I just opened an Ameritrade account and have no clue what to buy.... Im in the process of closing on my new house in about 3 weeks so I only put $1000 in to start. Id like to hear what you guys have to say...
Just opened Ameritrade account... what to buy?
- Thread starter The Kid
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You need to determine your investment objectives and risk tolerance before you simply buy something.
Since you are buying a house I'm guessing that preservation of capital and a low risk tolerance are important. That being the case, I would simply buy "Spydrs" which is the S&P 500 index packaged as a stock. You can buy it as symbol SPY
If however this is "play money" and you have a high risk tolerance I would recommend you buy DHB and let it ride. Another high risk favorite of mine is IMDS.OB They make a non-invasive mammogram. I've ridden this stock from 20 cents to 6 dollars in the past. It is currently trading at 17 cents.
If you really want a thrill ride, short Google.
Since you are buying a house I'm guessing that preservation of capital and a low risk tolerance are important. That being the case, I would simply buy "Spydrs" which is the S&P 500 index packaged as a stock. You can buy it as symbol SPY
If however this is "play money" and you have a high risk tolerance I would recommend you buy DHB and let it ride. Another high risk favorite of mine is IMDS.OB They make a non-invasive mammogram. I've ridden this stock from 20 cents to 6 dollars in the past. It is currently trading at 17 cents.
If you really want a thrill ride, short Google.
Its really just play money. I stopped gambling almost a year ago and thought this sounded like fun. I would like some cheap stocks that have the possibility to explode so I can get in and cash out quick- Like its that easy. If I lose all the money, no biggie. Better than Vegas or Atlantic City.
Here's a stock tip....dont take stock tips!
Now that that is out of the way, I've had good success with RAVN -> a little volatile, but hang in there
Another one to look into is FLEX (flextronics) It is an affordable stock that has taken a beating for a myriad of reasons, but the good news is they are a parts supplier for the XBOX 360. Also look at any of the parts suppliers for the consoles that are coming out.
Now that that is out of the way, I've had good success with RAVN -> a little volatile, but hang in there
Another one to look into is FLEX (flextronics) It is an affordable stock that has taken a beating for a myriad of reasons, but the good news is they are a parts supplier for the XBOX 360. Also look at any of the parts suppliers for the consoles that are coming out.
like i said in an earlier post, i rarely/never give financial advice... having said that, i like a couple of the above suggestions:BRIDGEWATER ACURA said:
* determine what your (ranked) objectives are
* don't take "stock tips"
fwiw, i tend to stay in markets i feel i know (hi tech). sometimes i research them reasonably well, other times i move based on multiple soft-data points (what i've read, scuttlebutt from folks in various industries, etc) but regardless, i'm a conservative investor.
good luck with your efforts.
squid2004
Guest
I've watched and have traded the same 40-50 stocks for years now and basically I trade based on charts/patterns. Experience goes a long way in the market as you often have to read between the lines and filter through all the BS. Also try and invest industries you know and understand or in companies/products you are a frequent customer of and believe in.
I was able to get in on Google around $110 and we all know where that sits today... haven't seen action like that since 1999-2000.
I was able to get in on Google around $110 and we all know where that sits today... haven't seen action like that since 1999-2000.
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You aren't going to do any damage with a grand. Before you start trading, you'll need 25K at the least.
Think of it this way....with $1,000 you can buy 100 shares of a $10 stock. Assuming this security rises a dollar, or 10%, you've made $100 on paper. Take away commission charges, probably $20 for you, then take out taxes, taxed at ordinary income level (~30%), and you're left with around fifty bucks. It just ain't worth it.
Now consider this:
With 25K you have a buying power of 50K. With that same $10 stock, you can now buy 5000 shares. If it rises a dollar, you've made $5K, less the $20 in commissions, a tick for the juice and 30 in tax, you now have about 3250.
Don't forget the flip side, though.....if the stock falls.
Anyway...a good way to get started is to buy some good funds. Put in 100 or 200 bucks a month and you'll start to get some good dollar cost averaging and in 30 years you'll be a millionaire without breaking a sweat.
Think of it this way....with $1,000 you can buy 100 shares of a $10 stock. Assuming this security rises a dollar, or 10%, you've made $100 on paper. Take away commission charges, probably $20 for you, then take out taxes, taxed at ordinary income level (~30%), and you're left with around fifty bucks. It just ain't worth it.
Now consider this:
With 25K you have a buying power of 50K. With that same $10 stock, you can now buy 5000 shares. If it rises a dollar, you've made $5K, less the $20 in commissions, a tick for the juice and 30 in tax, you now have about 3250.
Don't forget the flip side, though.....if the stock falls.
Anyway...a good way to get started is to buy some good funds. Put in 100 or 200 bucks a month and you'll start to get some good dollar cost averaging and in 30 years you'll be a millionaire without breaking a sweat.
