[SoCaLNaTiVe]

I am fairly new to investing and was wondering if there were any do it yourselfers out there. I am looking for something fairly easy to use and dosent rape my pocket with commisions and so forth. If so, what company's are you guys trading with. tdwaterhouse, ameritrade, e'trade etc. I want to start doing my own investing and was wondering what you guys thought as to which company to go with. I am leaning towards td ameritrade. Just looking for some info, thanks in advance.

Ps. Anyone have thoughts on Diamond investing. I have been looking into this.

[nabutes]

You do know that TD Waterhouse and Ameritrade merged? It's now TD Ameritrade....

Personally, I'm a fan of ScotTrade (http://scottrade.com). Take a look at it...

[SoCaLNaTiVe]

Thanks any one else.

[Brunotheboxer]

i like fidelity. https://www.fidelity.com/

[deutschmann59]

I've been with Ameritrade for about 6 years now. Yeah, they did a pretty good job at screwing people for a while. My account balance was way below $2000.00 when I first started, so they wacked me $5.00 a month as a maintance fee (or $15/quarter).

But I really lucked out when I bought quite a bit of shares of Pacific Fuel Cell stock. When I bought my shares they were at $0.02/share. They skyrocketed to $0.92/share a few years ago, but it's never been that high since. Now it's been hovering at around $0.30/share, but I still made out like a bandit, because unless it drops to $0.01 a share, I won't lose any principal.

You've got to be careful with penny stocks, though. I just happened to be lucky there, but I have lost quite a bit of money in other penny stocks thinking they'd hit the roof, but actually they never got off the ground.

TD Ameritrade is pretty cool now that they merged, and best of all there's no maintance fees anymore, just commissions. That's still BS, but they've got to make their money somewhere.

[deutschmann59]

Originally Posted by SoCaLNaTiVe

Ps. Anyone have thoughts on Diamond investing. I have been looking into this.

Are you talking about diamond as in the gem?

It might be a good idea, but I think you'd be better off investing in gold if you're looking into commodities. I collect coins, and I really like investing in American Gold Bullion coins. Check out the US mint's American Eagles section to get a good idea what they have, but don't buy the coins from there...they sell proofs there and proofs aren't what collectors are after.

Generally, when you invest in coins, the real money is in rare coins. But I don't really like that idea because there's got to be a rare-coin market for it (look what happened to baseball cards ).

I like to collect perfect (Mint State 70) gold bullion coins because the intrinsic value is more certain (a 1 ounce gold coin is worth the market value of one ounce of gold) and since you've got a MS70, there is, to a lesser extent, an extrinsic collecter's value, too.

Check out blanchard. I bought the $50.00 American Eagle two months ago for $740.00. Look at what they're worth now.

http://www.blanchardonline.com/blanc...les.php#buynow

[ward]

I use fidelity too, not the cheapest by far (20 bucks a trade unless you have 50 grand or more with them, then it's only 10 bucks a trade)

works well for me!

[gscone]

Scottrade, TD Waterhouse for me. Fidelity is $$$$

[shimshimhada]

www.investopedia.com

Bunch of information on there, as well as a simulator! I am up $40K!

Too bad I don't have a real million to trade with...

[ska///235i]

Oh, talking about trades........Vonage offering IPO, any thoughts?

[Squawks]

Regarding diamonds as an investment - one this is for sure; their demand is always extremely high and the supply is never growing fast enough to quell this thirst. Not a very good way to make money despite the fact that diamonds do no depreciate in value over time.

You can make more money off of mutal funds, stocks (if your're smart) or better yet, real estate.

Hoes are a nice investment these days too. Kids these days are bangin' them at younger ages - look at all those teachers getting busted today. So demand is growing! Be a pimp like Mava (that's how he owns 2 nice rides and can still support 3 little mommas!).

[shimshimhada]

You need monies to get rich in stocks. A large initial cache to get you started, otherwise the gains are really small.

