HOW TO BUY AND SELL STOCKS FOR BEGINNERS

If you want to learn how to buy and sell stocks for beginners, there is a lot to learn. Actually, the buying and selling part is not to hard but deciding what to buy and when to sell it is the hard part.

Buying and selling stocks for dummies is sort of like gambling. In fact, many people have lost way more in the stock market than they have at the Blackjack table. With this stock market sell off and panic of 2008, people have lost trillions of dollars combined. Retirement accounts and savings have nearly been cut in half in some cases. The baby boomers are in big trouble right now because they are all set to retire soon and now many of them are facing a situation where they may not be able to retire. It is very sad, really.

I mentioned this because learning how to buy stocks and sell stocks for beginners is not a guarantee that you will make money. You must understand that before you learn how to invest your money in the stock market. In fact, you should never have money in stocks that you cannot afford to lose. If you are saving money to buy a house, you might be inclined to invest it in stocks in hopes that it will go up faster. But it can go down fast too as we have just seen these last two months and so that kind of money should NOT be in stocks.

If you have money you know you will need soon, you should put it in a bank CD or government T-bills. That way you know the money will be there when you need it. Yes, the interest on that money may not be much right now but it is guaranteed. And guaranteed is a good thing because no investment in stocks is ever guaranteed. If you were to invest your money that you need in stocks and they were to go down, you might feel like a dummy. Be smart and put the money you absolutely need in safe investment vehicles where you cannot lose it.

So, this all comes back to how to buy and sell stocks for beginners. It is not hard as all you need is an online stock account with any of the brokers. You can see their ads all over the Internet so pick one as there is really no big difference. They will all say they are the best and maybe some are a little better in some ways than others but they pretty much all offer the same things. You can go with one of the cheapest online trading sites or a slightly more expensive one. Eitehr way, your money will be guaranteed with each of them up to $250,000 (this is in case the broker you choose goes bankrupt and not the stocks you choose to buy through them). Each of them have different online software so the main difference would be there: how easy their site is to navigate and understand.

Once you sign up to your online broker you need to send them money. Usually this is done by a paper check. Send them your money by writing a check and when they receive it you will see it in your account and you are ready to go. You can then buy any stock you want when the market is open by pushing a few buttons.

Likewise, you can sell any stock while the market is open with a push of a few computer buttons as well. Technically, it is very easy to learn how to buy stocks for beginners or anyone online. The hard part is learning how to choose what stocks you want to buy and then deciding when to sell them. It may take years or maybe even a lifetime to understand the fundamentals of stocks and how to choose the best stocks for your goals. Good luck!

WHERE DO YOU GET A FREE REAL TIME DESKTOP STOCK TICKER?

All the business TV's shows have a stock ticker but it is always 20 minutes delayed. If you go online to MSN, AOL, or any other popular service the stock quotes and stock ticker are also delayed. Even if you sign up and open an account with a major broker, the quotes you get online are 20 minutes delayed.

Where do you find a downloadable application that will put a real time free desktop stock ticker on your computer? Stock tickers are very cool looking and to have one on your computer desktop would be very handy, especially now with the stock market being so volitile. There can be 100 to 200 point swings in just minutes and stocks go up and down like yo-yo's. Being able to get real time quotes is very important right now and without them you feel more and more like a stock market dummy than ever before.

With all the major brockerage account services you have to sign up, deposit money, and then make a special request to get real time quotes. It is a pain to have to do all that but real time quotes are a necessity in panic market. Having a free real time stock ticker on your desktop would make things a whole lot easier. In order for it to work you would have to, of course, be constantly connected to the Internet but most computers are now days.

If you look online for a free real time desktop stock ticker all you can find is something like the picture below. Not only is that not real time but it is not really a ticker. I am talking about a stock ticker like you see on TV that goes across the screen in real time. This kind of ticker is always up to date and gives you stock quotes that are accurate to the second. There is almost anything imaginable on the Internet and I find it hard to believe that one can't find such a free stock ticker for thier desktop. If you know where to find one, please leave a comment and let us know where it can be found.

WHAT IS YOUR INVESTMENT RISK TOLERANCE IN STOCKS?

