Buying stocks is not difficult, but you’ll need a few days lead time if you haven’t done it before!

On the other hand making money consistently from buying stock is very difficult – the fact that most managed professional funds do not beat the index, tells you that even professionals dont find this easy. So take everything you read with a grain of salt.

STEPS

1. Do nothing until you have chosen a system, rules for buying and rules for selling. So read widely and study. Watch the market and then paper trade ( that is pretending on paper you bought the stocks!) : prove you can make money at stock speculation before you ever part with a single dime. Once money is in your account, the temptation is too high to spend without careful thought.
2. Decide on a system. And then decide on the best vehicle to trade. If stock speculation, not long term investment is what you are after, maybe contracts for difference , spreadbetting or binary betting could be a better way – depending on local laws and tax rules – and how quickly you intend to get in and out of the market. Investigate all of the options.
3. Then if you have decided on trading raw stocks. Sign up with a stock broker on their website. A broker is registered with one or more “stock exchanges” (e.g. NYSE, NASDAQ, etc.) to execute stock trades on your behalf within that exchange’s market.
4. Send the broker an initial deposit of funds. (Your broker needs this money to purchase your stocks.) The usual minimum is $2000 but can be as little as $500.00. Some websites don’t require a deposit at all.
5. Your broker must report your stock trades to the IRS. You will need to fill out the required forms and mail them back to the broker, possibly even before they will allow you to make your first trade. (Your broker will send you the forms.)
6. Select your stock, notifying your broker of the company’s “symbol” (a 1-4-letter code), the price you’re willing to pay per share, and the length of time for which your offer will be valid.

TIPS

• Before you buy anything - stop. Watch. Learn. Paper trade. Don’t trust anyone’s advice until you have confirmed that what they say works consistently. If you are considering buying a trading system from anyone, look at some of the reputable financial forums such as trade2win or moneytec. You will find most of them there….and a heap of dissatisfied customers.
• Decide before every trade on a stop loss. And exercise it ruthlessly. Don’t make decisions on the fly!
• Don’t buy too much of one investment, so you be better able to deal with temporary setbacks; balanced portfolios increase in value in the long-term.
• Index funds provide a balanced, low-cost (low/no management fees) way of investing, and have consistent long-term gains.
• Instead of offering a specific amount (and a timeframe) for the stock, you may purchase the stock “at market value”, which executes immediately.
• Although you should “diversify” your stock portfolio by owning stock in several industries, buy stock primarily in industries you are familar with. (tech stocks if you’re a geek, auto stocks if you read a lot of car magazines, etc.)
• Search for “online discount brokers” on a search engine to find a list of brokers that you can use to buy and sell stocks online. Scottrade, Etrade, and TD Waterhouse are just a few of the many options. Be sure to compare their fees and see if they have any hidden fees before signing up.
• “If in doubt, do nought”.

WARNINGS

• Before buying stocks, make sure you have a decent idea of how to choose which stocks to buy.
• There is plenty of free advice from reputable people. There is also plenty of free and seemingly credible advice that is both misleading and wrong.
• Many of the established text books and bibles on trading – particularly on technical analysis – contain assumptions repeated so often they have gained the status of fact without ever being proven! If you find that hard to believe then download a stock price into a spreadsheet and test the moving average crossing methods repeated in every book on technical analysis and shudder at how much money you would have lost! It just isn’t as simple as it is painted.
• Make sure your broker is registered with the SEC. Stick to the brokers advertising on network TV if you are unfamiliar with the industry.
• Depending on the brokerage fees, it will be difficult (or take a long time) to recoup an investment of less than $1500 on any single stock purchase.
• In addition to the price-per-share that you offer for the stock, your broker will charge you a flat transaction fee, as well as an SEC insurance fee. The SEC fee is about $5. You pay these extra fees when both buying AND selling a stock.
• Realise that people who promote a stock often do so because they want to sell it. In other words they hype a product in order to sell it. This way of looking at things is called “Contrarianism”. So when people say “BUY”, its actually time to “SELL”, or if you don’t hold stock already, it maybe not the time to buy at all! Always DYOR (Do Your Own Research) and then some.
• Most day traders lose money, and very few fund managers beat the indexes over any length of time. Stock trading is easy. Making money is hard. So look for a system, prove it to yourself, and then dont deviate!

How to Get Rich

It seems that everyone wants to get rich. There are books out on that subject, classes that are headed by someone who can show you an easy way to get rich, rich people willing to drop advice on how to get rich, and many other schemes that guarantee you will get rich fast. Getting rich is one of the main goals of most people, and while it is never easy, there are some sensible techniques that will increase your chances of getting rich.

