Question about the Stock Market.

[Snowboard-Ninja]

Hey I'm looking at putting 10 grand from Runescape Sale Profits into the stock market. I know I could figure out how to use it pretty well pretty fast. My only question is if now is really a good time to get into penny stocks. I wouldn't be doing any blue chip stocks, but with the current resession we are going through would it be a good idea to get into the stock market?

 

[Eric]

Invest it in your future education. You'll need it.

 

[Sin666]

Stocks may be cheap at the moment, but that doesn't make them a good deal. The only reason they're priced so low is because the risk is high, and no one wants to touch them. While you may not have time to look over tables and crunch numbers, there are people who do that for a living, so you can figure the odds aren't in your favor.

It sounds like you're after some easy, "get rich quick" scheme, and that's just not how it works with the stock market. Right now, the best place to invest is probably bonds. The return's low, but so is the risk.

 

[TJ]

You could also invest about 5k into a cd, and leave it in there for..10-20 years. By the time it matures, you could buy a house with it.

 

[Graham]

Our stock market isn't completely unstable at the time, it's still not too bad of an idea to invest in a successful company. In the past 20-30 says the stock market has been on the rise. If you invest in something, it's going to be high risk, but don't think of it as a get rich quick type of deal, because it might not be due to the rating of he bond, most likely BB. If you were going to invest a bit, I would say do it in some low risk company. It honestly depends on what your investing it in, if you could let us know that we might be able to help out more.

 

[Snowboard-Ninja]

I really have no idea. I'm new to the stock market and sofar I've just invested in silver. Thank you for your post though graham, it was helpful.

Oh and I am going to be "crunching the numbers" or whatever. I plan on making a living out of this. 10 grand in profit, after 6 months of Runescape blackmarket isn't quite what I was looking for. I am really good at whatever I put my mind to, so I'm thinking I should waste my plentiful time in the stocks, or somewhere where I can get really good and make LOADS of money; rather than a silly MMORPG.

 

[arevalo2k]

You should be very savvy about it, take the lower risk rather than the higher profit is my advice.

 

[ilikepie1]

Before you invest ALL of your money, you should try "Paper Trading." Paper Trading is basically investing with virtual money, and seeing if you get any good returns or not. It is definitely a good way to practice before dealing with real cash.
Here's a little info on the subject, but I suggest doing further research:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_trading

 

[Sin666]

I really have no idea. I'm new to the stock market and sofar I've just invested in silver. Thank you for your post though graham, it was helpful.

Oh and I am going to be "crunching the numbers" or whatever. I plan on making a living out of this. 10 grand in profit, after 6 months of Runescape blackmarket isn't quite what I was looking for. I am really good at whatever I put my mind to, so I'm thinking I should waste my plentiful time in the stocks, or somewhere where I can get really good and make LOADS of money; rather than a silly MMORPG.

You don't seem to understand the market at all. -.- If you were only investing a small amount on safe stocks or indexes to set aside for a college fund (and assuming the market weren't failing at the moment) then that'd be one thing. But if you want to make this a real source of income, you need to step up your econ 101, start reading the Wall Street Journal (and the Economist, if you're a liberal and need some diversity of opinion), look into buying some market research about the sector you want to invest in, and, most importantly, get rid of the notion that the stock market is going to be safe or easy.

If it were, and someone your age could turn a healthy, quick profit with little-to-no experience, then there'd be a helluva lot more people in the market.