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When did you start investing?

When I graduated college.

What do you mean, "what company?"

If you're buying stock in one company, you're not investing - you're gambling.
 
Years ago when the CD rates where way better I started there, now though I transitioned completely out of CD's since the interest is laughable, now I choose lifecycle funds and Roth. plus regular savings account, which I might transition those funds into a CD if things get better. but for now I don't want to restrict the usability. Btw im 27.
 
My first personal investment was buying AAPL at 13 7/8 in '97. That gave me enough to start a career in daytrading.
 
Cpus said:
Lucky. My parents would never let me invest when I was a kid.
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I doubt mine would have either, so I didn't tell them when I bet my life savings ($210) on the 49ers to win the superbowl and beat the spread (a friends dad went to vegas and placed it for me.)

I confessed a few years later to betting and winning. I guess that was actually my first investment.
 
Two years out of college. I fail at investing and sell too early. Only up about 4% this year, while everything else is 10% plus. All I had to do was hold an extra month and I'd be 10+% up.
 
jjsole said:
I doubt mine would have either, so I didn't tell them when I bet my life savings ($210) on the 49ers to win the superbowl and beat the spread (a friends dad went to vegas and placed it for me.)

I confessed a few years later to betting and winning. I guess that was actually my first investment.
Click to expand...

Oh. But you had to have asked your parents to let you invest in apple right?
 
I opened a brokerage account in 1999 but I had a 401k before that.

I buy and hold low-expense broad market index funds like the S&P500, forever. No stock picking, no market timing, no actively managed funds.
 
jman19 said:
When I graduated college.

What do you mean, "what company?"

If you're buying stock in one company, you're not investing - you're gambling.
Click to expand...

That depends on the company and what your goals are. I bought my first stock in IBM in the early 90s with the intention of keeping it. Now work about 9X what I paid for it.
 
DaveSimmons said:
I opened a brokerage account in 1999 but I had a 401k before that.

I buy and hold low-expense broad market index funds like the S&P500, forever. No stock picking, no market timing, no actively managed funds.
Click to expand...

I figure that once I'm about 40 I'll start moving a bit from market index funds to some bond funds but basically I follow the Boggleheads guide to investment.
 
Vic Vega said:
That depends on the company and what your goals are. I bought my first stock in IBM in the early 90s with the intention of keeping it. Now work about 9X what I paid for it.
Click to expand...

That is true, I guess I was just speaking in general terms. If you're just getting started, some small sampling of stock picking is usually where it starts.

Actually, to further clarify: some of the best investment managers, even with a lot of capital, may have strong convictions about only a limited number of positions. For the average buy and hold investor who is thinking long term only, probably good to diversify.
 
401k at age 26 when I started my first real job. Right now I am putting any extra cash into an emergency fund and student loans. Then paying off the mortgage. Investing outside of a 401k will come around age 40 when the house is paid off.
 
Cpus said:
Oh. But you had to have asked your parents to let you invest in apple right?
Click to expand...

I was well of age by then. 😉 I had started a job at a real estate company that used macs and was shocked of the talk about apple possibly going out of business. It was the first time I worked on them and loved the interface/gui so much, I had to bet against their demise.
 
I have not really started yet, I probably should. I do have RRSPs which I suppose are sorta a form of investment. I need to find an online place to buy stocks though, would be cool to day trade on slow days at work.
 
jjsole said:
I was well of age by then. 😉 I had started a job at a real estate company that used macs and was shocked of the talk about apple possibly going out of business. It was the first time I worked on them and loved the interface/gui so much, I had to bet against their demise.
Click to expand...

Oh sorry I thought you meant you were 13 7/8 years old when you bought it.
 
Started a 401k with my first employer out of college once I met the enrollment period of 6 months I think. That was in the spring of 2001. I was 23 at the time. When I was 25 and had a bit more extra money I started a Roth IRA through Vanguard.

I had a brief run with an investment firm between careers and provided tech support to investors. This was around 2005. I remember getting a call from a very pleasant Greek gentleman who was one of our top investors and just chatting up with him while I waited for something to load on his computer. He was telling me some stocks to look at and said to take every dollar I had in mutal funds and put it on Apple. It was like $25 at the time.

I wish I had taken that advice. 😀
 
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