embarrassing to say but i never trade any stocks for myself or anybody else. thinking to put 10k spare money to start, i have finance background and quite familliar of the real service level for most brokerage firms, which i am not impressed so much. Should i just pick up a portfolio by myself or using certain tools? how to start? Thanks
Best way to start might be with a virtual or paper portfolio first. Good way to get the basics. My 2c.
I used the investopedia game
I think you should go on google finance and make a portfolio and just study that for about 2 years. Then invest real money when you are 100% sure you are going to make money. If you are looking to do it just for fun, the mock portfolios will suffice.
Palantir Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I think you should go on google finance and make a > portfolio and just study that for about 2 years. > Then invest real money when you are 100% sure you > are going to make money. If you are looking to do > it just for fun, the mock portfolios will suffice. i wouldn’t follow any of this advice. first of all, everything is different when there’s real money on the line. second, you’re never 100% sure you’re going to make money. (any investment bears some risk.) third, two years is an eternity; you’re not getting a master’s degree here. i’d say dive right in with an amount of money that you are comfortable risking. if you’re not sure what to buy, put it in a market-index based ETF like SPY, QQQQ, IWM, etc. and learn from there.
>(any investment bears some risk.) Not if the investor is looking for genuine arbitrage opportunities… which I’m sure isn’t the case here, but you never know.
I think you should only actively invest when you are nearly 100% sure you are going to make money. Otherwise buy the index and move on with your life. Just IMO
smartpants Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > how to start? Long the good stocks and short the bad ones.
smartpants Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > embarrassing to say but i never trade any stocks > for myself or anybody else. thinking to put 10k > spare money to start, i have finance background > and quite familliar of the real service level for > most brokerage firms, which i am not impressed so > much. Should i just pick up a portfolio by myself > or using certain tools? > > how to start? > > Thanks Is there a particular style of investing you do? Value investing (looking for cheap stocks that will become fairly valued)? Growth investing (similar to value investing (others will disagree with this part), but the specific kind of “cheap” is that the growth potential is underappreciated)? Momentum investing (following trends and/or sentiment)? A big part of the trick is figuring out what you like and what you are good at (hopefully these overlap somewhat). If you don’t know, then try a little of each and see what you gravitate towards (though 10k may be a little small for trying more than one style simultaneously). The other option is to do a kind of core-satellite structure, where you practice a core portfolio of 4-6 stock + bond ETFs that you rebalance periodically (every month is good for practicing skills, even if it is overkill for a small account like this), plus a small amount of active bets based on extra analysis (value, growth, momentum, or whatever).
Anyone ever tried the techniques that the Turtles used under the tutelage of Richard Dennis?
What kind of trading are you talking about? 10k I’m assuming you’re looking at swing trading and if it’s even longer than that, you’re becoming an investor which isn’t quite the same as trading stocks…the key here is focus on costs about all else! I traded stocks for years (professionally for 3) and have seen a lot of small accounts bleed to death in data fees, rent charges, charting packages, haircuts, etc., etc…if you’re not going to be active, go with the cheapest platform, on frills software, whatever that’s free or has minimal costs - you can spend a lifetime learning to trade, so don’t go balls to the wall from the beginning.
DONT LISTEN TO ANYONE HERE. GIVE YOUR MONEIES TO QQQQQQQQBBBBBEEEEEEE.
Is google finance any good? How robust are their stock screens?
Palantir Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I think you should only actively invest when you > are nearly 100% sure you are going to make money. > Otherwise buy the index and move on with your > life. Just IMO hah, if you’re looking for certainty in life and especially with investing then good luck,
@tj2001, There is no such thing as risk-less arbitrage; just asks the guys from Long term Capital management! Even Treasuries bear risk. Uncertainty, I would argue is the reason finance exist; without uncertainty we would all be accountants (just record takers).
No offense to any die-hard accountants.
Pick the triple leveraged ETF of your choice and buy and hold.
100% sure you are going to make money? Does that kind of stock exist?
Thanks all, interesting answers, feel like learn a lot, i think i should go with some buy and hold stategics, and products that allow me not spending too much time on, less risk product. maybe some index, or ETF? Any specific products to consider? I do agree with the comments about fees - my neighbor use Fidelity for her portfolio, if i want just buy and hold some good index and ETF for example, which firm i should consider to start in this case?
This is a CFA forum but instead it’s like discussing investing with my grandma.