<p>I turned 18 a few months ago and i was thinking about opening my own investment account. I was wondering which online broker would be the best for a beginning investor like me (etrade, cs, etc.)?</p>
<p>Yea i wanted to know too....
However i will be international student in the US so will i have the same inversment opportunites as any other american?? Can i also invest in stock, bonds, securites etc??
I hope im not handicapped in any way because im really looking forward to being in control of my finances and im very ambitious when it comes to financial planning...</p>
<p>i like scottrade. cheapest rates, great customer service with locations across the nation, and tons of tools available to you.</p>
<p>if you decide to open an account with scottrade, let me refer you. that way we each get 3 free trades.</p>
<p>Scottrade...Vanguard...Fidelity...T. Rowe....</p>
<p>CaliGuy07, Scottrade looks like the best but how do you take your money out from your account (do they give you some kind of debit card or do they transfer your money to another bank account)?</p>
<p>I use sharebuilder.com for stock market trading - you need a bank account for that.</p>
<p>you can transfer money electronically or through a check.</p>
<p>i think they do offer some type of bank and debit card service but i dont use it.</p>
<p>Scottrade got rated the worst out of 11 online brokers by Kiplinger. </p>
<p>Go with OptionsXpress which got rated the highest.</p>
<p>O and now is not a good time to start investing. If I were you I would wait until the market bottoms out. You don't need to catch it at the bottom but there is too much volatility and uncertainty to be throwing your money in right now.</p>
<p>Scottrade also got good ratings by other reviewers like barrons. i have had no problem with scottrade and it's great have a retail location across the nation where i can walk in and get customer service. also, they have one of the lowest rates and great execution time.</p>
<p>i am not sure how optionsxpress is but i would not go around bashing things based on one review if you have never used it.</p>
<p>Red Sox--I respectfully disagree, somewhat. Granted, right this second is not the bottom of the market. Granted, it'll go lower. </p>
<p>But, it will end up climbing in the end, history shows us. </p>
<p>So, I think it's important to start NOW. If not today, then tomorrow. Just do it. Money isn't invested until it's invested, just planning to do it sometime doesn't give you anything in retirement :) </p>
<p>The real trick is this: save 15% of your pretax income and invest it in a wide variety of things--stocks, bonds...investing in mutual funds will do a good job of this for you now. And don't touch the stuff. According the book The Millionaire Next Door (where I got the 15% rule from, too), most millionaires find a good investor and then leave their money there. They don't make trades daily. They don't even make trades monthly. 42% of the millionaires they interviewed had not made a single trade in the last year. If you start out with a decent investment, it will most likely end up growing, and as long as you don't touch it, you'll do ok. If you trade stocks often, you pay mucho capital gains taxes, and you have to pay brokerage fees. Those usually eat up any minescule profit you made. </p>
<p>By investing 15% of your income, you not only save away a nice chunk of change, but you get used to living off of 85% of your wages, so you don't need as much in retirement to maintain the same standard of living. Some groups reccomend starting out small and working up to 15%, but if you think about the power of compound interest, it actually is smarter to start out big and saveless as you get older. The money you save in the first 10 to 15 years of savings will be something like 80% of your retirement fund. </p>
<p>Anyways, off of my soapbox :) </p>
<p>(sound mind investing is a great group that offers helpful ways to get out of debt, start saving, get an emergency fund going, and invest not to get rich, but to retire without troubles. For a small fee you get monthly news and whatnot from them, and they do something similar to the Kiplinger article linked here, showing you how varoius funds and whatnot are doing, so you know which mutual funds to invest in. Great group of people.)</p>
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i am not sure how optionsxpress is but i would not go around bashing things based on one review if you have never used it.
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<p>I didn't bash it, I simply stated that it was rated one of the lowest by Kiplinger. Also, I HAVE used Scottrade. I no longer do.</p>
<p>Jahjahwarrior, if you are going to have someone invest your money for you or dollar cost average or buy and hold stocks that you think are great buys for the long haul then you can invest right now and, although the market has not bottomed out, you will gain in the long run.</p>
<p>But lets face it, for someone (I assume the OP) who is looking to experiment with some buying and selling the current market conditions can eat you up. In fact unless you truly know what you are doing you shouldn't be buying and selling on a regular basis at all(this goes for me too and most all people who aren't working for major investment firms).</p>
<p>I suggest taking a finance 1 course. Basically, just so you understand the simpler models for pricing risk/security valuation. I don't invest in index funds because I like testing out my own models and consider myself a practitioner. But for most index funds are the best way to go.</p>
<p>Anyhow, if there's one thing I'd emphasize: assume as much risk/volatility as you can when you're younger w/o risking a total loss of capital. In other words, invest in small caps, which have had average historical returns of 22%. Also, make sure that you have some emerging market exposure. I wouldn't even bother trying to pick individual stocks. Just hold the right allocation of index funds, with aggressive strategy while you are young. As you get older, start allocating more to large caps and fixed income.</p>
<p>Red Sox--that's essentially what I said. You shouldn't be buying or selling on a regular basis. Millionaires do not do "stock trading" like people think they do, according to a book written by two Ph.D.'s whose job is to research millionaires and how to market to them. Buy mutual funds. Buy them now. The goal is to retire rich, not to make a buck overnight. If you buy mutual funds that have historically performed well, which you can often do by giving organizations like T. Rowe Price $50 a month or $1000 to start, then you will become wealthy. If you try to "experiment" in the markets, well that's no different than gambling. We all know the house wins.</p>