Yellow Rose
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One Two Three
PCRAX
IENAX
PFCXF
The first two are energy related funds. Gee, everyone bitches about high gasoline prices, but if you are in one of these two funds for the past six months you would not complain.
The third is a small company strongly leveraged to supply natural gas to the world's largest refinery located in northwest Venezuela.....there is a pending natural gas shortage in that part of the country.
PCRAX
IENAX
PFCXF
The first two are energy related funds. Gee, everyone bitches about high gasoline prices, but if you are in one of these two funds for the past six months you would not complain.
The third is a small company strongly leveraged to supply natural gas to the world's largest refinery located in northwest Venezuela.....there is a pending natural gas shortage in that part of the country.
As Waren Buffet says, "Buy what you know, except don't ever buy an airline."
I like EA Games stock though it is a bit high.... I like video games, they are the leader, and the new Xbox 360 comes out at the end of the month, holiday season will be big for them and then the new Sony Playstation will be out 2 qtr of 06. Have to go buy all new games at $50 a pop if I want to play in HD (My home theater is a 96" HD front projector).
I like EA Games stock though it is a bit high.... I like video games, they are the leader, and the new Xbox 360 comes out at the end of the month, holiday season will be big for them and then the new Sony Playstation will be out 2 qtr of 06. Have to go buy all new games at $50 a pop if I want to play in HD (My home theater is a 96" HD front projector).
Why, HMC, of course!!! 
CL65 Captain said:
What symbol does it trade under?
EA Games is ERTS. I bought them a while back when they took a 16% one day hit, and continued to go down! I should have bought more once that happened but I had no free capital. They are also the only ones with an NFL license, so there won't be any competition for Madden 06
This is the route I am taking and I can't be happier with the results. The hard part is when you have found a great fund, Clipper, then you read the managers of of the fund are leaving the company. When you are spoiled by a one good fund while your others are doing so-so, having to think about maybe replacing that fund is a tough bill to swallow.SilverStone05 said:
Buy shares of everything I have, lots of it, and tell ALL your friends to also. :wink:BRIDGEWATER ACURA said:
-j-
he's buying up bud right now......
my fav, but i do not own any...
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=BRK-A&t=my&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=
but i do own some b's.... :biggrin:
like owning a mutual fund!!!!
warren's a trip....
my fav, but i do not own any...
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=BRK-A&t=my&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=
but i do own some b's.... :biggrin:
like owning a mutual fund!!!!
warren's a trip....
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If you want to see what's moving quickly give CoolTicks a try. You can try for free.
www.coolticks.com
www.coolticks.com
Speaking of the devil...Mimic Warren Buffett, Beat the Stock Market if you want to go on your own there is no reason why you can't or shouldn't copy the "Oracle of Omaha."CL65 Captain said:
11.6% per year, you can't buy that gain...well unless you want to pay $84,000 a share for Berkshire Hathaway.
Check out INSM Its called insmed. Trading at 1.18 They just had a growth hormone drug approved. The play is that there is a similar drug from another co. TRCA. INSM is waiting to find out if they have approval from the fda to market and sell the drug. Dec 12th is the date of the announcement. Its a cheap enough stock where you could prob make a little money on it. 1000.00 isnt to much money to make grow on real stocks
I own 15k shares so my money is where my mouth is.
happy investing
Paul M
I own 15k shares so my money is where my mouth is.
happy investing
Paul M
- Joined
- 4 May 2003
- Messages
- 341
check out iRobot (IRBT). We should be going public this week (tomorrow?) 
I admit, it might be a bit of a risk. It's a new-ish company (at least with consumer products) and doesn't have a lot of financial history for an investor to look over, but robotics is going to be a huge industry going forward. Robotics has been in manufacturing for years, but it's only now starting to make way into the consumer area. On the gov't side, there's a lot of money going into robotics (UGAs and UGVs, etc) also. Crossing my fingers.
Other than that, I can see the equities market starting to gain some steam over the next 6 months or so (I'm to near sited to predict any further). With real estate looking like it has hit its max and possibly declining now all those real estate investors will be looking for other places to put their money. Stock market is the logical choice, so I would expect to see solid money moving back in. Plus people have been saying for a while now that there has been a lot of cash on the side lines waiting to go back in. One risk i see is if the real estate market really starts to tumble it will drag the whole economy down which will negatively effect the stock market.
If the overall market starts to move up I think companies like Intel, NSM, Yahoo are some safe picks that will show decent gains. Google.... that's anyone's guess. If u like to gamble, jump in (on either side, short or long heh). I like game companies too. Game market is a little cyclical as new systems are released and old systems start to age. I'd say we're in the lull right now since people know new hardware is about to be released so consumers tend to hold off on game purchases and game developers tend to focus efforts on games for the new hardware. EA is the leader, but their PE of around 50 is on the high end. Even if EA holds the HFL license, the other companies can license college teams which is becoming quite popular. They are also under cutting EAs game prices by quite a lot. Activision might be worth looking at.
