How to buy stocks?

July 21, 2017, 02:56 PM

Rey HRH

Here's a link to several places.

I use schwab but only because they're convenient and I've had them for so long and they've gone down in prices to match. they always have people 24/7. And they have a portfolio of ETFs and mutual funds at no fee.

There's one that's $1 per trade and another for $3 per trade.

"It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life – daily and hourly. Our answer must consist not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual." Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, 1946.

July 21, 2017, 02:58 PM

JALLEN

That is for those who know what they want to buy, understands the order types, and needs no help.

That $4.95 is real expensive if, for example, you want to buy 100 shares of a $50 stock. You sign in and put in an order to buy at the market. Just as you hit the go button, the stock hops 25 cents, your buy gets executed, after which it settles back to what it was before. Maybe a limit order would have been better. OTOH, maybe your limit order would not have gotten filled, before the stock runs up a dollar! Or, maybe you end up chasing the stock as it is running. Now what?

It isn't as easy as they make out, you know.

I have used Schwab for decades, but trade so seldom, it isn't a big cost.

Luckily, I have enough willpower to control the driving ambition that rages within me.

When you had the votes, we did things your way. Now, we have the votes and you will be doing things our way. This lesson in political reality from Lyndon B. Johnson

"Some things are apparent. Where government moves in, community retreats, civil society disintegrates and our ability to control our own destiny atrophies. The result is: families under siege; war in the streets; unapologetic expropriation of property; the precipitous decline of the rule of law; the rapid rise of corruption; the loss of civility and the triumph of deceit. The result is a debased, debauched culture which finds moral depravity entertaining and virtue contemptible." - Justice Janice Rogers Brown

July 21, 2017, 03:17 PM

Woodman

The least expensive, and safest way to buy stocks is to buy into a mutual fund.

Vanguard's Star fund comes to mind.

The fastest way to lose money in the stock market is not to diversify. For a few people, it is also the fastest way to gain money.

July 21, 2017, 03:44 PM

lude4life

Unless this is just fun/gambling money, I would open a Vanguard account. They have great funds.

VTSMX is a great one if you have $3k to put in I think it is. VTSTAX is the next up with $10k min.

VTI I believe is their no minimum that is an ETF.

All 3 are essentially the same for the most part. Great total market type funds.

-Jay

"Assault is a type of behavior, not a type of hardware." -Alan Korwin

July 21, 2017, 04:09 PM

Fredward

You can't time the market. A good way to invest it so invest a set amount regularly, such as monthly, regardless of market highs or lows.

There are 3 kinds of people, those that understand numbers and those that don't.

July 21, 2017, 04:29 PM

Aeteocles

I use a company called Motif.

I build a mini portfolio of stocks called a "motif" and it trades all at once. I can buy up to 30 different stocks in a single trade for $9.95. Or you can buy a single stock for $4.95 a trade.

There are fine lines between investing, speculating, and gambling. You should understand what you are trying to accomplish.

July 21, 2017, 04:42 PM

doublesharp

Warren Buffett wanted Hillary to be president too. To follow WB buy Berkshire Hathaway class B.

I"ve been investing in the stock market since the early 1960s when I was 13. My first buy was 8 shares of Eli Lilly when it was otc. Still have it and it's a little over 1000 shares now thanks to div re-investment and splits.

I use TD Ameritrade and a modified version of Dogs of the Dow.

________________________
God spelled backwards is dog

July 21, 2017, 05:02 PM

jhe888

quote:
Originally posted by Gene Hillman:
At the present market highs, isn't this the wrong time to buy into funds or stocks?

This question, quite literally, cannot be answered. Some stocks would be good buys and some would be disasters. The current Dow Jones average tells you virtually nothing about any particular purchase.

If you don't know what you are doing (and as J Allen often says, knowing what you are doing is everything), get a little advice about the market, and buy into a mutual fund or funds. Get some advice about which ones have reasonable fees and costs and meet your goals.

The fish is mute, expressionless. The fish doesn't think because the fish knows everything.

July 21, 2017, 05:19 PM

smlsig

quote:
Originally posted by sig77:
Vanguard index fund and be done with it. Warren buffet know more than all of us and that is what he recommends.

Vanguard and Fidelity have been having a quite war on index fund costs. Fidelity's costs are slightly lower but the difference is miniscule.

------------------
Eddie

Our Founding Fathers were men who understood that the right thing is not necessarily the written thing. -kkina

July 21, 2017, 05:25 PM

grumpy1

quote:
Originally posted by Gene Hillman:
At the present market highs, isn't this the wrong time to buy into funds or stocks?

Maybe your crystal ball is better than mine?? But I understand what you are saying that current levels appear lofty.

In any case one can also short stocks or buy stocks that short the market though IMO doubtful what the OP wants to do.

IMO good idea for one to have a brokerage account rather than leave any potential investment funds in the bank account where the most one can make is a fraction of one percent. The Vanguard Ultra Short bond fund is currently yielding 1.5 percent.

https://personal.vanguard.com/...tExt=INT&FundId=1492