Quetion About Buying Stocks For First Time

buy good stocks in shitty times.

1.) Buy Low.
2.) Sell High.
3.) Never ask the MT what to do with $5K cash.
4.) Profit.

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3.) Never ask the MT what to do with $5K cash.

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So you're saying that $5k I spent on hookers and blow, which the MT told me to do, was not in my best interest?

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I have never bought any kind of stocks so I am looking for the basics on everything. I have an account on Fidelity (Roth IRA) but I'm not sure how to start the process. I'm really trying to just figure out how to start contributing to my Roth. I'm not sure what sort of options to choose and at a later date, I may look at individual stocks.

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Do you have any money in the market at all already? Or are you a daisy fresh rookie? Not picking on you, I want to give you good advice, so these are important questions.

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Do you have any money in the market at all already? Or are you a daisy fresh rookie? Not picking on you, I want to give you good advice, so these are important questions.

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Only thing I have is my 401k. Are stocks totally opposite from my Roth IRA?

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Only thing I have is my 401k. Are stocks totally opposite from my Roth IRA?

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No, a Roth IRA is an Individual Retirement Account. In the Roth IRA, you invest your after tax dollars (up to $5500), and your investment grows tax free. You can theoretically invest in anything you want, but I only suggest Mutual Funds and /Index Funds, at least starting out.

A 401K is a retirement account where you invest PRE-TAX dollars, and your investment grows tax deferred (you get taxed on the distributions when you retire).

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND getting an appointment with an Investment adviser before investing ANYTHING. You need to find one with experience, and is willing to teach you.

DO NOT BUY individual stocks yet, you are going to get your face kicked in. You've been warned.


GOLDEN RULE: IF YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE INVESTMENT, DO NOT DO IT.

I was implying he should grow his financial education before trading single stocks. But I agree.

Let me also add, the reason I suggest mutual funds, index funds, and some ETFs is because I believe 1 of the "blue chip companies" has a higher probability of becoming obsolete than all 500 companies of the S&P becoming obsolete over the next 30-40 years. Especially since the S&P evolves and changes every year. In fact I'm 100% certain of this. And VFINX has a 2% yield, so you also have a dividend growth to enjoy along the way.

When you think in terms of 30 years or more, why pick a few and hope you're right is all I'm saying.

And personally the reason I believe in Philip Morris for over 50% of my portfolio isn't only dividend growth plus future performance in emerging markets along with being the best performing stock of all time....it's the fact every dollar they take is in foreign currency and a bad dollar is great for them...one quarter in the past few years sales were stagnant and profit was up 19% on a weak dollar...I believe the dollar will fall into oblivion and PM would be the best blue chip to own for this

its true you should never put 50% of your portfolio in any stock but cmon Coke,Mcdonalds,Philip Morris....those companies are such staples of the world there is literally no chance of them going bankrupt and the fact that they pay a growing dividend which usually correlates with an increase in profitability is a sign you cannot go wrong.

I know I know....enron....enron earnings rose like 85% I believe and dividend rose 9%....that was your red flag something was up....coke profits rise 9.8%, dividends rise 9.8%, its like clockwork year in year out.....there is no risk whatsoever....if coke goes bust....its not just adios coke, its adios like 50 big name drinks....not to mention all the fountain drink machines everywhere.....these companies are not boom or bust and typically don't even rely on good or bad markets....

I'm just different bc I was gifted $5,000 from my uncle at 16, 5 different stocks @ $1k each....coke,exxon,altria,microsoft(1995 mind you),walmart....mind you that was 1995....the tech bubble burst,9/11 happened,2008 happened....and that $5K still came out to nearly $40K.....800% ROI on all blue chips through 3 market corrections