how do i make money on the stock market?

LegacyUser

i'm pretty 5hit with money, would be interested in learing bout the stock market.

how complicated is it? how riskey is it?

InkPot

No simple answer....
I HIGHLY recommend the following site: http://www.investopedia.com/
It is intended for an american audience, but 99% applies. Read the tutorials, all of them. The most important tasks that anyone considering investing in stocks must undertake are:
1) Evaulate how much risk you are comfortable taking
2) Evaluate what investment strategies match your risk-comfort level
3) WRITE DOWN THE STRATEGY you intend to follow
4) Stick to your strategy!! --- This is to avoid getting emotional. Getting emotional is almost guaranteed to result in throwing good money after bad.
5) Do your own research -- don't rely on freely available 'analyst information' -- they have their own agendas, and your interests are not theirs.


The above points are just a summary, again, read the tutorials. There are plenty of sites out their that let you play with a 'virtual portfolio' so you can see how your strategy would play out over time without risking any real money. Finally, note that stock market investing, for the small investor, is usually a *long-term* investment. Only corporate day-traders have the clout and expertise to make money in the very short term.

LegacyUser

thanks for that inkpot.

i'll have a gander

Gilgamesh

if you're **** with money you shouldn't do stuff with stock, that's for sure.
Best tip,

Crash a plane into a very important building, wait for the stock to crash, buy stock from that company and wait for them to recover

InkPot

Also, as regards to how 'complicated' it is... Actually investing in the stock market is not in and of itself complicated at all... AIB (via Goodbody, which they own) at least allow anyone to trade on Irish, UK, and US stock markets via the AIB 24-hour banking website. Easy as pie. However, if the question is 'how complicated is it to do it well'... see the above post!!

bounty

i recommend an equity fund

its like a savings account where your monthly payment is invested in a particular fund, (like tech stocks, biotech, property.. etc). you choose the fund, depending on your risk/profit needs

you pay a charge of 1% - 1.5% a year management fee

all big financial institutions do them, but the banks will rip you off with 5% charges on each payment

the cheapest i have found is quinn, they dont have that 5% charge, check this out: http://www.quinn-direct.com/life_investments.html

im fairly new to this too, anyone experienced with equity funds like to share any thoughts?

LegacyUser

interesting, i saved with somthing similar with bank of ireland a few years back.

i take it you have to leave it in for a while to see any return

bounty wrote:

i recommend an equity fund

its like a savings account where your monthly payment is invested in a particular fund, (like tech stocks, biotech, property.. etc). you choose the fund, depending on your risk/profit needs

you pay a charge of 1% - 1.5% a year management fee

all big financial institutions do them, but the banks will rip you off with 5% charges on each payment

the cheapest i have found is quinn, they dont have that 5% charge, check this out: http://www.quinn-direct.com/life_investments.html

im fairly new to this too, anyone experienced with equity funds like to share any thoughts?

shoegirl

A simple way to do it is to get a job with a multinational and use their employee share purchase scheme. Usually they set up an account with a brokerage for you and the US fees are much smaller than the Irish ones. And you get 7.5-15% discount on the share price, which gives you an instant profit should you decide to sell.

Bear in mind the unstable dollar when buying US shares - apparent gains can be swallowed up by the falling dollar.

I've found that buying small batches of shares (usually 250-400 dollars worth at a time) from individual companies usually fairly safe. I avoid shares from companies with major problems (such as for example Ramco) and stick to companies with a good track record. I've been fairly lucky so far and have made profits between 20-40%.

byte

I was looking to a limited extent into share dealing recently, after noticing that AIB's online banking has a Share Dealing section. I never really looked at it before.

Does anyone recommend using this? Or is there more advisable ways of buying/selling shares? It seems handy having it as part of online banking.

karltimber

From I can gather --any broker here in Ireland will fleece you for any transaction.
Just read AIB's charges - a complete rip-off. a/c maintenance ???? commission and transaction fees -- you'll be lucky to get away with €40 per trade and not sure if thats real time.


I setup an a/c with www.ameritrade.com went tinto my bank to do a wire transfer to my new ameritarde a/c --took 6 hours to complete and could buy shares on-line real-time by pc for €11 a trade incl limits/stops etc.

If money is made all you have to do is setup a international wire transfer from your ameritrade a/c and wire your profits home --soo easy.your bank here can help out with Iban numbers etc.

It's the only way to trade. ---
I don't know how quick AIB's/BOI trading platform is or if is routed thru goodbdy etc but just too-expensive and not up to date !!

Just my pennies worth.

ionapaul

I have an account with Davy stockbrokers, their online division. It is much more expensive than any of the online discount brokers I have used in the past, but the peace of mind I get dealing with a company I can walk into during my lunch hour from work if I have an issue, is priceless. I am sure I pay more than €40 per trade, with commission and all, but I wouldn't trade in blocks smaller than €5,000, so factor in 2% in costs to buy and sell a block of shares.
This past 12 months has been good for those of us invested in equities rather than the property market, which has MUCH higher buying and selling costs.