STEPS

1. Define “rich”. It’s one of those subjective words that everyone uses but no one defines. What are your standards for being rich? In other words, what do you envision when you think about being rich? This can be different for everyone. Usually it whittles down to a few common goals:
   
   
   • Prestige. For many people, the idea of getting rich is tied to getting respect. It’s not so much about how much money you have, but about maintaining a luxurious standard of living–exotic vacations, nice cars, swimming pools, etc.
   • Retirement. Some people want to get rich so that they never have to work another day in their lives. In this case, the standard of life one wishes to maintain once retired is critical to understanding how much money is needed to get rich.
2. Keep your eyes and ears open. All the time interesting people and chances appear and disappear. Get a feeling when to step forward and when to wait.
3. Delay gratification. If you’re looking for information on how to get rich, then you’re probably not rich right now, and there’s a reason for that. Are you spending money on things that won’t get you rich? Are you sticking with a job that doesn’t make that much money to begin with? In order to get rich, you’re going to have to give up some of the things you enjoy doing now, so that you can enjoy those things without restriction later. For example, you might like having free time, so you give yourself a few hours a day to do nothing. But if you were to invest those few hours into getting rich, you could work towards having 20 years of free time (24 hours a day!) with early retirement. What can you give up now in exchange for being rich later?
   
   
   • Cut expenses
   • Get a job that pays more or get a promotion
   • Downgrade or give up your car
   • Downgrade your apartment or house
   • Reallocate your spare time
4. Save money. You’ve heard the phrase “It takes money to make money.” So start socking away the extra money you’re making now that you’ve delayed gratification as outlined previously. After all, what’s the point in giving up the stuff you like if you have a hole in your pocket? Start building a “get rich fund” at the bank. Always pay yourself first. This means before you go and blow your pay check on a new pair of shoes or a golf club you don’t need, put money aside in to an account that you don’t touch. Do this every time you get paid and watch your account grow.
5. Invest. Once you’ve stockpiled your savings, start thinking of ways to invest it. This is where your definition of “rich” really comes in handy. If you’re looking for prestige, for example, a good investment would be education. Save up enough money to attend an Ivy League school and obtain a degree in something that will make decent money but, more importantly, earn great respect (doctor, lawyer, dentist, any kind of professional). If your goal is to retire early, on the other hand, invest that money in stocks, bonds, or other vehicles of investment that will give you an annual return on investment (ROI) that’s enough to maintain you in your retirement. For instance, if you have one million dollars invested and you get a reliable 7% ROI, that’s $70,000 per year! Invest in relatively stable assets – rental properties or potential development land in steadily growing areas is a good example. Put your money not in luxuries that will be worth nothing in a couple of years (a fancy car, for example), but in things that will increase in value over time, and that will earn you supplementary income in the interim.
6. Stay rich. It’s hard to get rich, but it’s even harder to stay rich. Your wealth is always going to be affected by the market, and the market has its ups and downs. If you get too comfortable when times are good, you’ll quickly drop back to square one when the market hits a slump. If you get a promotion or a raise, or if your ROI goes up a percentage point, don’t spend the extra–save it for when business is slow and your ROI goes down two percentage points.
7. Network with the Rich It’s always an excellent idea to surround yourself with other rich people; whether you have already become very rich or whether you are just starting out and clueless. Understand how the rich think and the way they manage their money. Fly first class or business class once in a while, spend a weekend at a luxury golf course; if you can’t afford to do too much traveling and spending, then use the internet instead.

TIPS

• Surround yourself with self-made millionaires. Learn from them. It’s been said that “like attracts like”. Get all the information you can about how rich people started making big money and what they are doing now.
• Every night before you go to bed, empty all of your spare change (coins in particular) into a jar. This takes time but after about one year you may have at least $150 saved up in coins.
• If money is burning a hole in your pocket for something specific (a new car, for instance, when your current model works fine), force yourself to wait a month before buying. Ask a family member or very trusted friend to hold your money for you if it’s that much of a temptation. Spend time considering the real cost of what you want to buy, the pro’s and con’s, how much it will set you back in your aspirations versus the immediate satisfaction, and how that money might be put to better use. If you still can’t live without it after a waiting period, it’s yours, but often you will find that an immediate desire looks less and less attractive once you stop and think about it.
• If you find yourself wanting something big to gratify you immediately, divert yourself with a small indulgence rather than giving in to the large one. Walk away from the designer suit or purse, but on your way home, buy an ice cream cone or catch a movie instead. The $8 movie ticket is a lot less expensive than the $800 purse, but gives you the same feeling of doing something “just for you.”

WARNINGS

Get rich quick schemes are invariably scams. Avoid them. There is no such thing as free money unless you inherit it. Then you must handle it wisely, or you will lose that as well.As there is no free lunch, nothing can be obtained without struggling for it.The best way to get rich quickly is having a plan and able to implement the plan successfully,if possible with a team that is well experienced and interseted in helping you.