DON'T GET YOUR STOCK PICKS FROM TEXTS!

It might seem obvious that good stock picks probably won't be found in spam. But I guess everyone wants to get in on the ground floor of a good deal and that is why this type of thing works.

Have you ever met someone who doesn't want a good stock pick? Stocks are almost like the weather: they are something people can discuss at cocktail parties, outdoor get togethers, or just about anywhere. It is a subject that is good conversation and it often is combined with people discussing the economy and how the country is doing.

A good stock pick is always welcome. It is sort of like an inside tip at the horse races and who wouldn't want that? Yes, there will always be a demand for that one stock that will be different from all the rest and turn out to be your next big winner.

That is the mentality that stock picking text spammers count on when they send a message that they have the next hot stock. There is always an urgency because this tip isn't going to last long! There service is the best (they will say) and the one stock they have for you will be going up guaranteed. Don't miss it by waiting!

Spammers have been around forever in all sorts of forms and now they have clearly moved to the texting platform. If the saying "there is a sucker born every minute" is true, don't let it be you when it comes to stock picks.

Listening to professional analysts is one thing and that always carries with it some risk. But getting taken by an anonymous text about a soon to be hot stock is clearly something even the greenest beginner shouldn't let happen.

IS THE APPLE HYPE "FORCING" PEOPLE TO BUY STOCKS FOR THE FIRST TIME?

I got an email from a reader who had just bought their very first stock. Its a buyer's remorse type of email as this person was wanting confirmation from me that they did the right thing, even though it was already done. Here is the email:

I never bought a stock before because of my limited knowledge of investing. But today for the first time, I decided to buy 17 shares of Apple ($10k worth) in anticipation of the new iPad release Friday (I like Apple and I own a Mac which I'm using now) I bought the stock for $589/share with a $530 stop loss.

Do you think I made the right decision? Do you think using a stop loss at 10% less was a good choice? Do you think I just bought into the hype and the bubble will burst? I appreciate any advice you can give me. Thanks.

I wrote back and told them that I couldn't comment on any one particular stock but most analysts think the stock will continue to go up from here so don't worry too much.

This
email is a great insight into the mind of a stock investor. The difficult decision about whether to buy Apple stock could come from a novice investor like this person or a much more experienced investor and it shows how emotion can play a big part in the stock buying process. It doesn't matter who you are or what your experience level, pulling the trigger to buy a stock can be a difficult decision that doesn't stop with the purchase. After all, the decision to sell can be just as hard!

The desire to make money and not miss out on something that is getting a tremendous amount of media airplay is, I believe, bringing in a lot of first time investors. We hear about Apple and it's skyrocketing stock every day. The fact that so many people own and love their products means that it is hard to escape the story even if you are not an investor. But for anyone that has a little spare money to invest, the desire to jump in can be too hard to resist. This person can't be the only one that is buying their first stock and making that stock be AAPL!

A new investor like this will, undoubtedly, spend much of today refreshing their computer screen to see what the price is hoping to get confirmation that they did the right thing. Confirmation to them would be the stock continuing to go up. They will do a lot of that for the days and weeks ahead as putting $10,000 down on one stock as their first stock purchase was a big move. But as the weeks go by they will probably pay a little less attention to the hourly price and just check it every day.

Any Stock Market For Dummies book will advise against putting a big chunk of money down on one stock as your first purchase. Diversity is always recommended and achieved by buying different stocks in different industries. Betting everything on one stock is well, a bit like gambling and you can lose big. At least our reader put in a stop loss to prevent that.

Whenever you have a stock that goes parabolic (Google was the last one to do it), you get new investors that just have to get in. They see and hear that everyone else is making money and they want a piece of the pie. It is their first introduction to the stock market and that is a good thing.....lets just hope that they get out with a gain so that they learn to invest correctly next time by spreading their money around a bit more to mitigate the risk.