Finally investing in the stock market

[Uppsala9496]

My daughter is 3 months old. I finally convinced my wife that instead of letting some of the money we have been saving for her sit in the savings account, we should invest it in some stocks.
Both my wife and I work in the financial services industry and we have never invested in any stocks. I deal with the random IPO at work (not recently since the market blows) and never had the urge to invest. I don't know why, but it is something that has always been a little scary for me.

Well, after some liquid courage (some wine with dinner and a few beers) I finally opened a sharebuilder account to start investing. At this point I am taking baby steps and am only investing $2,500. This is either going to turn out well, or is going to kick me in the ass.

Of course there is a penny stock I was involved with at work about 2 years ago that is still sitting at basically nothing that I just can't convince myself to invest in. It would either be a brilliant $500 investment about 15 years down the road, or it will be $500 down the toilet.


Oh and my wife told me if I lose the $2,500 she is going to kill me. I think she was actually serious too....:frown:

 

[PCMarine]

If you can't afford to lose all of it, then you shouldn't be personally investing in individual stocks.

 

[Brainonska511]

Just put it into an index fund through Vanguard.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

I wouldn't bother - make sure the savings account is paying a high interest and leave it in there. If you want to invest in stocks, increase the amount you're investing, and you'll need to spend a lot of time working on your portfolio. From what I've seen, people doing well with stocks that don't actively trade is purely luck or just based on their belief in the company.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Originally posted by: Brainonska511
Just put it into an index fund through Vanguard.

Index fund would be a much safer bet IMO.

 

[drinkmorejava]

Vanguard, or if nothing else, CDs. Never done vanguard, by my sister and all of her econ and finance profs say go with it.

 

[minendo]

Originally posted by: Brainonska511
Just put it into an index fund through Vanguard.

Agreed. I currently have a rollover IRA and roth IRA with Vanguard and both are invested in VFINX.

 

[njmodi]

If you are saving for your daughter's education - you should look into 529/college-savings plans...

 

[Baked]

If you've never done this before and putting your money strictly on stocks, you'll lose everything.

 

[Uppsala9496]

I have a nice sized Roth IRA through Vanguard. I also have a nice 401k, as does my wife. My wife and I both figured it would be a little more beneficial for our daughter to have a small stock portfolio when she is 18 rather than strictly a savings/money market account that was earning all of 4% interest or whatever it is.
We can afford to lose the $2,500. I will be pissed if I lose it, but if it were to happen, it would not set us back financially.
Right now it is on a whim.
Better than me going to Vegas for the weekend...

 

[paulney]

I was thinking about how to tell relatives/friends, that instead of bringing yet another plush animal or some other toy for our daughter, maybe they could just put a $20 in her account... Our house is already overfilled with toys, and I am quietly taking some of them to Goodwill / Toys for tots, because our daughter has plenty of toys as it is, and these will be collecting dust anyway.

But I don't want to sound mercantile or cynical in their eyes. I wish there was a polite way to explain this.

 

[Cattlegod]

index fund, index fund, index fund.

never ever invest in individual stocks.

 

[Mo0o]

There are many like it, i Know theres one through Vanguard as well

http://www.schwab.com/public/s...&lvl2=college_planning

 

[BrownTown]

Man, I wouldn't save a single cent for a college education, when they do financial aid they factor in everything you have saved up, so if you save $30,000 they just charge you that much more, you don't get ahead at all unless your going to a cheap college. Any of the "good" colleges will meet 100% of need based financial aid and they are actually pretty generous in this regard.

 

[Brainonska511]

Originally posted by: BrownTown
Man, I wouldn't save a single cent for a college education, when they do financial aid they factor in everything you have saved up, so if you save $30,000 they just charge you that much more, you don't get ahead at all unless your going to a cheap college. Any of the "good" colleges will meet 100% of need based financial aid and they are actually pretty generous in this regard.

Actually, colleges look at all your savings; so even if you don't have any money specifically socked away for college, they'll still consider it in factoring financial aid.

 

[BrownTown]

Originally posted by: Brainonska511

Originally posted by: BrownTown
Man, I wouldn't save a single cent for a college education, when they do financial aid they factor in everything you have saved up, so if you save $30,000 they just charge you that much more, you don't get ahead at all unless your going to a cheap college. Any of the "good" colleges will meet 100% of need based financial aid and they are actually pretty generous in this regard.

Actually, colleges look at all your savings; so even if you don't have any money specifically socked away for college, they'll still consider it in factoring financial aid.

Yeah, thats what I said, spend all your money on stuff you want NOW and they won't have anything to take from you later.

 

[Brainonska511]

Originally posted by: BrownTown

Originally posted by: Brainonska511

Originally posted by: BrownTown
Man, I wouldn't save a single cent for a college education, when they do financial aid they factor in everything you have saved up, so if you save $30,000 they just charge you that much more, you don't get ahead at all unless your going to a cheap college. Any of the "good" colleges will meet 100% of need based financial aid and they are actually pretty generous in this regard.

Actually, colleges look at all your savings; so even if you don't have any money specifically socked away for college, they'll still consider it in factoring financial aid.

Yeah, thats what I said, spend all your money on stuff you want NOW and they won't have anything to take from you later.

But what about income that you make, another factor in the equation? What do you do then, just become unemployed so they can give you a handout?

 

[Ticky]

What I like about investing in single stocks, is that it has all the appeal of gambling, but is actually a net-sum game, in that we live in an expanding economy. If you do your research, and don't act like a sheeple, you can certainly come out ahead. But if you are risk averse, an index fund is certainly an option.

 

[randay]

vegas->megabucks

 

[DaveSimmons]

Stock index mutual fund or index ETF.

Vanguard has tax-sheltered college funds, get one and put the money in VFINX (S&P 500) or their total stock market. Why pay taxes every year on capital gains and dividends if you don't have to?
I can haz tax freez?


Fixed your link.

minendo
Forum Administrator

 

[Yossarian]

There's really no reason to gamble savings for your daughter like that. Put it in a nice Vanguard index fund/funds and just let it grow. 18 or whatever years of compound interest will work wonders.