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Anybody invest?

  • Thread starter firewired
  • Start date
Hey, I'm brand new to the world of investing. I just started up some mutual funds through an investor and was thinking about buying some stocks. I have no idea where to begin though. There's some nice online sites for trading, but again.........I'm not really too sure where to begin. Does andybody own stocks here?

Joel
 
I have shares of ESOP through the mailing company I work at a few nights a week but the company chooses what sorts of things they invest in. I just know if I leave or they can me I get a nice check!

Our main customers hire us to mail out their monthly and quarterly stock portfolio statements and year end 1099s. I read through the "information booklet" inserts that the companies send to each recipient with their account reports to explain what things mean and I don't understand a darn thing! It may as well be in greek or chinese...
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forget stocks. invest in internally flawless gems. when alexandrites came out, they were cheap. now they are about 10K a carat.

buy tanzanites from the D mine. they have ran out. they have tripled in the past few years. anything over a carat is a good investment.

spessartines are an excellent investment right now, too. aswell as burma rubies and natural imperial topaz.

seriously. stocks are too risky. gemstones never devalue and you can't lose money.
 
My advice would be to invest in stocks only recreationally. Do not put your savings or serious investments into single stocks. It is, however, perfectly good to play around with a small amount. You've done the right thing with the mutual funds, and remember, there is no such thing as a sure investment of any kind.

Be careful with gems, as how you buy them indicates the performance you get. With a few exceptions, gems just increase in value at the rate of inflation. Some, however, go down, like blue topaz. Tanzanite has gone way up. But mostly, they track inflation. The big thing, however, is that if you pay retail, you will not be able to sell your gems at a profit for a long time. The markups can be huge. You have to research your sources, and try to buy from primary dealers. I agree with the advice to stick with high end gems as the markup tends to be lower as a percentage.

Capslock
 
you can find alot of stuff dirt cheap at pawnshops.

in fact, my mom got a 2.5 carat ring with champagne diamons for about 1800 bucks at a pawnshop. ebay is great too. alot of people sell on ebay or pawn stuff for drug money or when a family member dies and they don't know what to do with it.


tsavorites are excellent right now aswell.
 
Since your new to investments I would say stick with the mutual funds as stocks can be risky. Options could work for you, but your going to have to do a bit of learning. Also with the mutual funds you are going to want to check how much your going to get charged on the funds (ask your investor or check the proxy) and also find out if your getting A or B funds... you can ask your investor what the differences are between the types of funds (their are more then A and B). You should also read up a bit on the funds yourself don't simply rely on your investor, and have at least a little diversity with your funds.
 
Don't invest (more properly, speculate) in gems. Few people have direct access to the market, so you lose big on the purchase and again on the sale. And all it takes is a new source or an increase in production and the price will drop like a, umm, stone.
 
People spend years learning how to successfully trade stocks. There isn't really an easy answer, unfortunately. Mutual funds are a great start because those people who spent those years learning are now trading your money for you.
 
gems are a porr investment. yah never know when a new source will be discovered. heck i have a coin that was worth $75 plus 15 years ago but about 5 years ago a huge stockpile was found and now its worth all of $5. gems are the same way. granted if you are seriously interested in them having a few is kinda nice as the are a hard asset and not a piece of paper. ive got probably $750-$1000 in gemstones, sapphires mostly but ive got odds and ends. they arent a serious investment but a hobby like CPs
 
  • #10
i'd say 10K for a 10 carat TZ is a serious invesment. you can sell it for 15- 20K easy.
 
  • #11
Thanks guys. I'm not so interested in gems. But I do like the sound of stocks. Like endparenthesis said....it takes time to learn how and where to invest. Someone else suggested to go to the library and just start reading. Investing for dummies is supposed to be a good book for that....although I'm not sure it would do me much good since I'm not a dummy
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It seems to me that there is a lot of money to be made out there....floating around in the stock market and I'd like to get my hands on some of it
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Capslock made a good point too, to do it sort of recreationally with a smaller amount. That's probably what I would do.

It's gonna be fun!
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  • #12
good luck! wait for disasters. like martha stewarts stock plummeted when she was arrested, then later it soared.
 
  • #13
You can also try a place like thestockman.com or stocktradershq.com and trade alongside experts (and typically get insight into why they do what they do).
 
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