Topic: Investing

[shock]

Does anyone here get into investing?  I'm starting my first job soon and have a decent sum of money just collecting dust in a savings account.  Once I get settled and moved into my new places, I want to start investing.  I plan on keeping a fair amount in bonds and CDs for emergency money that I can reach quickly if I need to.  I also want to invest in a number of stocks for the long haul and enjoy higher rates of return (I don't have a time frame for withdrawing this money - so no reason to be conservative about this).

I'm looking at primarily doing index funds along with some scattered stocks that I like and think have a good business model.  I'm in this for the long haul, so I'm not going to try to sell high and buy low really: more interested in staying in it for the long haul, but changing it up when necessary to not miss out on too many opportunities.  I'm in the process of compiling a list of 20 or so companies that I want to invest into in addition to the index funds.

Whee!

Edit: spelling.

[ScaryTooth]

I've dabbled here and there. But I'm no pro. Most of my actual savings is in a ING savings account. ING is awesome, their interest rate is decent it's FDIC insured up to $100,000. It's also cool because you can make "sub-savings" accounts. Like maybe you want to allocate some money into a savings account specifically for a new car, you can set it up to automatically do it. I put $150 into my saving every other week when I get paid, and $50 of that goes into a sub-account just for school stuff. Books, supplies, and what-have-you. It's pretty nice.

I've only messed with investing a little bit I do have a couple CD's which are decent. And I also have some money in the stock market. So far, it's treated me pretty good. I own some Ford(f), and I own some stock in NRG(NRG). Which is an energy company. I also have money in a life time retirement fund. With these you can chose an approximate year that you plan to retire, and you put money into this fund, and it allocates money based on the year you chose automatically. You don't have to do anything accept drop some dough in it. The younger you are the more riskier and usually higher return you'll receive. And as you get older the investments get a little more conservative.

http://www.amazon.com/Will-Teach-You-Be-Rich/dp/0761147489/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278984476&sr=8-1

Check that book out. Don't let the title put you off. The book is actually really good. It doesn't really teach you to be rich, just gives you some good info about investing, saving, and some good money managing advice. It's great.

If you want to get all hardcore, you can't really beat....

http://www.amazon.com/Intelligent-Investor-Definitive-Investing-Practical/dp/0060555661/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278984428&sr=8-1

[shock]

Cool.  Ordered the first book.  The second one looks a bit heavier.

I think I'm going to open a Brokerage account and a Roth IRA at Charles Schwab.  My dad has used it for a long time and they seem to have the lowest trade costs(8.95$ per stock, $0 for each EFT (index fund).  They also have some assistance/counsel/advice and what not if you want it.  They have $1k minimums on each, but I'd be putting a lot more than that in there any way.

I'm still playing with my list of companies.  I think I want to do at least ~50% of total stock value in EFTs/indexes.  The other ~50% I can use to try and beat the market average.  I'm a nerd, so my list includes things like Activision, Google, Raytheon, etc.  I'm working on coming up with more random/smaller startups that may be riskier but have more potential to pay out.  This will balance the giants like Johnson and Johnson that will have a (hopefully) more predictable growth.

I've got a phone date tomorrow with the Charles Schwab guy.  I'm gettting too excited about this.

[ScaryTooth]

Yeah, invest in what you know. The simpler the better in my experience. I put money into things I see everyday, and things I know. Some pharmaceutical companies, like Baxter, and things like cars, and food, such as Kraft. 

[Ghandi]

I invested around 9k in a Roth IRA with Edward Jones a few years ago. Unfortunately, it was right before the market started to tank. I lost roughly half, but I have since gained a good chunk back, and it is a long-term investment anyways so I should do fine.

[ren]

If you're going in it for the long haul then the lowest trade/transaction costs shouldn't be that important. But if you like everything else they offer then go for it.

Also important but often overlooked by casual investors, especially for long-term investments, is to learn how to read financial statements. They'll have a wealth of information about the future of the company and when you learn to interpret them, you'll make better decisions when buying and selling and feel more confident in your investments.

[shock]

Yeah, invest in what you know. The simpler the better in my experience. I put money into things I see everyday, and things I know. Some pharmaceutical companies, like Baxter, and things like cars, and food, such as Kraft. 

Definitely.  I'm trying to keep it as simple as possible and not buy into all of the speculation/yelling guys on CNN or whatever.  These are long term investments, not a trip to Las Vegas.

If you're going in it for the long haul then the lowest trade/transaction costs shouldn't be that important. But if you like everything else they offer then go for it.

Also important but often overlooked by casual investors, especially for long-term investments, is to learn how to read financial statements. They'll have a wealth of information about the future of the company and when you learn to interpret them, you'll make better decisions when buying and selling and feel more confident in your investments.

Interesting.  Do you have any resources that may help in understanding this?  I took a business class or two in undergrad, but I'm sure there is a TON I need to learn, including terminology, concepts, etc.

[shock]

Google Finance's Portfolio is really cool.  I just put $500 into all of the companies I want to invest in (20) and it tracks your portfolio for you in a neat, clean way.  I'm up $180 from when I put my money in earlier today.  I can see this being addicting.  Haha.

[ren]

Interesting.  Do you have any resources that may help in understanding this?  I took a business class or two in undergrad, but I'm sure there is a TON I need to learn, including terminology, concepts, etc.

I did some of this through school and only learned enough to know that I know nothing about investing. I don't have any specific resources to recommend to you, all I can say is that it's important. Investing in a company without being able to look at their finances would be like buying a gaming computer and going with a Dell because they advertise gaming power. It'll get the job done but it's not the best investment.

At the basic level, if you can understand and manipulate the Key Stats and Ratio section in Google Finance you'd probably be better off than your average amateur investor.

[gpw11]

As an amateur investor, I wouldn't put too much time into reading financial statements.  I do agree that it is very, very useful, but in order to get the whole snapshot of any given company it's also very time consuming.  All the information should already be parsed and out there.  You'll probably want a basic understanding of how to read balance sheets and reports, as well as understand the basis of some of the key ratios used when gauging investment opportunities, but I'd leave it at that.  I can't think of all that many situations where doing your own footwork on this is going to help you out.