[deutschmann59]

Originally Posted by shimshimhada

You need monies to get rich in stocks. A large initial cache to get you started, otherwise the gains are really small.

Yup, couldn't have summed it up better myself.

For me, by far, my best investment was opening a savings account with ING Direct. Right now their savings account accrues interest at 4.15% and their 12 month CDs are 5.25%.

EDIT: By the way, my local bank wanted only a minimum of $20,000.00 in a CD so they could get me a great rate of 2.7%. Anything less than 20k was a whopping 1.2%.

[ward]

there are many good mutual funds with an initial investment of 2500 from fidelity, probably others can be had for less to start out.

a good mutual fund will blow any savings account or CD out of the water.

it's entirely possible to double your money about every 6-8 years, even with tame investments. You can double it faster with more risk

[SoCaLNaTiVe]

Thanks for the info, I recently opened an ING account also. I just would like to invest a little in the stock market and see what I can do.

When it comes to investing in diamonds I am just curious about all the diamond potential comming out of canada. Some good company's with stocks for a buck or two. I really want to only try and invest in small cap stocks. I know they are risky but hey the payoff is great.

[MoreCowbell]

I bought put options today on the S&P. We are heading lower...

[ward]

Originally Posted by SoCaLNaTiVe

Thanks for the info, I recently opened an ING account also. I just would like to invest a little in the stock market and see what I can do.

When it comes to investing in diamonds I am just curious about all the diamond potential comming out of canada. Some good company's with stocks for a buck or two. I really want to only try and invest in small cap stocks. I know they are risky but hey the payoff is great.

just make sure you know that small cap doesn't mean cheap per stock prices

there are many small caps that are 40-60 or more per share

cap is share cost times number of shares outstanding

www.fool.com is a good site if you want to do some research

[deutschmann59]

Hey ward, I've got an IRA setup right now, but it's a "moderate" risk portfolio. When you were talking about the regular mutual funds, which way do you think is the best way to go? Aggressive, moderate, or conservative?

I know it's all based on risk tolerance, but if I was to open an agressive portfolio, is there a chance you could lose everything?

[cpcollin]

Originally Posted by sharp1183

Hey ward, I've got an IRA setup right now, but it's a "moderate" risk portfolio. When you were talking about the regular mutual funds, which way do you think is the best way to go? Aggressive, moderate, or conservative?

I know it's all based on risk tolerance, but if I was to open an agressive portfolio, is there a chance you could lose everything?

Sharp,

You're right. The risk you take on is, and should be, based on your risk tolerance. When you invest in equities (or debt, or any other asset for that matter), there is always a chance, however small, that you will lose everything regardless of classification. The chances of that happening go down as you diversify away risk specific to a particular asset, and mutual funds tend to do that for you nicely.

You may also want to consider whether you'll be making a lump sum purchase, or making regular $ purchases at regular intervals (see Dollar Cost Averaging and whether you want to get into small-caps vs. large caps, growth vs. value, one industry versus another, fund management fees, or if you have a preferred fund management philosophy.

Peace,
C

[MoreCowbell]

Originally Posted by cpcollin

Sharp,

You're right. The risk you take on is, and should be, based on your risk tolerance. When you invest in equities (or debt, or any other asset for that matter), there is always a chance, however small, that you will lose everything regardless of classification. The chances of that happening go down as you diversify away risk specific to a particular asset, and mutual funds tend to do that for you nicely.

You may also want to consider whether you'll be making a lump sum purchase, or making regular $ purchases at regular intervals (see Dollar Cost Averaging and whether you want to get into small-caps vs. large caps, growth vs. value, one industry versus another, fund management fees, or if you have a preferred fund management philosophy.

Peace,
C

You learn that in Van Munching hall, Pal?

[cpcollin]

Originally Posted by gluck75

You learn that in Van Munching hall, Pal?

Nope. Spent my UMD time in A.V. Williams.

[MoreCowbell]

Ah...the other side of our campus. What year did you graduate?