One bad world event and everything tanks.
But if you wish to try
First you need to decide if you are going to do solo or get help. Help costs money, solo to be successful costs time.
I went solo, I invested in buying the wall street journal and the penny stock exchange newspaper. I bought 2 money magazines a month. All this information is old information but it helps you form trends.
Today you have the internet but you get a lot of bad with the good if you don't understand your getting bad information its a problem.
All stocks I considered buying I fully investigated before buying. I did a lot of my research in the library today I use the internet but at a cost. Sites that provide valid information charge. If you have a 401k and they have a web site you can get free information.
Before I put money in I experimented with fake money following my stocks for a period of time and then when comfortable put my money in.
1) Need a secure fallback dividend stock so when you are ready to sell you have a stock you can put the money into until your ready to buy again. Sell and buy times are not always grouped together.
2) Never go for the quick buck you will lose more than you gain.
3) Always set sell limits. If you buy a 3 dollar stock sell some at 6 dollars sell some at 9 dollars do not wait to sell at the top you will miss the top.
4) You must monitor the stocks you own. If the CEO quits you need to know so you can adjust you levels.
5) If you must take a risky stock be sure you can lose the money.
6) Give it time, like anything you will not be a millioniare tomorrow maybe if your good in dozen years.
My success, I took 2000.00 and in 2years created 6500.00 which I used for my own schooling. Later I had the only sucessful stock picks in a stock club for two years because of my method. I did leave the club because of the stupid choices they made causing us to lose money. During the last stock collaspe I moved to protection mode 6 months before the collaspe I lost far less than my stock friends.
I am not a stock guru. I am a conservative investor with a modest supply of money that I wish to grow over time. I try to find trends before others do and then invest in the most stable company in the trend I am following.
I will say right now is a good time to watch what happens. The events in Japan are going to effect the world markets for the next 6 months and can possibly cause another crash.
It is currently a very unstable market be very conservative.