Online stock trading
 

I see sites that advertise for this, and I'm starting to consider really doing something, mainly for long term investment. What sites are the "best" at this type of thing, and what kind of tips can you offer me on this kind of stuff? Thanks.

If you're talking about trading with no real money (AFAIK it's called paper trading) then I can help you by saying that I recently started on www.stocksquest.com I also tried out www.virtualstockexchange.com but they're practically identical and stockquest has the simpler interface.

No, no, I'm talking about real money. I suppose practicing on a site like you mentioned might be advisable, though. But, mostly, I'm looking at "real money" options. Thanks.

check out www.charlesschwab.com -- they have different types of accounts you can set up - -they have live people you can talk to - as well as a pretty easy site to do research on.. .from what i understand -t heir trading rates are pretty low as well.

as for tips -- invest carefully... like gambling - don't invest more than you could stand to lose... don't expect to get rich overnight, if you're in it for the long haul that's even better...

I think a good starter broker is Ameritrade.com. I had an account there and was quite pleased with the whole deal (except for the commission). But for a beginner broker, IMHO, you can't beat Ameritrade's simple, and user friendly layout. If you want something cheaper, try out Scottrade. Also, user friendly and simple, but not so much as Ameritrade. If you want something far cheaper than both, try out interactivebrokers.com. Their interface pales in comparison to both Ameritrade's and Scottrade's in terms of user friendliness, but they charge significantly lower commission.

Ameritrade: $11.99 per trade
Scottrade: $7.00 per trade
Interactive Brokers: $0.005 per/share w/ a $1.00 minimum + $3.00 / month commission minimum

The commission at Interactive brokers is calculated as follows. Let's say I buy 100 shares of SOME RANDOM COMPANY. That would amount to a charge of .005*100 = $.50, rounded up to the $1.00 minimum. So basically, you will only be charged $1.00 if you buy or sell less than 200 shares (1 dollar / .005 dollars/share = 200 shares). The monthly minimum works like this. If you don't rack up at least $3.00 of commission within a given month, you will be charge $3.00 - the commission you did rack up that month. If you're thinking of longer term investments, Interactive Brokers might not be right for you.

But still, cheap commission won't guarantee your success. It will be very well worth your time to learn as much as you can before actually putting your money on the line.

Have you looked at Forex? Higher returns, no commission, you have control over your own money, etc., etc.?

Actually, I haven't really looked at much yet, as I'm not quite ready to take the plunge. Short term "jackpot" would be nice, but I'm going for a little more long term, just because that's better. I see that most places though, have $1000 minimums to get started. That's the challenge, really. Thanks for your inputs, though...gonna do a little bit of research now.

Gonna give the virtual stuff a shot...see if this works like I hope it does.

just noticed i'd typed the wrong URL it's www.stocksquest.com , anyway good luck in your endeavours Dei37.