I have to agree to disagree with me too =). DRIPs have the benefit of allowing partial share purchases (so you can spend just a small amount). Zecco is great, but you have to buy whole shares. Good advice there!

I would say, if you have to prove to your father that you can handle things, set up some modest goals and meet them...such as beating a savings account at 5%. Even the total stock index should be able to do this (if the market dips this summer, just don't sell, keep adding regularly and ignore all the noise). The last thing I would want to hear from anyone is that they made 50% in 8 weeks. I would assume they will lose their money eventually - the opposite effect of what your after it seems.

One thing I would NOT do is trade options. Options are for the advanced trader and are the easiest way to lose money or end up paying a margin interest (in debt!). I know my own investments pretty well and I still won't touch options, maybe not ever, but who knows.

It sounds like you have a good head on your shoulders, which is why I'm posting here trying to help. Just keep in mind that the real benefits will come later. By starting now your doing yourself a great favor, but don't expect to get rich quick or earn anything out of the money your investing at this stage in life. I urge you to plan on not withdrawing your investments for anything short of a real emergency. I would suggest an outlook of 5+ years at the very least. By then you'll have enough investing knowledge to know what you want. It is easier said than done.

I just want to repeat one last thing. The best move you could make is to do nothing for a month or two and do some reading. At least Google Peter Lynch and Warren Buffet and read anything you can find about them and their strategies. While your reading and learning, I recommend hook a checking account up to an EmegrantDirect savings account to start putting some cash there @5% - There are other companies out there, but Washington Mutual has a totally free checking account and EmegrantDirect is totally free as well. Both are good companies.

Reading and building some cash will fire you up and put you on the right path. Besides, I think you'll read that it is important to keep a cash position for many reasons, but mainly to prevent the need to cash out investments at a bad time due to an emergency, and to take advantage of opportunities.

Have a great 3-day weekend all,
- Rafe

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 Rafe

Hi I too am 16. Live in the UK, and have just got my very first qualification - In Business. I have been doing 16 GCSE's - secondary level education courses. Im going to college later this year, and plan to study economics, maths, business, accounting, and ICT. I hope to be a  possible investment banker. Im looking at many different investment oppurtunities, and I cam across Zecco. Im looking to invest around £100 - £400 ($200 - $800).  I am at the moment considering investing in a HYIP (£200 with guranteed return) - Im not sure though.
Any possible advice is always welcome.
I first became interested in stock markets at the age of 14 - I tipped family members to put £1000 each into a mining company - Angelsey Mining Plc. and they had returns of £15,000 including original capital (£16k). This jump is well documented on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) it happened when they announced they had uncovered around 30 million tonnes worth of ore's such as gold, silver, copper bronze etc. The stock went from 1p to 16p. This happened around two years ago.
Also, Im looking at possible spread betting techniques to raise cash to start a real estate company - Ive got big dreams.

My prediction for FMD on 05/29 is Trade range 36.75-37.00.

The 3 month tells me it'll be down soon but my ten day tells me it'll be up tuesday. We'll see if I'm right. Some indicators tell me tuesday may be flat so I don't predict a huge increase.

 

24 Years old BTW. Investing for 4 years.

 

ETA: and the 30 day wins, down on 05/29

22 . . . investing for a few weeks . . .

free services can always be found on the internet . . . i like to use them alway . . . i advise . . .

zecco, fool, and bankrates as places to complete your finanial needs. fool has good stock advice generated by the community in the section caps, and bankrates will give you the highest yield on your checking and savings accounts instead of getting the usual damn 1%. i have 4% on my checking and 5.35% on my savings through online banks. also read the best advice given by zecco, google/yahoo finance, fool, and others to keep learning about how to deal with the market.

i'm up $50 on my portfolio of $1000 invested in 10 stocks of $100 apiece since i started it less than 2 weeks ago. its a promising start.

