I am looking into DIY trading. I am thinking of going the income style of investing (basically invest in things that give dividends, interest like bonds or any thing of the like) to supplement my income. In this style of investing (or so I have heard) the idea is to buy such assets and use the income from these sources to invest more. Which is to hold the bought assets (stock, bonds, whatever) So my question is which online trading site allows me to hold stock and bonds with little costs, no penalties due to infrequent activity (heard some online brokers sell all a person’s assets if they are infrequent activity) or at least very upfront on what is required of me to use their service (I hate fine, confusing print and rules. I want simplicity.)
Any advice?
I already have a mutal fund. However I wish to be an active trader in order to learn more about finance. I also believe in learning through doing
Why do I get the feeling some of you are trying to sell me on something?
Additional Information - I'm 16, how can I get into the stock market? Okay, so I was put in Economics this year in school. I'm in the class with nothing but seniors, and I have the second highest grade in my class (98). iv done research and played practice stock trading online. what i need to know is how can I get started......
- How to level the playing field at the stock market? Back in the day when RedHat was going public, many of the people who gave their time and talent to making free software and linux were named and shares were reserved for them at the IPO price of each. Most of them were NOT allowed to purchase the shares since......
- How can i get rid of cellulite? I have recenly lost 30 pounds in about 2 1/2 months by diet and exercise. I go to the gym about 4 times a week forn an hour and a half and i still cant seem to get rid of my cellulite on my butt and thighs especially these so......
- DOW JONES Index Fibonacci Review This week we look at the chart for The Dow Jones Index as our example of using the Fibonacci series. Most Stock market technical analysts/traders commonly use tools such as Fibonacci & Gann analysis methods as part of their investment strategy, as they prove useful in showing points of high......
$so fresh so clean$ 14th March 2010
Then you would be best in mutual funds. Lower fees. A no load income fund and bond fund would be what you are looking for. Expense ratios, such as with T. Rowe Price, are usually under 1%.
Edit: I agree with the other two.
Rabbit 14th March 2010
I use Scottrade and am happy. If you are into stocks of the major exchanges (as opposed to OTC and pinksheets) then the $7 per trade commission is especially nice for the long term. The last two trades, no last four, were filled between the final click to place the order and when I went back to the portfolio home page, and two of them for more than I expected. So they tend to be quick and accurate (I’ve had a couple of surprises where I didn’t get the full blocks I asked for but clicking the ‘all or nothing’ box fixed that in similar situations of low volume in an issue).
Added:
If I gave my name and you gave it when opening an account, then we both get some free trades. I didn’t give my name. Opening an account at Scottrade doesn’t profit me any more than if you flushed cash down the toilet. I don’t care where you go.
Jay 14th March 2010
Go for Scottrade!!!! I use it and LOVE it, no annual fees, so if you’re into buy and hold then it wont keep hitting you with fees, and the commission is low at 7$ a trade anyways. You can find codes online to get you your first 3-7 trades free too, it was sick.
jvenneri 14th March 2010
Buy and Hold is not a good way to invest. Investing is like sailing. You must constantly make a just adjustment and tweaks to you portfolio based on the way the market is moving. Buy and hold type investors were the ones who lost 50% or more since October and are swamped trying to make that back.
SJ 14th March 2010
https://www-us.computershare.com/Employee/Login/CompanyIntroduction.asp?cc=US&lang=en&issuerid=SCUSIBM
This is the ComputerShare Site, for DRPs, Dividend Reinvestment Plans. There are others; Bank of New York Mellon, American Stock transfer.
What you do is use their index, select company plans, look for the fee structure. I have always found plenty of companies that charge ZERO for investments, often with minimums of $25-50. You can set up monthly debits with your checking.
Several advantages — this is an easy way to do dollar cost averaging; depending on the company you often only pay fees to sell (and you can usually avoid even that by having them send you stock certificates instead); you can have relatively small investments in multiple companies; you can monitor your accounts online.
I used to do a lot of this, starting 6 years before I really started active trading (Schwab). It is educational. You have to do your own research, but that’s also the fun of it. All companies have web sites with Investor information.
Powerwave L 14th March 2010
i am using sogotrade. Personally, I think Sogotrade is best among all online brokerages. You can get a lot of free trades: about 100 free trades with 500 minimum deposits. It has very good customer services, it also has live help, and you can chat with representatives about any question. After that, only 3 dollar for each trade, pretty sweet when compared with other online brokerages.
Referral code: 453934
Kaylyn 14th March 2010
http://whit.me/StockInvestingCourse
Before you start investing check that site out. To make money you got to spend money. That is the official website that helped me start making thousands recently. It was featured in Forbes magazine before – it is damn good.
Especially with the current economic crisis, you can make a lot of money when the economy improves soon. You will be a millionaire (Which I’m currently working on it!) soon!
Cathy W 14th March 2010
I am currently using Scottrade. I am using it over Sogo or Zecco because Scottrade is more well known. I am not using E*Trade or TD Ameritrade because they offer the same things as Scottrade yet at higher commission fees.
Scottrade
NO account maintenance, service, or inactivity fees.
$7.00 online trading commission for stock over $1.00 a share.
Tutorial and webcast available to customers.
Excellent trading platforms (very user friendly).
Excellent customer service (398 Branch offices nationwide).
$500.00 minimum to open an account.
If you do end up opening it with Scottrade, use this referral code: EJVR8926
You and I can get 3 FREE trades.
The One 14th March 2010
Agreed with your DIY approach mutual funds as you know have murdered peoples life savings, most of them are down by 40% in a year! We could for sure do better then that. I believe the buy and hold strategy is gone. I’ve used http://isaiahinvestments.com myself. They have gotten me well over 30% a month, just a suggestion though. Where ever you decide to go I wish you good luck!