Time to resurrect this thread.
I recently opened a trading account for the first time in many years. However, I haven't paid much attention to the market recently and have no idea where to begin.
I've got around 15k for purchasing to start with, and I also have 200 shares each of Ford (F) and General Electric (GE) that were gifted to me.
I wish I had the money back when Apple split because I would have purchased as much as that as I could have afforded. Same when Facebook IPO'd.
What's the best (unbiased) website for tips and suggestions?
So to go along with the theme of Index funds, rather than trying to predict stocks, here's something to consider:
https://medium.com/the-long-now-fou...is-multi-million-dollar-long-bet-3af05cf4a42d
Warren Buffet made a half a million dollar bet 10 years ago that just investing in simple low-fee, unmanaged index funds in the S&P 500, would beat hedge funds over those next 10 years. Keep in mind this was just before the 2008 financial melt down, making it even more impressive. The S&P 500 averaged 7.1%, while protege funds with fees only net 2.2%.
(He gave the money away to charity)
He says:
"Over the years, I’ve often been asked for investment advice, and in the process of answering I’ve learned a good deal about human behavior. My regular recommendation has been a low-cost S&P 500 index fund. To their credit, my friends who possess only modest means have usually followed my suggestion.
I believe, however, that none of the mega-rich individuals, institutions or pension funds has followed that same advice when I’ve given it to them. Instead, these investors politely thank me for my thoughts and depart to listen to the siren song of a high-fee manager or, in the case of many institutions, to seek out another breed of hyper-helper called a consultant."
People keep thinking they'll be the one to beat the market odds. Tell me, if you had 15k, and you were told that you had 2 choices:
1) You could put it away for 10 years, and you had a 9/10 chance of doubling it
2) You could put it away for 10 years, and you had a 1/10 chance making more than double
Which would you choose? Because number 1 is investing in simple index funds, and number 2 is just choosing individual stocks.
If you want the best unbiased website for financial advice, start with:
https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/
Read the get started articles, browse the forums then branch from there.