Advice for Beginning Investors

[scottio123]

I'm 18 years old and currently a senior in high school. I've got a minimum wage job at a department store and am dumping my cash income into food, gas and whats left into a savings account as well as a checking account.
I've been wanting to start putting my money into perhaps some mutual funds with some higher interest rates so I can start compounding my earnings and make some money in the long run.

Does anyone have any advice as to where to start for a first time investor? Any tips are welcome.

Also, are there any surefire ways to grow your earnings in the short term by manipulating the stock market? I've got a lot of free time and wouldn't mind picking up a new hobby so if i could spend all day following the stocks and make money with that knowledge quikcly, that would be awesome. Thanks in advance for your feedback and advice.

[jIM_Ohio]

I'm 18 years old and currently a senior in high school. I've got a minimum wage job at a department store and am dumping my cash income into food, gas and whats left into a savings account as well as a checking account.
I've been wanting to start putting my money into perhaps some mutual funds with some higher interest rates so I can start compounding my earnings and make some money in the long run.

Does anyone have any advice as to where to start for a first time investor? Any tips are welcome.

Also, are there any surefire ways to grow your earnings in the short term by manipulating the stock market? I've got a lot of free time and wouldn't mind picking up a new hobby so if i could spend all day following the stocks and make money with that knowledge quikcly, that would be awesome. Thanks in advance for your feedback and advice.

Search the term "dollar cost average" which means invest regularly.
There is a lot more to learn, that is a good place to start.

[feh]

I'm 18 years old and currently a senior in high school. I've got a minimum wage job at a department store and am dumping my cash income into food, gas and whats left into a savings account as well as a checking account.
I've been wanting to start putting my money into perhaps some mutual funds with some higher interest rates so I can start compounding my earnings and make some money in the long run.

Does anyone have any advice as to where to start for a first time investor? Any tips are welcome.

Also, are there any surefire ways to grow your earnings in the short term by manipulating the stock market? I've got a lot of free time and wouldn't mind picking up a new hobby so if i could spend all day following the stocks and make money with that knowledge quikcly, that would be awesome. Thanks in advance for your feedback and advice.

First this: http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Bogle...g_start-up_kit

Then this: http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Bogle...g_start-up_kithttp://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Bogle...g_start-up_kit

[Chris Leese]

I don't think a "surefire way" exists. There are always risks in investments and especially in the stock market. Now there are ways to use leverage to earn higher returns such as options but you need to educate your self on how these instruments work, technical analysis and/or some other options trading strategy, etc.

[snafu]

I'm delighted that you're aware of the stock market, interested in investing and best of all growing your money 'over the long term.' Good on you! Individuals that jump in and out of stocks are more gamblers than investors. Some are lucky and make a profit, the majority lose money because the market operates on emotional factors. An 'investor' plans their strategy/allocation prepared to leave the value to compound for a minimum of 5 years.

If you like, why not follow a couple of stocks printing out charts from the past and tracking the present to see if there is a correlation of peaks to identifiable patterns.

Many of us began with regular, monthly, automatic purchases of a low cost/fee Mutual Fund like Vanguard's Index Fund. Look it up to identify the top ten holdings. Each month the sum withdrawn will buy a different number of units as the price of holdings within the fund fluctuates.

[danielhermann]

wonderful thought

Dear Its really wonderful idea that at this age you have the urge to earn and save for the future. Stocks, mutual funds are very easy way to earn money but they are very risky too, you have to get hold of a consultant who will guide you to what stocks and where you should invest, just sitting through the whole day and watching how the stocks are doing is not enough for your understanding to invest. Important thing you can do is to deposit some money for the Insurance cover. You should be buying things for yourself which will be very dear to you and you do not want to lose it, so have it insured, the most importantly insure your life from any accidents, diseases etc.

[scfr]

Does your employer offer a retirement savings plan, such as a 401K?

[Weng30]

I've been wanting to start putting my money into perhaps some mutual funds with some higher interest rates so I can start compounding my earnings and make some money in the long run.

Does anyone have any advice as to where to start for a first time investor? Any tips are welcome.

Also, are there any surefire ways to grow your earnings in the short term by manipulating the stock market? I've got a lot of free time and wouldn't mind picking up a new hobby so if i could spend all day following the stocks and make money with that knowledge quikcly, that would be awesome. Thanks in advance for your feedback and advice.

Its so good to hear from someone very young, and is thinking about investment. I hope i started thinking like that when i was your age. I've been in the stock market for 3 years already.. the advice that i can give you is you must invest regularly: put money in the stock market regularly whether the market is high or low. I am more of a conservative investor, i only buy stocks from solid and strong company, and I rarely sell stocks.

[JustBill]

A great book for someone your age is Millionaire Teacher by Andrew Hallan. Seriously.

[dczech09]

Read and learn about the stock market. Develop an original thought and do not listen to all of the hype put out by the media. The market is not as doom and gloom as they would have you believe. There is risk, but risk is not necessarily a bad thing.

Understand stocks, bonds, mutual funds, risk, fees, inflation, and taxes.

NEVER invest in something if you do not understand it.

Feel free to check out my YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/PayCzech12

I have some videos on stocks, bonds, mutual funds, etc. I do not have many hits on the videos, but people have told me that they were useful.

Also, when you do start investing, ease into it. Start out small (like $50 per month), then increase your investing gradually over time. I invest over $750 per month towards retirement, but when I started, I only contributed $50 per month.

[Rogerthat11]

I'm 18 years old and currently a senior in high school. I've got a minimum wage job at a department store and am dumping my cash income into food, gas and whats left into a savings account as well as a checking account.
I've been wanting to start putting my money into perhaps some mutual funds with some higher interest rates so I can start compounding my earnings and make some money in the long run.

Does anyone have any advice as to where to start for a first time investor? Any tips are welcome.

Also, are there any surefire ways to grow your earnings in the short term by manipulating the stock market? I've got a lot of free time and wouldn't mind picking up a new hobby so if i could spend all day following the stocks and make money with that knowledge quikcly, that would be awesome. Thanks in advance for your feedback and advice.

It is good that you are taking such an interest at your age. The more important thing is to learn about the different investments available and how they work. Even after you understand that it would be difficult to actually be an investor that makes a profit most of the time. Its important that you find a good advisor once you have enough money saved up and educate yourself and make a decision to invest in something safe until you get the hang of the any particular market even more.

[DisciplinedSaver101]

My recommendation is to put money into an S&P 500 Index Fund. Schwab.com has a very low-cost fund. This outperforms most mutual funds, has a much lower fee than any mutual fund, and you can open an account with as little as $100. It's tough to beat.

Good luck!