Buying Stocks Made Easy
- The first step to acquiring stock, which is the most important, is having a decent savings. Know that with investing ( as in anything), there are NO Guarantees. You are assuming the risk of gaining or losing . This savings must be money that you are not depending on or need within the next 6 months. I’d recommend a savings of at least $1000. $1000 won’t make or break you… Some of us have bills we paid in which we can’t even remember what the $1000 was for.
- Go online, Choose and Create an investing account. Then, link your bank account to them. Here are some choices. Right Now, Robinhood has a stock bonus: they are giving away a free share with sign up… There is a 98% chance the stock is worth $2.50-$10, 1% chance $10-$50, 1% $50-$250. (Recommended for beginners due to no minimum balance). Also, there are other platforms such as Stash, Acorn, Cash App, TD Ameri-trade, Fidelity Investments, Merrill Lynch, E*trade etc. They’re all competitive in terms of price per trade, minimum balances, and market investing capabilities. It truly depends on how active of a trader you will be. For example, cash app gives you accessibility to the crypto-markets. Other companies offer a monthly fee for unlimited trades and exclusive resources such as Charles Schwab . This would be recommended for a trader with high volumes of trades (25+ per month).
- Download the Investing app of your choice on your phone. Then you can start investing. Buying stock: You can look up any popular company you want once you know their Ticker- 1-6 letter abbreviation. Example. Google’s Ticker is “GOOG”, Walmart’s is “WMT”, Facebook’s is “FB” and Apple’s is “AAPL”. The price indicated by that ticker is the price of 1 share/stock of the company. Prices may go up or down.
Things to Keep in Mind
- Investing takes a lot of patience and discipline. Always research a company’s financial performance before jumping in. Make sure they are not in too much debt. Pay close attention to Balance Sheets, news updates, and credible opinions.
- Determine a Strategy. There are two basic types of buyer-markets always referred to….
- Bull and Bear:
Bulls: Bulls are considered to be the more aggressive/optimistic buyers (Short term). Typically in a bull market, Individuals will Buy stock when the economy is good in high anticipation that the stocks will continuously rise. Bears: Bears are considered to be the more reserved/ pessimistic buyers (long term). Bears always anticipate falling prices . In bear markets, individuals will either hold out, sell, or will hold stocks indefinitely till the market clears of trouble.
- Because I recommend starting off with a small $1000, You will have to be bull-ish.
- Starting off, look for valuable brands at an affordable price. You want to buy a stock as low as possible so that you may buy as many as possible. $1000 isn’t a lot in this market. The goal is to get to $5000.
- Taxes : Of course Uncle Sam won’t make getting rich too easy. You must consider Capital Gains and taxable income when trading stocks successfully. Short term gains are taxed at a higher rate than if you held a stock long term (stocks held over one year). Different strategies must be employed to accomplish your overall goal of wealth.