Stock Market Questions

[Grant A.]

I have a few questions about the stock market.

1. What age must you be to legally buy stock in the United States?

2. Is there some sort of annual payment?

3. Would buying a few shares of JAVA help Sun out very much?

[powell]

Don't know about the others, but you have to be 18 to buy stocks.

[logos34]

you mean you want to BUY stocks now?

everybody I know would dump theirs tomorrow if only they could break even or maybe at a small loss.

Does anyone really believe the bottom is in?

[Grant A.]

Wouldn't now be the ultimate time to buy low? ;)

[powell]

Wouldn't now be the ultimate time to buy low? ;)

Yes, but only if you expect it to go up

[Spr0k3t]

I have a few questions about the stock market.

1. What age must you be to legally buy stock in the United States?

2. Is there some sort of annual payment?

3. Would buying a few shares of JAVA help Sun out very much?

1. You have to be 18, or verified with legal guardianship to tender stock purchases.

2. This depends greatly on how you manage your purchases.

3. are you wanting to help Sun or just make some money?

What I recommend everyone do is find a good financial investor who only makes money if the entire portfolio shows a profit. In this methodology there is an anual fee... however the fee is pulled from the profits at a percentage, so you never have to worry about the funds not being in the right area for payments, or will your payment ever exceed the amount of profit you make for the year.

If you want to throw money at the wind and hope for the best, go ahead and invest in a few shares of Sun. If you want your money to work for you, follow the recommendation I gave above. More than half my yearly salary comes from smart invests I've made when I was 15 (with the help of my mom).

[Grant A.]

Thank you very much for that information. :D

I just want to help Sun, and I figured buying some of their stocks and raising their price per share a bit by doing so would be the best idea.

[cardinals_fan]

Thank you very much for that information. :D

I just want to help Sun, and I figured buying some of their stocks and raising their price per share a bit by doing so would be the best idea.
You have either too much money or too much optimism :D

[I-75]

Correct about the age of 18 as one must be considered legal age to enter into contracts. Also most stock brokers required a "account" with them in order to trade. And that is irregardless if you want to buy only a small amount of penny stocks.

Some of them required $2000 or more to open a account to start buying stock. Nevertheless that kept me out of the stock market, it was several years ago I looked into it and things might have changed since then.

[Spr0k3t]

I'd say that $2000 is a great place to start with as that's when you can earn profits off of shorts/calls/puts. However, if you don't know what you are doing in the market, don't be stupid about it and get an advisor. You can lose a ton of money from the market without even blinking.

[igknighted]

Thank you very much for that information. :D

I just want to help Sun, and I figured buying some of their stocks and raising their price per share a bit by doing so would be the best idea.

The value of the company is set by the market as a whole, so bumping the stock value artificially would do nothing. If anything, it could hurt the company to have overvalued stock, as it would chase away further investment.

[Spr0k3t]

An overvalued stock just means the night time trades will fall flat on their face which is a great time to trade on options. Just how it goes with the stock market.

[zmjjmz]

Don't in vest in stocks like Sun's. They're a commodity, and one that doesn't sell so well at that.

Invest in companies that will continue to turn a profit, even after a major recession like this one. Food companies, clothing companies, energy companies, etc. are a good idea. Also, invest in multiple companies in one field.

[mysticrider92]

I'd say that buying now is not a horrible idea, unless the market totally self-destructs or the country collapses (neither is unthinkable, neither is particularly likely to happen). We'll be out of this at some point or another, back to complacency, eventually causing another economic collapse, which we will recover from only to repeat the cycle indefinitely...

But, back to the actual topic. Investing in some companies right now may prove to be a money pit. Maybe the company will recover, and you will make a record profit. Or maybe they will fall, and you will lose. Look over the company's past and figure out what you think is most likely to happen in any particular case. Right now, I can see oil profits dropping (as they really should...), but eventually the price gouging will resume, and you will be making plenty off of that. New energy ideas might be a good place to invest. Some will not work, but there is a big push for anything "alternative" (cause everyone wants to be "green" right?). Any company working with bleeding-edge computer hardware would be good to watch, as most of the world supports that market and can't function without it now.

I looked at doing this a while ago, but didn't want to put in much money. That was the major turn off. I figured invest $100 wisely, that would grow to $200, invest that, and it would keep growing. But, the finacial companies make it hard to invest a small amount without going through an act of congress (figuratively)..

[mips]

But, the finacial companies make it hard to invest a small amount without going through an act of congress (figuratively)..

There must be another way? My bank offers an electronic trading service which is relatively cheap and easy to access via the web.

[zmjjmz]

YOu know what companies aren't going to disappear? Food companies.
And if they do, you have a lot more to worry about than the stock market.