The first question to ask is . . .  What are your goals? Most people want to make a lot of money trading. In the stock market, it takes money to make money. Unless you are truly brilliant or rich, it will be hard to start off with 5-10 grand and start to make a sh*t load of money. Remember, when you are investing in a compnay, you are putting your money in someone else's hands and hoping they run a compnay real well. Or, you are relying on the market and the economy to make money. The stock market is best as an alternate investment to a bigger investment one has. It makes sense, however these are my opinions. I'm 22 by the way. Good luck to all who reads this and may you make the right choices.

When I was 16, CDs were paying 7% and this hinted to me that the top of the market was near so I put my money in CDs. Had it been paying 5%, I might have either dollar-cost averaged into the declining market, bought bonds, a balanced fund, or a conservative fund.

Currently as a 23 year old investor, I feel that I have been guilty of excessive trading and haven't made a profit as a result on my stock investments. However, my mutual fund investments are doing pretty well.

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Aqua

nouchit:

The first question to ask is . . .  What are your goals? Most people want to make a lot of money trading. In the stock market, it takes money to make money. Unless you are truly brilliant or rich, it will be hard to start off with 5-10 grand and start to make a sh*t load of money. Remember, when you are investing in a compnay, you are putting your money in someone else's hands and hoping they run a compnay real well. Or, you are relying on the market and the economy to make money. The stock market is best as an alternate investment to a bigger investment one has. It makes sense, however these are my opinions. I'm 22 by the way. Good luck to all who reads this and may you make the right choices.

 

Great points.  I'd caution people that you can't be consistently lucky.  I'd also suggest that if you're goal is to generate a large return in a short time, forget it.  Despite what you may read, assume it doesn't happen.  Even with a moderate amount of money, over the long term, it's better in the market than elsewhere.  There's an opportunity cost to not being in the market.  I have also noticed that if you're in it for long haul, don't shy away from risk.  Risk has a powerful neutralizing force called time.  Buying a quality company at a reasonable price--actually, wait for some bad news and buy on the over reaction--is the way, IMHO, to go!

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Slow 'n Steady!
www.manifestinvesting.com

aquaswim47:

When I was 16, CDs were paying 7% and this hinted to me that the top of the market was near so I put my money in CDs. Had it been paying 5%, I might have either dollar-cost averaged into the declining market, bought bonds, a balanced fund, or a conservative fund.

Currently as a 23 year old investor, I feel that I have been guilty of excessive trading and haven't made a profit as a result on my stock investments. However, my mutual fund investments are doing pretty well.

 

Kudos to you for you honesty!!

Are you planning to switch over to longer term investing, hold companies for many years--I call it a decade trader?

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Slow 'n Steady!
www.manifestinvesting.com

dumb question I guess for a Young investor (such as myself).  I did a lot of research on 4 stocks.  I have purchased them through Zecco.  When it comes time that the company(ies) pay dividends, how will I receive them (either in stock or cash)?

 

 

mikehjr:

dumb question I guess for a Young investor (such as myself).  I did a lot of research on 4 stocks.  I have purchased them through Zecco.  When it comes time that the company(ies) pay dividends, how will I receive them (either in stock or cash)?

 

 

It's my understanding that Zecco does not reinvest dividends, so you should receive the dividends as cash.  You'll also receive tax information at the end of the year with the total amount of dividends that you received--the IRS gets a copy too.

I started off investing in DRIP's buying shares directly from companies.  I keep those DRIP's running.  I have discovered that in brokerage accounts, it's better not to reinvest dividends; in fact, it's better to avoid fractional shares altogether.  The reason for this suggestion is that if you ever have to transfer the account to another broker, the fractional shares cannot be moved.  I have learned that whole shares are better!

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Slow 'n Steady!
www.manifestinvesting.com

SlowAndSteady:

It's my understanding that Zecco does not reinvest dividends, so you should receive the dividends as cash.  You'll also receive tax information at the end of the year with the total amount of dividends that you received--the IRS gets a copy too.

 

Yes, I dont want to mess around with fractional quantities... what a nightmare!  So if the company issues a cash based dividend, does that show up in my zecco account, or do i get a check in the mail?  Does anyone know?