Stock Market

[Flame_guy3]

Okay so here's what's happened. My dad's presented a challenge to me which includes the usage of the stock market.

 

 

 

He says, "I'll give you ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâã100 and if you utilize it in a way you make profit in the stock market well then ANY profit you make goes to you,".

 

 

 

At first i thought hey this is gonna be easy, buy up some cheap stocks that'll go up a couple points for a day, sell em, buy other cheap stocks rinse and repeat.

 

 

 

Then it occured to me. Hey i don't know WHERE and HOW to buy stocks. I don't know where to sell them, where the most reliable information and how much their worth is. Or any of those things. I don't know whether to identify if a company is gonna keep rising or gonna drop soon.

 

 

 

So if anyone has any advice or steps i could take to just familiarise myself with this then it would be much appreciated. And most importantly WHERE AND HOW to BUY/SELL stocks.

 

 

 

Also im 14 years old and live in England, if that helps.

 

 

 

Thanks again guys.

[dsavi]

I don't know how to buy and sell them either, but Nokia is doing pretty good. Tell whoever's buying/selling your stocks that if the stock price goes down to 92% of the original price, then sell. if it goes to 101% of the original price, then sell at 93%, in other words if it goes down 8%, if you get what I mean.

[StrOwez]

I thought you had to have a stockbroker licence to trade at the stock market :-s

[woopidoo2]

I wish my dad gave money to me to use on investments :)

 

You have to read the papers (or where the ups and downs of all stocks are) and you have to discover a pattern in them.

 

If you see a company that makes profit for some days then you should try buying stocks from that company.

 

 

 

I remember that a sociology teacher at my school had made a project a few years back, he had given each student 'Play Money' and the students had to invest it in a company.

 

The teacher pinned down new papers everyday, so the students could see if they had made any profit, or not :)

 

Alot of students had lost alot of money, but there were some students who had done the project very well. They had made big profits, with their play money :)

 

 

 

Good luck, I wonder how this turns out.

[indy500fan]

I was lucky every time I had to play the stock game at schools. First time was when Google first went public, so I invested completely in that and did the best in the school. Second time was when Nintendo was getting set to release the Wii, so I invested completely in that and did the best. I wouldn't even know what to suggest now though.

 

 

 

Oh and there are websites that you can go to where you can buy/sell stocks. It costs $8 a trade though, so you only have $92 to invest. You also will not be able to buy/sell all the time because it costs $8 every time.

[Flame_guy3]

i see what all you guys are saying, im really interested in this license though... any way a 14 year old could obtain this license? Also what is the difference between stocks and shares?

[Scars]

Can't your father atleast set up the account for you so that it means that you just have to start trading/purchasing the stocks?

 

 

 

I don't exactly know much about the London Stock Exchange but over here in India you need to register a Demat account at a brokerage firm which requires certain proof that you're over 18 etc. Then they charge some amount to start the account & take brokerage on every transaction(purchase/sell) you make.

 

 

 

http://www.londonstockexchange.com/en-gb/Global/F/faqs/

 

Maybe start looking here for some idea.

 

 

 

Might be a bit hard at 14, since you kind of need to know how to read the fundamentals of a company & many other things like the equity, sales, profit after tax, eps etc.

 

 

 

Or you could somehow find a broker & tell him to buy for you? :-k

[indy500fan]

i see what all you guys are saying, im really interested in this license though... any way a 14 year old could obtain this license? Also what is the difference between stocks and shares?

 

 

 

If you get the license (which you will not) you still have to move to New York and go to Wall Street and physically buy and sell stocks, and you still have to pay some sort of fee. For normal people (only investing $100, you would need upwards of $1,000,000+ before thinking about a broker) that are just playing around with money something like Scott Trade or E-Trade would be the best. Scott Trade though requires $500 minimum.

[mrmyk]

I don't know much if anything about the stock market but you can view how stocks have been doing in the newspaper or online.

[ctp080188]

Your dad must have read Robert Kiyosaki's books.

[Warrager]

Actually, I think you just have to have an account(Scottrade, etc), although U.S probably differs slightly from the U.K. Quick question, would you be following the news, or charts? If you would make trades via chart info, you would need to buy/free trial a charting system. If you are doing the news, try to collect some good sources.

 

Try: http://www.iii.co.uk/

[Flame_guy3]

Actually, I think you just have to have an account(Scottrade, etc), although U.S probably differs slightly from the U.K. Quick question, would you be following the news, or charts? If you would make trades via chart info, you would need to buy/free trial a charting system. If you are doing the news, try to collect some good sources.

 

Try: http://www.iii.co.uk/

See that's the thing, i don't understand much about the stock market which is why im asking for a quick crash course and reliable affordable sources i could make the first few steps on.

[harryp0tt3rules]

You might want to try hedgestop.com before you invest real money. You make an account and get $50,000,000 to spend on stocks, and it goes the same way as the real stock market does. We use it in Economics club, and the site isn't too bad I suppose.

[Warrager]

Some useful sites:^_^: :

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stock_market

 

http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/2770345.stm

 

http://uk.moneycentral.msn.com/investor ... quotes.asp

 

http://biz.yahoo.com/edu/ed_begin.html

 

 

 

Also, 100 pound won't get you very far. A normal U.S trade costs 5-10 dollars. Pound is nearly double the exchange rate, but it might not do too well...