Oil is risky now due to it's big run up. I heard a great (funny) quote the other day... "It always smells worse at the back of the herd"... meaning just because a company or industry has done well doesn't mean it's going to continue going so. Good luck.
I admit, it might be a bit of a risk. It's a new-ish company (at least with consumer products) and doesn't have a lot of financial history for an investor to look over, but robotics is going to be a huge industry going forward. Robotics has been in manufacturing for years, but it's only now starting to make way into the consumer area. On the gov't side, there's a lot of money going into robotics (UGAs and UGVs, etc) also. Crossing my fingers.Other than that, I can see the equities market starting to gain some steam over the next 6 months or so (I'm to near sited to predict any further). With real estate looking like it has hit its max and possibly declining now all those real estate investors will be looking for other places to put their money. Stock market is the logical choice, so I would expect to see solid money moving back in. Plus people have been saying for a while now that there has been a lot of cash on the side lines waiting to go back in. One risk i see is if the real estate market really starts to tumble it will drag the whole economy down which will negatively effect the stock market.
If the overall market starts to move up I think companies like Intel, NSM, Yahoo are some safe picks that will show decent gains. Google.... that's anyone's guess. If u like to gamble, jump in (on either side, short or long heh). I like game companies too. Game market is a little cyclical as new systems are released and old systems start to age. I'd say we're in the lull right now since people know new hardware is about to be released so consumers tend to hold off on game purchases and game developers tend to focus efforts on games for the new hardware. EA is the leader, but their PE of around 50 is on the high end. Even if EA holds the HFL license, the other companies can license college teams which is becoming quite popular. They are also under cutting EAs game prices by quite a lot. Activision might be worth looking at.
Oil is risky now due to it's big run up. I heard a great (funny) quote the other day... "It always smells worse at the back of the herd"... meaning just because a company or industry has done well doesn't mean it's going to continue going so. Good luck.
irobot IPO
you're kidding right??? sounding like you work there, dawgpie. having bought a consumer product ROOMBA, had it fail, spent long time on helplines, listened to many people gripe about ROOMBA failures [ all after becoming very attached...] makes me conclude an IPO will fund the customer service tsunami of 1.5 million returned roombas. scooba looks like a winner out of the box
regarding gov't robotics, ever hear of nasa/jsc... spirit/odyssey...
on the bright side, irobot offered me a refurb, after much discussion , & protest scenarios were offered to a mid-manager [ tony]
will be an interesting ipo, but beware. you're a gambling man, mike.
another patriot missile...
fyi:
christmas cheer:
http://www.nsxprime.com/forums/showthread.php?t=60046
explain this one:
www.irobotsucks.com ?
dawggpie said:check out iRobot (IRBT). We should be going public this week (tomorrow?)
you're kidding right??? sounding like you work there, dawgpie. having bought a consumer product ROOMBA, had it fail, spent long time on helplines, listened to many people gripe about ROOMBA failures [ all after becoming very attached...] makes me conclude an IPO will fund the customer service tsunami of 1.5 million returned roombas. scooba looks like a winner out of the box
regarding gov't robotics, ever hear of nasa/jsc... spirit/odyssey...
on the bright side, irobot offered me a refurb, after much discussion , & protest scenarios were offered to a mid-manager [ tony]
will be an interesting ipo, but beware. you're a gambling man, mike.
another patriot missile...
fyi:
christmas cheer:
http://www.nsxprime.com/forums/showthread.php?t=60046
explain this one:
www.irobotsucks.com ?
Stock tips on the internet are like carnival games of chance,but since you asked Mike.....If you have a high risk level and want a now cheap stock that has Bottomed(in my mind) and puts out a decent product,look at zix corp(zixi).They have software for secure e-mail and other such stuff esp popular with healthcare.I think they will be in it for the long haul,but you never know :wink:
- Joined
- 4 May 2003
- Messages
- 341
I do work there, as was implied by the "we" in "we should be going public this week", I thought. I also tried not to give a sales pitch on the company by stating it might be a more risky investment given that it's a new company in a budding market. They are working to improve the reliability of the consumer robots.
There are many other companies in the gov't and industrial robotics fields. I never stated otherwise. For a company of it's size we have done well in attracting gov't business, but you are definitely betting on it's growth by investing in it.
As for hate sites.... you also won't have much trouble finding many iPod hate sites and we all know how crap that product has done =)
There are many other companies in the gov't and industrial robotics fields. I never stated otherwise. For a company of it's size we have done well in attracting gov't business, but you are definitely betting on it's growth by investing in it.
As for hate sites.... you also won't have much trouble finding many iPod hate sites and we all know how crap that product has done =)
SilverStone05 said:
Listen to him!! Since your experience speaks for itself(no offense), stay away from picking risky stocks. Dollar cost averaging into an asset allocated portfolio of mutual funds is by far the best option you can entertain............right now. I am an advisor by trade, so if you need any assistance finding funds that will match your risk tolerance, shoot me a pm and I'll send you in the right direction.
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