At Investools Workship and dont have 23K

[johnsdr]

I am at an investoools workshop and I dont have 23K for the PHD program. I am somewhat confused on what my next learning steps should be. I have opened a thinkorswim account for papertrading, but I have not put any real money into it yet. To be honest I am still somewhat skeptical. Dont think I should have to spend money to make money. Can anyone give me some tips what kind of steps should I take as a beginner to move to the next level?

[tombrown1]

Read everything you can get your hands on. There are a ton of books recommended on this forum.

[Gunnski]

Take your first $1,000.00. Buy one stock and follow it. Try and stay with the stock & minimize getting in & out. The commish. will kill your profits. $4.00 or $7.00 dollar commish. seems small. They add up quick! $14.00 for a full turn (Buy & then sell), eats up profits quick. This is the best way to get your feet wet (1 stock). If $1,000.00 is not in your budget. Try $100.00 a month in an ETF until you get your $1,000.00 together. Find an ETF in the current hot Sector/Industry. Follow your ETF with the tools. They trade like a stock & are usually cheaper than a mutual fund.

Follow the market trend. Right now is a good time to gather investing capital. Wait for a positve turnaround. Keep paper trading. But, when your hard earned $ is on the line, you'll make some stupid mistakes. LEARN from them!

[johnsdr]

Originally Posted by Gunnski

Take your first $1,000.00. Buy one stock and follow it. Try and stay with the stock & minimize getting in & out. The commish. will kill your profits. $4.00 or $7.00 dollar commish. seems small. They add up quick! $14.00 for a full turn (Buy & then sell), eats up profits quick. This is the best way to get your feet wet (1 stock). If $1,000.00 is not in your budget. Try $100.00 a month in an ETF until you get your $1,000.00 together. Find an ETF in the current hot Sector/Industry. Follow your ETF with the tools. They trade like a stock & are usually cheaper than a mutual fund.

Follow the market trend. Right now is a good time to gather investing capital. Wait for a positve turnaround. Keep paper trading. But, when your hard earned $ is on the line, you'll make some stupid mistakes. LEARN from them!

Gunnski, I really appreciate this advice. It is so easy to get so caught up in all the tools. At the investools class they started talking about options, and then I was really getting confused. I think I will follow your plan here, but I would like to learn more about this investing stuff. Can anyone reccomend any other learning programs other than investools, any books or audiobooks, or online interactive training. I like the live classes too but I dont want to spend alot of money on them at this point. I signed up for some free thinkorswim classes form this link. Investools was pusing thinkorswim pretty hard but then I saw Saxo out there, and I was wondering if anyone had any experience with this service. Looks like they have training too. Can anyone makes some training reccomendations for me? Thanks

[Gunnski]

Check out the Wed. Podcast from Dorsey Wright. (Just Google them). Also check their achives.
They actually have a really neat online class. As does Stockcharts.com & many others. I know Charles Schwab (sp) has an online class.

You cannot beat the daily online videos from inthemoneystocks.com & Brian Shannon at Alpha Trends.

Try & keep it simple. Remember the chart tells all!