You seem to want to know more, why not invest some of your TIME in learning MORE.
I would start with looking at basic stocks which fuel America's future: Caterpillar (CAT), Walmart (WMT) and maybe even SBUX starbucks. these stocks pay dividends, CAT is about $110 a share, Walmart is about $78 and Starbucks is about $79 a share.
Anyone who can not spend several hours per day watching his stocks should be investing in mutual funds where professionals do that for you. You can research mutual funds on Morningstar.com to see what growth, balanced and value funds are, and what large, medium and small funds are, and allocation funds (my favorite) and specialty funds. Just be aware that you don't get rich by jumping in and out of funds or stocks. Follow Warren Buffet's advice. A reporter asked him how he felt when he had lost a billion dollars in one bad day on the stock market. He replied, "I didn't lose a penny because I didn't sell anything."
Buy mutual funds like T Rowe price where you can deposit small monthly amounts deducted from your bank. 75% of professional can't beat the market, you can buy spiders that copy market indexes and put a little money once a month.
1)The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham. Get this on audio CD, listen to it a few times and it will make a lot of sense. Focus especially on Chapters 8 (market fluctuation) and 20 (margin of safety).
2)The Interpretation of Financial Statements by Benjamin Graham and Spencer B. Meredith. This is a short and concise treatise on reading financial statements.
Mutual funds are a good idea. Just look for ones that have a history of positive returns and do not have a lot of load or other fees.
I really want to start investing while i'm still young and working. I don't want to buy shares that are $500+ I'm looking for something to start off small with maybe $20 if that's even possible and if it is how do I find these stocks? Also how do I read how much a share cost? For example:
Today's date is 07/10/14 and I looked up Apple and it shows 95.04. Is that how much a share cost? and right next to it in red it says 94.88 (is that what it's worth now?) Another question. Do stocks change every second? I remember I saw a when I was like 12 and and I remember seeing a whole bunch of people running and screaming and all I remember is seeing numbers decreasing in amount. Sorry. I'm just new to this and would like to learn more. Perhaps someone could recommend goods books? or articles? Thanks!
