Purchasing Stock

[destrekor]

What is a good online program to use if I just want to buy a bunch of penny shares? Do these programs offer unlimited number of shares purchased for every trade, or is there a max number of shares per trade. I'm actually looking to invest a small amount in PHEI (Phantom Entertainment, maker of the Lap Board), as it'd be a cheap little gamble.. if they continue to be unsuccessful, oh well.. if they make the least bit of financial progress with the Lap Board, then well.. I'd be a very happy person with even a little investment right now due to the price of each share... $0.0007 as of 01FEB2008, not even a tenth of a penny!

I'm not sure if all the other places are like sharebuilder, but they don't allow the purchase of this particular stock.
I'm basically just looking for a place where the minimum investment isn't insane (I'm really only looking at maybe $100, preferably after the trade fee).

I really want to get into investing, part of the process of learning to manage money a lot better than I do currently. But also so I can try and have something put away for when I'm older and have a family, a great security (in addition to my life insurance) in case of my death... OR as a nice bonus for retirement or education for any children I may in the future.
With that in mind, I'm also looking into Mutual Funds or some other kind of long term, low-to-medium risk coupled with decent-to-great returns over the long term, with continued added investment on a monthly basis (likely).

So beyond merely penny stock, what are good options for a low-income college student to start investing? I figure now is as good of a time to start as ever.. maybe to help provide a little kick to pay off student loans when I graduate.

here's something I've been kicking around as far as PHEI is concerned:
is it possible to even purchase, say, $90 worth of a share with a value of $0.007? Say the asking price is $0.0009, which $90 would give me 10000 shares. Is that a possible trade?

edit: in case you couldn't tell, I know jack shit about market investments.

 

[gururu2]

that company is a scam IMO. read up on Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_Entertainment
i remember the whole HardOCP issue.

i use ameritrade and used to day trade on it about 10 years ago. i still use it but stick to long terms now. i have always been pleased with their service. they charge no fees outside of the 10 buck charge per trade.

 

[Jeff7181]

1st rule of fight club... I mean... investing... don't invest money you can't afford to loose.

I use Scottrade, but pretty much any online broker should be able to do what you want. Scottrade has fairly low limits, I think you need $500 to open an account with them, though.

 

[destrekor]

Originally posted by: gururu2
that company is a scam IMO. read up on Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_Entertainment
i remember the whole HardOCP issue.

i use ameritrade and used to day trade on it about 10 years ago. i still use it but stick to long terms now. i have always been pleased with their service. they charge no fees outside of the 10 buck charge per trade.

I very much agree they have been a scam. But now, yes it's a gamble, but I think they will actually get that product out there into the marketplace, and it will get popular. It's a great concept and I personally would love to have one for my living room. Even a modest rise in stock value would see this investment extremely worthwhile. And a loss? Well like Jeff said below your post... I wouldn't invest anything I couldn't afford to lose, if it was a risk-based investment.

on an unrelated note.. why is my sig gone now? I checked my profile.. and it's gone.

 

[sniperruff]

i'd stick with some sort of CD or online savings account. you'll stop spending your money once it's a PITA to get it back.

oh yeah i use scottrade as well. $7 for stocks and $14 for mutual funds. i wouldn't suggest buying anything unless you have $5k+, and with that amount you'd hardly make any significant gains.

 

[alien42]

i have followed PHEI for several years and they are still a scam.

 

[imported_Lothar]