New to stock investing. Need some suggestions.

[MikeInvest]

Dear Friends,

I have completed my studies this year and I'm going to kick start my future savings with $10,000 that was given to me by my Dad.

I'm planning to invest in few stocks like Facebook, Bank of America & Microsoft. Currently I'm struggling to find the right investment tool to start with it. I have identified few investing apps like AlphaStreet app and Seeking Alpha as the good one to start with it. What are some suggestions?

[Jluke]

Bogleheads forum

Bogleheads startup kit

Three fund portfolio

[FLA]

ITA with Juke again.

Hang around the Bogleheads forum for a while and read some of the books. I would not just throw money at individual stocks. I personally choose diversified index funds at Vanguard.

[MakeAStash]

Also take a look at The Motely Fool and Magic Formula Investing. Another thing to do is read up on Dogs of the Dow.

[snafu]

I suggest a couple of fast read books likely available electronically from your library, to better understand the investing process. The Millionaire Next Door [Danko], The Automatic Millionaire [Bach], Millionaire Teacher: The Nine Rules of Wealth You Should Have Learned in School.

Likewise agree with others to sign up for Bogelhead forum all in aid of adding to your initial gift and truly building wealth. If an employer offers a retirement program with a match, it's imperative to take advantage of free money as soon as you are eligible.

[clatoden99]

1. Learn how stocks are valued.

Notice I didn't say learn to value a stock. It doesn't matter what you think a stock is worth- it matters what everyone else thinks. A discounted cash flow analysis based on analyst earnings estimates will accurately produce the stock price more than 80% of the time.

2. Learn how to backtest a strategy.

Once you understand exactly why stocks are worth what they are worth today, you will start generating ideas about how you can predict future prices. Good- but remember to test your ideas before you use them!

[Tabs]

Hi Hi, welcome to the forums. As you can see though, this site is called SavingAdvice, not StockTradingBuyBuyBuyAdvice. As such, you're not going to get the sensational stock trading discussion that you are perhaps hoping for. More like the usual, staid, conservative, actually-make-money-long-term advice.

That being said, uh look, the large caps that you've mentioned here are all iffy to me at this point. I'm just saying. Facebook. Where the heck are they going? The Oculus Rift is an interesting project but not gaining traction in the VR space honestly. Even if they do... do you really want heavily DRMed VR space just to voice chat your friends? We already do that with say Skype and do we have any traction there as it is? More importantly, India has poo-poo'ed Facebook's efforts to offer FREE internet there. Yes. India said no to free internet from FB. Of course, if you take from FB, free isn't actually free....

Speaking of Skype, what about Microsoft? Xbox is losing badly to Sony. Office is a commodity now. Win 10 is in a difficult transition to the app model. Yeah, it might be the future, but with the free upgrade period over, I am not sure where their "wide moat" is? I mean, Cortana is just a catch-up, but Alexa is kicking everyone's butt, though Google Search (formerly Google Now) is really not far behind at all....

And oh man, BoA? Seriously? That large, monolithic bank that has been deeply criticized since the housing bubble for their draconian fees a la Blockbuster, next to no perks, and horrid customer service? What is their growth story besides being too big to fail?

But don't get me wrong though. If you really want to do stock, there is nothing wrong with that. Just please to make sure you do as much homework as you can and learn about what you are buying into. And yeah, perhaps other places geared specifically towards stock trading would serve you better, like Seeking Alpha would be one.

Free, friendly advice: Do NOT follow Motley Fool. Yes, they talk about stocks, but there's a reason why the Gardner brothers went from stock trading to selling people like you tabloidesque information on what stocks to trade. Think about that for a second. They can be completely wrong and still make easy money by selling that data to chumps I mean customers like you and I.

Finally, if you are really serious about stock trading, buy this book, and read it from cover to cover. It will provide you with a good, solid foundation for all your future trading ventures.

[feh]

Bogleheads forum

Bogleheads startup kit

Three fund portfolio

+1

OP - you need to educate yourself before doing anything.

https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Bogleheads%C2%AE_investing_start-up_kit

[Braje]

Dear Friends,

I have completed my studies this year and I'm going to kick start my future savings with $10,000 that was given to me by my Dad.

I'm planning to invest in few stocks like Facebook, Bank of America & Microsoft. Currently I'm struggling to find the right investment tool to start with it. I have identified few investing apps like AlphaStreet app and Seeking Alpha as the good one to start with it. What are some suggestions?

Just curious why those stocks?

[Gwenstacy]

If you want to start investing, stocks are a great method but get a mentor first. If you do not get anything right you can go back to your mentor. also this is a very risky choice to start with such big stocks. I would suggest going with some safer options.

[TexasHusker]

Dow Dogs is the safest strategy I know for stock investing.

Google it.

[Gwenstacy]

Dow whatever it is

But is it very practical for small investors lik me??

[james.hendrickson]

I suggest a couple of fast read books likely available electronically from your library, to better understand the investing process. The Millionaire Next Door [Danko], The Automatic Millionaire [Bach], Millionaire Teacher: The Nine Rules of Wealth You Should Have Learned in School.

Likewise agree with others to sign up for Bogelhead forum all in aid of adding to your initial gift and truly building wealth. If an employer offers a retirement program with a match, it's imperative to take advantage of free money as soon as you are eligible.

Never read the Nine Rules of Wealth, is it worth a perusal?

[TexasHusker]

But is it very practical for small investors lik me??

Absolutely. If you buy 10 Dow Dogs @ $1,000 each, you will likely only be paying $150 in commissions. That's 1.5%. Not bad.

Dow Dogs is not a complicated investment strategy. Google it.

[scfr]

Never read the Nine Rules of Wealth, is it worth a perusal?

I've also read "The Millionaire Teacher: The Nine Rules of Wealth You Should Have Learned in School" by Andrew Hallam. (Andrew now writes articles for Asset Builder.) I think the book is one of the best introductions to personal finance out there. I highly recommend for "newbies."