What first step should I take to start investing?
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Excellent choice. Just be sure you have enough cash or bank account reserves to cover any potential college expenses. You may want to wait to start investing for retirement until after you've finished college. In this case, you could stick the money in a money market account. If you want to start retirement investing now, read on ...
Your first step in any investment plan is to define your goal. This will establish the approximate amount of money you'll need and the time horizon.
The next step is to define your asset allocation, based on your time horizon and risk tolerance. Your asset allocation will determine most of the risk and return you receive.
The 3rd step is to find a reputable investment firm and to pick your funds. I would suggest using low costs as a screening tool. I use these 3 simple criteria to screen the good funds from the dog turds:
1) No loads or deferred loads
2) No 12b-1 fees
3) Annual expense ratio less than 1% for stock funds and less than 0.5% for bond funds.
If you start your search with www.vanguard.com or www.fidelity.com you will find the best selection of low-cost funds to fit anybody's needs.
The fourth step is to decide on what type of account you want. A regular taxable account, or a tax-advantaged retirement account? Also, which type of retirement account: a Roth IRA or a Traditional IRA, or a variable annuity? Generally, the Roth IRA is most people's best choice (beyond their company-sponsored plan).
To get some good info on investing check out:
1) http://www.invest-for-retirement.com...
2) Mutual Funds for Dummies, by Eric Tyson
Spend a few hours reading and you will save yourself thousands of dollars in unnecessary costs in the long-run.
Before you invest anything, make sure all your debts are paid off. Everything. Put $1000 bucks away in an emergency fund. Use your extra money to pay for part of school with cash rather than taking out student loans. Put some money away for a car so you don't have to finance one. When all those things are done, then you can think about investing. In the meantime, read a good book like, "Total Money Makeover" by Dave Ramsey. Just borrow it from the library. Read up on his stuff on the website below.
start now.dont waste ur time thinking.Buy bio stocks.energy stocks the best.PALM OIL the best
Investing in "individual" stocks takes a lot of knowledge and practice; so I would not suggest doing this until you understand completely how the stock markets work.
Instead visit Vanguard.com and learn about mutual funds, index funds, and exchange-traded-funds (ETFs). Trading funds is less risky than trying to trade "individual" stocks.
Unless you plan on spending everyday of your life looking at stock charts trying to determine the best time to get in and out of "individual" stocks, I would look into some sort of fund.
Also be very careful about asking for stock tips online. Most are probably worthless or contain unethical motives. Do not fall for any Pump-and-Dump scams.
The websites below all contain plenty of FREE information to get you started in the right direction.
I agree with Chad and in addition to the websites he gave you, you can also check out http://www.top10traders.com
This is also a free website and you'll learn a lot by practicing your investing skills and find out what stock trading is all about without risking any real money. Good luck !
Do you already have a house? (You are going to need one)
Collect some CD's (Certificates of Deposit, not Compact Discs) ... since you're still young. You will have access to this funds without paying a high penalty. IRA's are designed for retirement in mind. You may want to get to some of your money to make other investments, like buy a house or property. Find a good stock that you are comfortable with its growth and watch it grow. Congratulations, you are on the right track ... there is real magic in compounding!
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