iBooyah.com Investment Matters

1.  The first thing you need is a brokerage account.  Brokerage account comes in two forms, a full service or discount brokerage.  The full service brokerage will charge you more for their services.  These large brokerages are companies such as Citigroup/Smith Barney and Merrill Lynch of the world. Again, the full service brokerage provides more services so they will charge you more. 

The well known discount brokers include Etrade, Ameritrade, and Schwab. These discount brokers do not provide many services so they are cheaper.  For instance, Citigroup may charge you $100 per trade, whereas Etrade might only charge $19.99.  Depending on your level of comfort and experience, you can go either way.

2.  Once you have decided on a brokerage firm, simply open up an account.  Most of these companies will allow you to open an account via the internet in a matter of minutes.  Once the account has been opened, simply fund the account.  Depending on which brokerage you chose, there might be a minimum balance you need to deposit to get started.  The large full brokerage will typically require more funds to get started.  If you're just starting out and wants to test the water, I would go with the discount broker because it's cheaper.

3.  Once the account has been funded, you are ready to start trading stocks.  Most brokers will allow you to trade on margin, meaning they'll lend you the money to buy the shares if you don't have enough cash in your account.  The broker makes money by charging you interest on the borrowed money.  Be careful with margin; if you are new to the game, this is could really get you into trouble.  My advice is to only trade with money you have.

4.  Lastly; and this is the most important one.  Check back here regularly for investment idea and stock analysis.