Investing in the stock market.

[AcidDrag0n]

What is the best way to go about starting to invest? I get ~$3000 per semester back from the college I go to and i'm thinking of placing some of it in the market.

[Wicked 3800 V6]

Ameritrade. Do it yourself. [img]smile.gif[/img] (if I refer you I get a few free trades too. [img]smile.gif[/img] )
I've been pretty successful.

[Th3 RiCk]

If you're looking to make a little cash on the side then open an account with an online brokerage firm. Look around and read carefully. A lot have low commissions but they have a lot of hidden fees that add up quickly. I use Scottrade currently. It was only $500 to open an account. I trade a lot of pinksheets so they rip me out the *** on commissions.

How much of a risk taker are you? The higher the risk the higher the reward and vise versa. I've been into penny stocks for almost a year now. I've turned $600 into $7000 in a 3 week period. On the other hand, I've lost nearly $3000 in a matter of 2 hours. So if you can't stomach losing money then stay away. Even the best investors lose money from time to time.
If you want something more stable look for companies that have a good foundation and aren't going anywhere soon. Johnson & Johnson, GE, IBM, ect. These aren't cheap though, but the dividens are nice.
I would highly suggest reading up. Here are some good starter books:
Rules of The Trade by Nassar
A Beginners Guide to Short-Term Trading by Turner
Also look for some books on how to read charts. Candlestick charts will become your best friend.
I'm not an expert by any means, but if you ever need any help you can e-mail me or reach me through AIM at RichardC3303.

[Everglades W68]

Originally posted by AcidDrag0n:
I get ~$3000 per semester back from the college I go to

What college is this?

[AcidDrag0n]

Haha... Tennessee Tech University. I have so much money in scholarships that I have excess aid. Which comes back to me for books and such. Whatever I want to use it for really.

[shenanigans]

I'd put it in something stable, for now so when you are out fo school and starting off in life you have a few extra bucks for a down payment on a house(get out of the renting game ASAP)

As for investing, remember the most important thing with investing is time and that risk and return are directly related, greater the risk usually the better the return, but still have a risk of losing money by doing that.

Overall you should diversify, invest in a few stocks in a few different areas so if one industry takes a hit it won't affect your overall portfolio too much(example, if you were only investing in drug companies right now might be noticing a loss with the Vioxx and Celebrex scares, etc...) But other companies like HOme depot and building supplies are still booming from new building, and even still from hurricane season [img]smile.gif[/img]

I woudl jsut look into a stable mutual fund, that woudl make a small return, and be pretty secure and pull it out to help by a house later.

[Flowbee V6]

Put a few hundered dollars into the pennies. OTCBB. I made most of my money through this route when I was into stocks.

So much fun. Big payoffs. Very up and down, but if you have a lot of time/access to computers and can track them regularly, they are way better prospects than throwing your money away in vegas or watching all your money dissapear in the slow dragging mutual fund sector.

ragingbull.com message boards
Realtimetraders.com
cnnfn.com

are cool sites to check out