[edwardcyh]

How about a thread on "stock talk?"

xray and I have some talks about various stocks on his personal forum, and we can move it here.

I am sure there are plenty of investors on bbf.com.

What do you think?

[The Future7]

I would like for you guys talking about stock. I would like to learn more about it too because there is a lot of money to be made. I also pondered about becoming a stock broker on the side but I know nothing about stocks. Im only 17 so when I turn 18 in September, it time to become a billionaire. Yup big dreams.

[edwardcyh]

Originally Posted by The Future7

I would like for you guys talking about stock. I would like to learn more about it too because there is a lot of money to be made. I also pondered about becoming a stock broker on the side but I know nothing about stocks. Im only 17 so when I turn 18 in September, it time to become a billionaire. Yup big dreams.

You have to start some where!

If you have questions about investing, ask away! xray and I will try our best to answer them. Since we've been through the highs and the lows (insert old jokes here), we should have some experiences or advice to offer.

[The Future7]

I dont even know what to ask because I dont know much about it...lol
How long have you been investing? And are you in Profit?
Were you alive when the stock market crashed??...j/k. just had to get the old joke in

[edwardcyh]

Originally Posted by The Future7

I dont even know what to ask because I dont know much about it...lol
How long have you been investing? And are you in Profit?
Were you alive when the stock market crashed??...j/k. just had to get the old joke in

I have been investing since 1996, the start of the telecom bubble. Since Dallas has quite a bit of high-tech presence, people all jumped in stock market, and so did I.

I made a lot of money during the bubble, but lost quite handsomely when it bursted. At one point during the bubble, I had 5 brokerage accounts and maintained around $93k in assets for each account. Late 2001, it shrunk to two accounts with $34k in each. LOL... I lost around 90% of my portfolio.

Since then, I've been investing smarter, and the market has done well for me. All I can say is that my portfolio looks NOTHING like it's formal glory, but at least I can say I haven't lost money investing since 1996....

I wasn't around when the stock market crashed, but I think xray was.

[The Future7]

Nice!
About the money. Where does the money you invest come from? Is it like you invest however much you want to invest or is it from your salary or something?

[edwardcyh]

Originally Posted by The Future7

Nice!
About the money. Where does the money you invest come from? Is it like you invest however much you want to invest or is it from your salary or something?

You'll need a small lump sum to start. You can consider it "seed" money, and grow from there.

I recommend starting with about $1k. Less than that, it almost seems pointless.

For example, you buy a stock, and it goes up 10%. If you had $1k invested, that's 100 bucks, but if you had $400, it's only a gain of $40.

Of course, if you are thinking long term, as in 3+ years, then any amount will be ok. I consistently use my son's money (gift received or whatever) to purchase stocks like IBM, CSCO, or WMT. These stocks probably will never go away, and it will be a good bet they'll be worth more than their current levels. In this scenario, you're "accumulating" long term and any $$ amount will be ok.

For learning the market via trading stocks (not day trading), you'll probably need $1k to start....

[The Future7]

Oh thats great. The stocks only affect whatever you put in. I'm definitely gonna get into the investing game.
Btw, are you allowed to pull out all your money at once?

[Dragnsmke1]

ah..a little stock talk...Id be interested...Ive been investing for the past 10 years...

[edwardcyh]

Originally Posted by The Future7

Oh thats great. The stocks only affect whatever you put in. I'm definitely gonna get into the investing game.
Btw, are you allowed to pull out all your money at once?

Money stuck in the market are not as "liquid," meaning the funds are not immediately available. Stocks need to be sold, and the funds need to settle before you can withdraw and use it.

You can sell your stocks at any time you wish after the settlement date, partial or all. Just make sure you give the funds enough time to settle before you withdraw. Some brokers, like TD Ameritrade, would give you a hard time about it. All this "settlement" crap came because our beloved government wants to discourage daytrading. I am sure there are plenty of smaller brokerage houses that can somehow work around it, but the major ones all require you to settle..... at least to my knowledge.

Basically, buy the stock and hold for 3 business days, and sell the stock and wait 3 business days.

Beyond that, there are a whole bunch of tax-related issues about selling the stock and then buying back within a certain period.... That's just something we can discuss sometime down the road since that's probably for short-term swing traders, and you won't go there yet.

[edwardcyh]

Originally Posted by Dragnsmke1

ah..a little stock talk...Id be interested...Ive been investing for the past 10 years...

Nice! Which ones do you have your eyes on right now?

[The Future7]

What is buy low/sell high high all about?
Is it buying a stock when its low and selling it when its high?

[edwardcyh]

Buy low and sell high obviously means the traditional stock trading principle. You want to buy a stock as low as possible and then sell it at the highest point possible. For example, buy in a stock at $1.00 and steadily hold it until it reaches $3-$4 and then sell it.

There will be plenty of temptation along the way to sell since stocks rarely perform like a "one-way train" (only goes up). Stocks will go up, retrace, go up again, and retrace again. Therefore, there are many traders who would buy and sell the same stock all the way up.... or playing the swing.

For instance, ABC may be trading at $1.43 when you first buy in, and you sell it when it hits $1.80. The stock drops back down to $1.60 and you buy in again, and you sell it again at $1.90. ABC drops back to $1.80 and you get in again... You can repeat this process all the way up, and make even more money than the traditional buy-and-hold. Traditional method would let you earn from $1.43 to whatever the current price is, but swing trading allows you to make multiple smaller profitable transactions....

Of course, the biggest factor you want to include is the COMMISSION. Different brokerage houses charge you different fees, and they DO add up.... I remember my first month of trading accumulated $1,200 in commission (back then Charles Schwab was charging me $39.95 per trade....). Yeah.... I learned and switched broker pretty quickly after that.

[Dragnsmke1]