[dusqi]

Tell your Dad that given the cost of each stock market transaction, it would be more prudent to put it in a savings account in the bank.

[llcoolguy972]

You might want to try hedgestop.com before you invest real money. You make an account and get $50,000,000 to spend on stocks, and it goes the same way as the real stock market does. We use it in Economics club, and the site isn't too bad I suppose.

 

 

 

ch.com/Game/Homepage.aspx]This is a great site, too. You could also start a game where the starting money's only a couple $100, so you could kinda figure out what to do. ;)

[yomom1919]

Buy a subscription to Barrons and watch stock shows on business channels. Barrons always has some good picks. Also, look for beaten-up companies [companies who's stocks used to be worth alot but dropped, but have potential to climb back up.] I do some investing myself with the help of my father, and have been very successful so far. But honestly, don't expect to make too much with 100 pounds, especially if you're investing it instead of buying/selling/repeating [day trading]. Do your research thoroughly if you plan on investing in the stock. Find out about the complany and the demands for its services. Look at the stock daily or often, and make sure you look out for the companies status in the news [for example, if they are being sued, you will definitely want to research why and the outcomes of a possible lawsuit].

 

 

 

Where and How:

 

Go to your local brokerage firm with your father, and he will sign up an account for you. You will have access to that account, but since you are not yet 18 he will ultimately control it. You can not legally do this without your father. All of your trading will probably be done on the computer, for ease of use. However, there is a transaction fee, and with 100 pounds, it may actually hurt you.

 

 

 

Good luck.

[Rebdragon]

You know stocks are long term investments, not short term, right? Unless you get lucky on a really good value stock, you're not going to be seeing much out of this with $100. If you went with a growth stock that shifted very little and grew 10+% every year, it would take you nearly a decade to make another $100 off that, and that's if the company stays strong for the entire time you hold stock in it.

 

 

 

And that's not even factoring in fees or other factors that would cause you to have even less money than you already do.

 

 

 

Your dad doesn't intend for you to make money, unless he wants you to find the next Microsoft (no); he's trying to get you to understand the process of buying and selling stocks.

[Satenza]

i see what all you guys are saying, im really interested in this license though... any way a 14 year old could obtain this license? Also what is the difference between stocks and shares?

 

 

 

If you get the license (which you will not) you still have to move to New York and go to Wall Street and physically buy and sell stocks, and you still have to pay some sort of fee. For normal people (only investing $100, you would need upwards of $1,000,000+ before thinking about a broker) that are just playing around with money something like Scott Trade or E-Trade would be the best. Scott Trade though requires $500 minimum.

 

 

 

I thought London was the economical capital of the world.

[vladmoney]

you probably won't make that much money either, just a heads up. Try doing it with fake money first, like pretend you bought some stock and fallow it. You will see its fairly impossible with 100 pounds to profit. You will probably loose money. Thats why most people diversify and let professionals do it. One usually only makes a small percentage of the money one invests anyway, so it will not really be worth it in the end.

[unknownmasterofnothing]

Ehh stocks are a tricky thing. You have to do a lot of analysis. You can set up an account at etrade or something like optionsxpress and start trading right away. And you are kind of late for the holiday season, which had some easy picks such as amazon.

 

 

 

I don't know how much money that is and how much money that is worth to you. So you might want to just gamble it on penny stocks. Look at recent business news and read things that might affect future earnings. I'm lazy with wall street journal and just read a summary from wallstreetbreakfast.com

[indy500fan]

I thought London was the economical capital of the world.

 

 

 

I don't know about that, but I was just saying how he would have to do it in America, since that is what I know. It's probably close to how it works in the UK also, just substitute Wall Street for the UK equivalent.

[Lord_Omar_Iv]

one way is to look up the history of some company's stocks and look for trends of whether the stock rises or falls

[Ambassadar]

I have been investing for about ten years now.

 

 

 

If you really want to learn how to invest then read read "The Intelligent Investor" by Benjamin Graham(Graham was Warren Buffet's mentor). I read it a couple of years ago and I wish so badly I had read it when I first started. Buffet says the two best chapters ever written on investing are in this book. I had to get a business dictionary beside me as I read it since I was unfamiliar with a lot of the lingo. It is a tough read but is absolutely amazing in terms of what you will learn if you can make your way through it.

 

 

 

Every Peter Lynch book is good and easier to read although doesn't have as much good info on how to analyze a stock as Graham's book. Peter Lynch books would be a good start though. I think he wrote one for absolute beginners. Also read as many of Warren Buffet's shareholder letters as you can for Berkshire Hathaway. They are free on his site. If you get through all that I have some more good suggestions.

 

 

 

If you just want to gamble your money watch all the morons on tv freaking out and over reacting over every single little market move. If they were so good then why are they still working and not so filthy rich that they don't have to? I would much prefer the advice of Soros or Buffet on investing since those are the guys that became mega billionaires from it.

 

 

 

If you want you can get on youtube and look up some videos of Buffet being interviewed. He is a fascinating guy to listen to.

 

 

 

Also you don't need a license to invest in stocks. Just start a brokerage account. With as little money as you have available you don't really have the cash to diversify at all. Commission fees are gonna kill you if you buy or trade much because it will be about 10% of your money gone each time you buy a stock and then sell it. Do that a few times and half your money is missing.

[thirst]

online accounts should offer you the best commission rates although, due to your age, the account will have to be opened in your dads name and he will have to place the trades for you.

 

good luck,