Before you run out and buy stock in this bear market, you had better know what your risk tolerance is. There are a lot of stock market beginners that are now suddenly interested in the stock market due to this panic sell off and it being in the news everyday. This has prompted many people who have never invested in stocks to suddenly be interested in how to buy stocks.

What is risk tolerance for dummies and how does it pertain to you? When you buy a stock you need to know why you are buying the stock, what you are hoping it will do, and just how low you are willing to let it go before you decide to sell. Now, of course, everyone hopes the stocks they buy will go up and they will never be faced with the grim decision of when to sell a loser. But in this market right now, most of us are faced with steep losses.

Risk tolerance is your ability to stand pain: in this case financial pain. Every one of us invests for different reasons and with a different time horizon. For instance, if you are in your 20's you have a lot longer time horizon to ride a bad market out than someone in their 70's. In fact, someone in their 70's might not want to be invested in stocks at all because they will not be working and may need the money any day or year.

Additionally, not every one has the same inner strength and the ability to take financial losses. Some of us have a very low risk tolerance meaning if their stocks go down they lose sleep, worry a lot, and let it affect their every day life. If this sounds like it may be you, then you as a stock market beginner needs to know that when you buy stocks, you can lose everything. It may be hard for you to see your hard earned money become much less while you sit and watch. In this panic market right now especially, this is a very probable result at least in the short term.

On the other hand, if you feel you have a strong stomach and can take the day to day ups and downs of this volitile market, then perhaps you have a higher risk tolerance. It is important to note for any stock market beginner or dummy that it might seem easier said than done to sit and watch your money go down. If you have never invested before and are wanting only now to learn how to buy stock and invest because of what you see going on, you might think you have a high risk tolerance but when you actually do it you might find otherwise. Sitting on the sidelines it is easy to say you have a strong stomach for losses but when you actually buy stock you might find it is not as easy to watch your stock investments go down.

WHAT STOCKS TO BUY WHEN THE MARKET IS LOW

The stock market is going up and down now like a yo-yo on an hourly basis. Right now is not the time to buy stocks as everything is just too uncertain. The way things are right now, the market can easily go up or down 500 or more points any day and that is just too risky to be buying stocks.

Around October 23rd is when the financial and insurance companies are going to know for sure how much of the Lehman brothers 400 billion they are individually going to be responsible for. At that time, there will be a little more certainty and a rally might be in sight. The market often rallies at the end of October as well so that looks like the time with the best chance to get a rally.

What stocks do you buy if a rally occurs and do you hold them long or short term? Unfortunately, if we get a 20% or so bounce there are going to be a lot of sellers as there are many people right now that would gladly sell many of their stocks right now for 20% more than they are worth. So short term might be the way to go.

But as for what stocks to buy when the market is low is anybody's call. Maybe you should look at some of the stock picker ads and find out what the experts are saying. Whatever they say, they could be wrong or they could be right.

HOW TO FIND HOT STOCKS FOR DUMMIES

How do you find hot stocks? Or do you even try? The problem with the stock market is that everyone has an opinion. There are several channels on cable TV now that are devoted just to business and they continually have segments on where they interview analysts. These stock analysts always have their hot stock picks, tips, and market predictions and they can sound so very convincing. Stock market beginners will easily get sucked in with all this positivity.

Many times when you watch FOX Business or MS NBC, the stock gurus are asked about a list of stocks. It seems that very rarely do these "experts" say that you should sell a stock or not buy it. If you listen to these guys on a daily basis you will get the impression that the stock market is always just about ready to soar. Of course there are exceptions and not every analyst is that way but in my opinion most of them are usually positive in their stock market predictions.

Why are these stock experts, hedge fund managers, and guest hosts always so positive about stocks and the stock market? It is like they are pitchmen for the Dow and NASDAQ and trying to sell a product. In their case the product is the stock market and they want you to get involved and start buying stocks. If they can continually paint stocks in a positive light then there will be more business for them from all the stock market dummies.

If you are a beginner and want to learn how to buy stocks and how the stock market works, perhaps it is best not to listen to these financial shows that tout theirs stock tips of the day and hot stocks ready to soar. If you listen to these stock gurus all the time, you may get the idea that it is easy to make money in stocks. If you pick the right stocks and have good market timing it is, but not many can do that and especially someone who is in the stock market for beginners.