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What is market portfolio?

How do I get into stock trading as a 20 year old engineering student with 0 experience in the stock market? I want to start with $1000 but it seems very intimidating since I have no idea what stocks to include in my portfolio and when I should be buying/selling. What are some tips?

  • Answer:

    First off, no matter what anyone tells you. No one knows when to buy and sell. Those who do say that are usually trying to sell you a system that works very well in hindsight. That said, it can help if you have some rules. First off, if you're 20 and have $1000, putting it into the stock market is not the right place. You should have emergency savings and or be spending money on school so that you can earn more money. Assuming that all of this is done. The first thing to note is that you do not need money to play in the stock market, you can start with a "play" or stock market simulation account. Most brokerage firms and even Yahoo/Google Finance allow you to do this. You can "give" yourself an amount of money and then buy and sell stocks. There are no gains or losses and this is play money. But the stock market price changes are real. The second thing to do is to realize that you should probably buy some index funds for $1000 so that you get broad exposure and have low transaction fees. Once you've learned about mutual funds and have more than $30-40K, I think you're ready to invest in the stock market. The reason that is so high is for two reasons. The first, you need to have enough money to get the lowest commission costs, the second is that while you're trying to grow your savings to that level you will learn. Do not reduce the amount of time even if you inherit money or win the lottery or what ever. Before you sign up with a broker there is much that you need to learn. You can read books, take some courses, get a Series 7 or other such courses/designations. The best advice I can give is to start a practice account and start playing that way. You can use Google/Yahoo Finance to enter trades. Over time you'll find out what type of an investor you are. If you play with real money, you'll soon find out that the stock market is a very expensive place to find out what type of an investor you are.

Sajan Sadhwani at Quora Visit the source

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I'm 20 years old as you and I gained >70% in 2013. I'll tell you how I did it: I read the books: - the intelligent investor - security analysis - one up on wall street now I'm reading Thinking Fast and Slow. but I have a list full of books yet to be read, more or less read a book every two weeks (this makes you realize that requires hard work). I follow assiduously the blog: http://safalniveshak.com http://oldschoolvalue.com You can also gain a lot by giving attention to the announcement of acquisitions (special situations, I suggest you to see this: http://www.oldschoolvalue.com/blog/special-situations-calendar/), Buffett has gained a lot in this way at the beginning of his career.

Anonymous

Get on http://Mint.com with you financials. To stay a free website, they advertise websites like Scott Trade or Etrade. under the investments section.  Then add it to http://Mint.com too and track it everyday. As far as getting started, there are free websites that let you pretend to invest different amounts of money. https://www.wallstreetsurvivor.com/login?ReturnUrl=%2Fdashboard is a good example. Just remember to diversify where you can and go for foreign equity for highest risk/reward.

Adam M Frey

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