What's next?

I am trying to debate what's going to happen to this blog now! There are so many areas I could expand it out to!

Do you guys have any ideas? I could post random "cool stuff" about stocks... As I watch stocks I can point out different factors, tip you off with ideas on stocks? Ways to a make an extra buck?

Post away under this post to let me know what you would like to happen to the blog!

Oh and "BTW", I am planning on a podcast! :D

Think you can't be an entrepreneur? Think twice!

One of my first posts was about making the money you are going to need to invest....

I found a fun article about other entrepreneurs like ourselves!

Check it out:

NY Times: Barons Before Bedtime

Let's Start Buying Stocks! Step: 3, Post 2

Now that you are tracking your stocks, you have to watch for a time to sell them!

Most of the time, an investor looks at trends in the stock. You watch for events that might push the stock higher. For an example, most stocks like to gain anywhere from 10-20% or farther right after an earnings release (if they actually made money :D).

Look at the picture below:

As you can tell from this graph. Towards the end it is very visible when earnings where released! It is show by spikes in the stock followed by a period of calm etc.

As in the example above you want to sell when you have made money! Always sell when you reach what your initial goal was. If you are lucky enough to have your stock double, sell off what you put in, don't be greedy, that never end up well!

If you want to send me 2 cents click a link! Look forward to my next post!

Let's Start Buying Stocks! Step: 3, Post 1

Now that you have purchased the actually the stock you need to watch it and sell it when you feel necessary.

There are multiple online software "trackers" to keep track of your stocks!

Some of these are...

Very clear, makes sense and secure!

I have never used this service myself, but I am told that it works great with your yahoo account!

These are two of the most popular. 

Most brokers such as eTrade, Zecco, and Scottstrade allow you to view all your stocks and set alerts for them.

Watch for the next post on when to sell your stock!

Let's Start Buying Stocks! Step: 2

Now, it's actually time to go ahead and buy up that stock that you always wanted to buy!

After responsibly researching the stock it is time to work on actually getting that stock in your Portfolio.

It is quite easy, most brokers have a "trading" page of somesort that will allow you to purchase whatever stock you would ever want to.

But, there is some terminology that is quite important that you should learn.... Below is a vocab list that might help you along the way.

Fund: This can be a mutual, or any other kind of fun.

Execute: This means, Go ahead and BUY!

Buy: To purchase the stock.

Overweight: The stock is at a good level, but not as low as you would want to buy at nore would you want to sell at this level. This is normally something annalist's talk about.

Stop Limit: If the stock goes below say "---" price sell it. Depending on the broker this definition may vary...

Options: This involves buying stocks without money you have, tricky, so for the moment you will probably not be interested in buying stocks this way.

Order: Just like a restaurant you give the waitress an order, here you are telling the stock broker if you want mustard or ketchup.

Market Order: A type of order to buy the stock with that will buy it at whatever price it is at when you click "execute".

Limit Order: This is an order that says only buy if this stock is at or below this price.

These are a few, there are many more.

Do you have on you are wondering about? Add a comment and I will get you a good Definition!

Let's start buying stocks! Step 1: Research the Stock

The first thing to do before purchasing a stock is to research it. Make sure you know what your buying in to and if it is a real good idea after all.

Before you start researching your stock you have to find the company that catches your eye, or the company that all your friends buy their clothes from. It could be anything. You can also find companies through services such as Yahoo Finance and Google Finance, you can browse through companies with filters, look for articles etc. Your individual broker may offer other services such as Stock Ratings, and "Research" Tools.

Now that you have your company you need to make sure that it is a "sturdy" company, and you need to double check that it will eventually make you some money.

Let's now take for an example, Google, or NASDAQ:GOOG.

Some things to check....

Is it Financially Ok? Is Google making money?

You can go to www.morningstar.com and search the ticker (=GOOG) scroll down and find the Financial Health grade, below it is an A that is very good, stick with A through C's.

Does Google, GOOG, have enough trading going on? Check out the Avg Vol (Average Volume), make sure it is above 100,000 that is a great number to stick with! Look below (Highlighted, on Google Finance), a good 3.0 Million or so.

Check out what it's growth grade is, stick with A's and B's. This is on www.morningstar.com again.

Look to see if analyst's think it is a good idea to buy into... This is on finance.yahoo.com. Click on Analyst Opinion....

Once that opens, make sure that it is somewhere in 1.0 through 2.5 or so.

Check the P/S Ratios. Make sure that they are somewhere between 3.0 and 5.0. This is done to make sure that you will get some growth sometime, again no guarantees, but very probable!

GOOG is above that this means that it is "momentum" priced. If you are going to buy into GOOG, make sure that you have a strong market.

Last but not least, make sure that you company is making money for you, this is priced per share. Make sure that it is positive NOT NEGATIVE!

Now. Should you buy it or scrap the idea?

Google passed all the tests except the P/S one. Do we have a strong market as of this post? In my opinion no, yours? There will be always some-kind of risk involved in buying stocks, always.

Personally, I would buy into GOOG, it might make me some money in the future. What about you? It's your decision.

I would not recommend buying a stock if the failed more than one of these so called "tests".

Have fun! And if you feel like contributing your two cents click on a link below! 

One more thing before you start trading.... The Markets!

There are 4 MAIN different types of Markets.

These are were stocks are traded and when bunched up together they creat averages... Ever heard of "The Nasdaq lost 10 points today" etc. on the news?


These include:

The NASDAQ, this is a big computer system that has no real traders in "red" jackets involved... Most of the Technology stocks are traded on this system.

The Dow Jones, this is where most big industries and manufactures are traded.

The NYSE, New York Stock Exchange, this is where big corporations are traded. These are the real guys in the red jackets!

The S&P 500, this is where 500 of the biggest and most stable companies are added together, if this goes down it is not good at all!

Those are the main markets.

Have Fun!