General Questions

[mmaggio80]

I have posted this in a diffrent thread under a wrong title so I am reposting here.

I have been doing alot of reading on this forum, and investopedia, aswell as joined Falkin IV and started another simulater to more match what funds I have now. I am very new to this all and plan on spending a few month on the simulator and here before I jump in with a brokerage. here are a few questions some I think I have an answer others I am clueless.

I am a Novice in every aspenct of investing and trading.


1) In the simulator I notice it takes a while for transactions to take place, does this "lag" happen with online trading?

2) If anyone uses scotttrade I was wondering if there live feed with quotes is anygood? I use yahoo finance and its delayed aswell.

3) I see wallstgolfers opinion on rich dad which is the one I was going to start reading. I am open to advice on books that teach you about company research to pick stocks for Both investing and speculating? As of now I just look at recent articles and past preformance. after looking up many definitions on investopedia besides overwhelming they are more geared towards people who know what related iteams are.

4) I understand selling short and buying to cover a sell But Options like Puts and calls still very Clueless. So again Any good books for the novice level to learn about Puts and Calls, and better assess selling short?

5) With a budget of say $3k-$4K would it be better to Invest or speculate? or is it even worth messing with because of commision fee's?

6) If I buy say 1000 shares of xyz and dividends are announced does the money buy more stock? or put into broker account?



I am not planning on jumping in untill I have a full basis of knowledge and understanding after after I gain that perhaps I will not. I am also up for a Personal Mentor once the 5 step program is back up. Thanks for any help.

[gijoe9]

Originally Posted by mmaggio80

I have posted this in a diffrent thread under a wrong title so I am reposting here.

I have been doing alot of reading on this forum, and investopedia, aswell as joined Falkin IV and started another simulater to more match what funds I have now. I am very new to this all and plan on spending a few month on the simulator and here before I jump in with a brokerage. here are a few questions some I think I have an answer others I am clueless.

I am a Novice in every aspenct of investing and trading.


1) In the simulator I notice it takes a while for transactions to take place, does this "lag" happen with online trading?

2) If anyone uses scotttrade I was wondering if there live feed with quotes is anygood? I use yahoo finance and its delayed aswell.

3) I see wallstgolfers opinion on rich dad which is the one I was going to start reading. I am open to advice on books that teach you about company research to pick stocks for Both investing and speculating? As of now I just look at recent articles and past preformance. after looking up many definitions on investopedia besides overwhelming they are more geared towards people who know what related iteams are.

4) I understand selling short and buying to cover a sell But Options like Puts and calls still very Clueless. So again Any good books for the novice level to learn about Puts and Calls, and better assess selling short?

5) With a budget of say $3k-$4K would it be better to Invest or speculate? or is it even worth messing with because of commision fee's?

6) If I buy say 1000 shares of xyz and dividends are announced does the money buy more stock? or put into broker account?



I am not planning on jumping in untill I have a full basis of knowledge and understanding after after I gain that perhaps I will not. I am also up for a Personal Mentor once the 5 step program is back up. Thanks for any help.

First of all You have come to the right place to ask these questions.
1. The delays you see in the simulator may be the same on some platforms in the real money world it depends on the level of service you have. My friend uses a service through his bank and the delay is 15-20 mins for quotes and the transactions will be completed shortly after he executes them but when he sells stock it may be three business days before the funds enter his account. This account is not for day trading and is actualy a self directed RRSP.
2. Sorry don't know about scottrade but Yahoo has a realtime service for quotes and so does MSN money they are both free and not bad they do have some limitations.
3. I share some of his opinion on that book but would not let that stop you from reading it. You must define your own "style" of investing. I don't do much reading of books on investing but I do read alot of news and magazine articles.
4.http://www.schaeffersresearch.com/?click=srlogo this is a freebee that was given to me. The education portion of this site is superlative in my opinion.
5. I lean toward investing only because it is more my style. A successful day trader in Calagary was interviewed a few years ago and he started with that much cash. He was also spent four years prior to that on educating himself on the market.
6. If the brokerage allows for a drip or the company does it can be reinvested. If not then the money will go into your account.

Hope this helps you and this is my point of view on the questions
Joe

[gijoe9]

Originally Posted by FirstConsul

And to Joe, 3 business day before settlement is for non-day traders.

That is what I said in my post

[mmaggio80]

thats for the answers, perhaps I will just invest in a mutual fund and play around a bit to get the hang of it then try my hand at it after awhile.

[gijoe9]

Originally Posted by mmaggio80

thats for the answers, perhaps I will just invest in a mutual fund and play around a bit to get the hang of it then try my hand at it after awhile.

Get the prospectus for the mutual funds you are interested in then do some research on what the fund holds. This will help in the learning process.

[lytle]

Answer to #2:

If you have and account with Scottrade you will have access to streaming quotes which are real time. If you place an order with Scottrade it will be usually be filled immediatly unless, of course, you're trading a very thin market, like say, the stock only trades 10,000 shares a day. The commission is $7 per trade and a limit trade doesn't cost you any more.

Good luck, and make money.

Don