Online Trading and Investing

[S Freud]

I am a college student (18 years old) and I am thinking of investing some money in stocks/real estate/IRA's , I have been doing a little research, internet and reading all the books I can get my hands on, so whats the opinion of ATOT, should I go through a broker, do it online myself with something like scottrade or ameritrade?

What do you think of online trading? anyone here do any trading/investing?

 

[JS80]

Scottrade or Firsttrade is your best option.

 

[gotsmack]

do it yourself it its just a small amount of money, but if you have like a 1/2 million+ then you should go to a pro.

Find a discount brokerage that has an office within a reasonable driving distance of where you live, these will most likely be brokerages with banking arms.

I'm thinking of transfering over from tdwaterhouse to scottrade.

you can invest in companies that develop real estate, but actually buying and developing the property is a lot of work and time. I believe you have to work before you can open an IRA and your work might do that for you. If you worked this year think of opening a Roth IRA, you can use the money to buy stocks, but for the most part can't withdraw (penalty free) it until you hit a certain age. So that leaves you with stocks/bonds, I would stay away from options unless you have $100K+ and are comfortable with trading.

When you buy stocks or company bonds, stick with an industry you are comfortable with and then choose your companies from there, however feel free to invest in a company in a different industry if you really believe in what they are doing or if you think they are going to develop the next big thing- after all the name of the game is speculation.

If you are unsure which stocks to buy, I would look into ETFs.