I have Salomon Smith and Barney. I dont remember what all stocks I have, but next time I look at it Ill let you know.
From what my grandfather tells me, the best companies to invest in are new companies that have to do with the oil business. He found one that was a local company, and when they had stock available, he bought alot. Then in about 6 months he almost doubled his money.
For long term, nothing beats investing in Index funds, such as the S&P 500. People have tried, and in the long run, you can't beat the market. There have been studies where they compared the results from top analysts and monkeys throwing things at a newspaper with companies on it, and in the end, the monkies won.
Try to find some no load funds to invest in also. I know that USAA offers them, but I think that USAA might be military only...
Also be sure to have a diverse portfolio, meaning that you don't have all your eggs in one basket. Invest in some high risk funds, low risk funds, money market, bonds, and international stocks, real estate, the works. That way you won't get burned.
yeah he hit it on the head you gotta get allittle in all catagories....in my union we have all of our retirement invested in stocks...not our choice but whatever....its not all of it but a decent amount of our retirement is...we can select our own or there investor takes care of it for us...hes really good...he did a class for us and it was all about fast buys and sells and high risk low risk you gotta get into all sorts of investments
For long term, nothing beats investing in Index funds, such as the S&P 500. People have tried, and in the long run, you can't beat the market. There have been studies where they compared the results from top analysts and monkeys throwing things at a newspaper with companies on it, and in the end, the monkies won..
That's a little misleading. Fund managers get paid good money for what they do (beating the market). Take a look at some of the top fund managers and they're getting an average of 20+% per year over the last 15 years.
Not that I would discourage anyone from investing in index funds. You can do better, there will just be more risk involved.
I'm a financial rep with New York Life, i have my series 7 and 63 licenses and a New York State life insurance license so this is the type of stuff i'm getting into since i gave up fixing cars for a living back in July of 05. I just filled out the account paperwork for my girl about 2 hours ago, she's got about $25,000 to get started. www.mainstayfunds.com are the mutual funds we sell. www.nylifesecurities.com is the investment division of the New York Life Insurance Company.
Had I followed my gut instincts this summer I would already be a millionaire.... Remember when Delphi was $0.03... I Bought in at that, but I should have thrown everything I have at it.. It's at 3.08 right now...I have already made 102.66 times what I put in...
Don't play by yourself. I have a few friends who are professionals in the field and even they miss sometimes. Some people devote their entire lives to studying the market and beta coefficients and a whole $hitload of other stuff and the stock can still tank or not go where predicted...
There are so many variables within every single company you invest in that it really is like gambling. If you see a hot tip on MSN money or MadMoney or anywhere else, chances are that 10 million other people already know about it and they too are going to invest. Even if you worked for a large company like IBM or something, there are tons of internal company things that you would never be aware of when it came to investing in the stock.
If you are going to just do it to play, I use Scottrade, cheap rates and good to great service. If you are serious about a long term investment, go with a professional who is not paid on commission (Sorry CobraGuy, don't know how you are paid ), go with someone who is paid on the growth of the portfolio or even better charges a flat rate (reasonable, flat rate I would add).
It seems like you should just be able to dump $10,000 in one day and wake up a millionaire the next morning, but chances of that happening are sooooo slim and when it does they are highly publicized, so just approach with a logical head of what could happen...