[Old_Grey_Wolf]

I have a few questions about the stock market.

Good thing you are asking questions, and trying to learn something about the stock market first. That can make you a successful investor. Don't just look at stocks, also look at bonds, etc. Continue to investigate the markets before jumping in with both feet.

Emotion has a lot to do with the way people invest. Try to come up with a strategy that gets you out of an investment when it goes bad before you loose your money. And stick to your strategy even when it hurts. If you set 15% loss as a threshold for your sell strategy then do it no matter how much you like the company, or how it makes your original assessment wrong.


1. What age must you be to legally buy stock in the United States?

18


2. Is there some sort of annual payment?

That depends on the service you choose. You have to read their agreement, including the fine print. Some have reasonable fees, and some are outrageous. Some investment firms charge a fee no matter what the outcome is for their advice. Be very careful about accepting advice. Some of those services will cold-call you about the latest HOT stock. From my experience with cold-call HOT stock advice is that it only make money for the broker.

Do your own research before investing.


3. Would buying a few shares of JAVA help Sun out very much?

You should be buying stock to benefit yourself. Forget about using it to benefit your favorite company. Your small donation will not make any difference. Do research into the company to determine if it can make money for you. If your favorite company can make money for you then it will be providing something beneficial for the general public. If it can't then you are throwing your money away.

---------

Of course, I am assuming you want to make money in the market, and not use it to support your favorite charity.

[HavocXphere]

2. Is there some sort of annual payment?
Yes, but usually not on specific stocks. You'd probably be looking for some form of index tracking fund that allows regular payments.


3. Would buying a few shares of JAVA help Sun out very much?
There is a primary and a secondary market for shares. A sale falls under the primary market if new shares are issued. i.e. an IPO (Initial public offering). The company gets the money. i.e. its a source of funding further expansion. The secondary market is what you understand under the "stock market": One person sells shares, the other buys. It does not affect the company directly. Unless you've got a few millions, its not going to move the share price....and even if it did, it won't help the company that much, since they don't get any money and the inflated price will collapse again.


Buy low & sell high. Thats the theory. The actual implementation is left for the user as a trivial exercise.

[mysticrider92]

There must be another way? My bank offers an electronic trading service which is relatively cheap and easy to access via the web.

I'm sure there is, it just wasn't as cut and dry as it looked at first. Guess I am just a bit lazy sometimes. 8-[

'Tis a good point about the food companies. But the specific groups might rise and fall, so that may or may not be wise. If the food industry as a whole collapses, we have a problem...

[chris200x9]

my advice is do not invest anymore than you are comfortable losing then check otcbb.com look for losers that lost the most % not money % also look for a history of volatility but are at the very low spectrum of that range. Set a limit order to buy at that price, as soon as it buys put in a limit order to sell at the mid of the spectrum (don't be crazy 50-100% profit is enough) and I must say DIVERSIFY (not doing this was my downfall I was wrong in one deal but lost like $500 :O) anyway don't listen to me if you don't want all I can say is about a year ago I started with $500 I just cashed out at $1137 (I needed money) the $1137 was because of said bad decision at it's high it was $2170 :)

[tegnoto89]

put your money in gold or silver. it'll survive the imminent collapse of the dollar

[Frak]

put your money in gold or silver. it'll survive the imminent collapse of the dollar
The dollar doesn't equate to gold, unfortunately. Nixon helped us stop that (so people wouldn't buy gold, bank it in England, and return on it so they could make a profit, thus sending our money supply, then gold, to England). Buying gold with your money now for the purpose of sustaining gold value is against the law (in an indirect way).

[SunnyRabbiera]

stay out of the market, best advice ever :D

[cprofitt]

you mean you want to BUY stocks now?

everybody I know would dump theirs tomorrow if only they could break even or maybe at a small loss.

Does anyone really believe the bottom is in?

We are close to the bottom unless some other part of the economy goes tank.

[cardinals_fan]

We are close to the bottom unless some other part of the economy goes tank.
The bottom or the ground?

[caro]

If you are new to investing, start with mutual funds. It is difficult to pick a winner or time the market when picking individual companies. Also, if you have the option, don't invest all your money at once; invest monthly so you dollar cost average your purchase which evens out the ups and downs and reduces the effects of market swings somewhat. Some mutual funds let you open an account with a smaller amount if you set up automated monthly investing.

I'm still investing right now. I've shifted my mix and have more going to cash (money markets) to ride out the downturn but I'm still buying stocks cheap right now. Depends on your age, risk tolerance, etc.

[gletob]

Darn having to be 18! I wanted to buy wachovia when it was .02 cents a share! with the 100 bucks I told my mom to buy I could be loaded.