[Salty]

OK, just recently got some money, want to invest it, I was meaning to buy Apple stock before MacWorld but I forgot, dumb me I know. So I was talking to a friend at school who said he was investing through CIBC, said it wasn't tough, so I phone them up. I'd have to wait two days for an account to be made, then I could apparently buy stock. You'd think if they wanted my money things would happen a bit quicker!
Add to this the fact that my credit union can't even let me buy stock through them, and nobody seems to be able to you know, recommend some place that would just be a straight forward way to buy!

GAHH! Of course now I'll be out of the city after today so I won't be able to, so Apple's stock will probably have gone up another several percent points, and when you're planning on investing as much as I was, this is not an amount to sneeze at!

[Nebagakid]

maybe there is a delay because it is a weekend?

[Kerrigan]

Why buy stock in a company which is at its prime? This is as good as it gets for Apple, and they've nowhere to go but down.

Apple is a good stock for people who like short term investments, and people who examine trends very closely, ie, technical analysts. But if you are in it for the long haul, I'd advise that you look elsewhere.

[Artful Dodger]

it really depends what you are loking for.
Are you just trying to invest in a few stocks and leave them in your portfolio for the long term?
Or are you a gambler and would like to trade frequently?

Each demands a different set of tools. With the latter you'll want something like www.completegrowth.com. It's expensive but the the information that you will have access for your due dilligence is invaluable. Excellent research and usually spot on.
If not, then try scottrade or ameritrade...which ever is cheaper.

And listen to Kerrigan about AAPL. i'd wait for a dip before getting in.
good luck

[Dork.]

I disagree that Apple's not a good long-haul stock, although it has gone up dramatically this week due to the Macworld announcements, as well as the past year, and may be due for a fall soon, so you may want to wait. Then again, earnings come out this week, and if they are good the stock may go up further. I think there's enough headroom in Apple for some gains in the next few years. If you gave up on Dell in 1997 or 1998 because it had already went up 10x or 15x in the last 5 years (and up something insane like 200x since it's IPO), you would have left another 3x to 5x in gains behind (assuming you knew when to sell before the bubble burst in 2000, of course).

But before doing any investing, I would read up on some basics of fundamental stock analysis, like what a P/E is, how to read income and balance sheets, and how all those numbers generally effect the stock price. It's really not that hard -- a week or two of glancing through some financial sites ought to do it. I started my education at motleyfool.com, although I think more of the site is subscription-based now. When investing in individual stocks, you ought to have some numbers backing up every decision you make, otherwise it's not much different than gambling. Don't invest in any company- even Apple - unless you have an idea why you're doing it.

From there, if you don't have a lot of money to start, or want to invest a little bit at a time, I'd start with a place like buyandhold.com or sharebuilder.com . (I used buyandhold,com, they were pretty good). They let you invest by dollar amount and buy fractional shares. (You Canucks may or may not be able to use it, I don't know, but I imagine you have something similar up there.) Just watch out for fees and commissions, you will pay much more if you invest this way. If you're paying more than 2-3% of your investment in commissions on these plans, you're paying too much.

I do invest in individual stocks and even dabble in options, but the bulk of my investment money (both retirement and normal accounts) is in index funds, since I think that broad indexes like the S&P are safer than individual stocks, cheaper than managed mutual funds funds, and much easier to understand than other investments. Other people have different theories. Read up on all of them, and make your own decisions.

edit: the bulk of my normal stock account is no longer in index funds, though, thanks to AAPL and the ever-expanding stock price.

[Rolling Bones]

Don't invest in individual stocks. You'll lose your shirt.

Invest in RRSP's or GIC's. They in turn invest your money over a large selection of stocks called funds or that kinda stuffs.

Ask at your credit union.

[Salty]

Sigh... I think I just give up on stocks... I'll just keep next year's tuition in the bank or something... that said if I had put it into Apple right before MacWorld, I'd have another 1500 in my pocket...

[Kerrigan]

Wait, this is your tuition that you want to invest in Apple?? You need to hang onto that tuition, stay in school, and get some learnin'.

I'm reminded of a little joke on The Daily Show back in the 90s, when Craig Kilburn said "Mother Theresa died virtually penniless, having only several dollars to her name, and a million shares of Apple Computer stock".

I love Apple's products, but they could easily go back down to where they used to be if Steve slips in the shower and turns into a vegetable. Not worth putting your tuition on the line for that.

[Ganesha]

Originally Posted by Rolling Bones

Don't invest in individual stocks. You'll lose your shirt..

It should be don't invest in individual stocks if you are not comfortable with the risk of losing all your money. I invest some money directly in stock, but its money I can afford to lose and I never invest more money to try to make up for a loss. Over the last 9 years my stocks have been both my best and worth investments.

[turboSPE]

Originally Posted by Artful Dodger

it really depends what you are loking for.
Are you just trying to invest in a few stocks and leave them in your portfolio for the long term?
Or are you a gambler and would like to trade frequently?

Each demands a different set of tools. With the latter you'll want something like www.completegrowth.com. It's expensive but the the information that you will have access for your due dilligence is invaluable. Excellent research and usually spot on.
If not, then try scottrade or ameritrade...which ever is cheaper.

And listen to Kerrigan about AAPL. i'd wait for a dip before getting in.
good luck

Have you tried this? How good is the info?

turboSPE

[Big Mac]

It's not difficult to invest in stocks. Open an account with an electronic discount broker like scottrade and once you fund the account with a check or wire transfer you can trade. As far as AAPL is concerned, it will continue to perform in a stellar way until iPod growth tapers off. It was the best performing stock of 2005 - even better than Google - so yes it's on a high, but if you try to predict the top you could well see it go to 100. Now if you do intend to invest in single stocks, you've got to keep your eye on their performance in order to be able to take your profits and cut your loses when appropriate. If you don't want to manage things as actively, invest in an EFT or a small, well managed mutual fund with low fees. Even then, though, you have to keep your eye on broader market trends.

[ledzeppelin]

....

[RAILhead]

Don't buy individual stocks unless you're only farting around with a little money or you're using a whole lot.

Buy funds. No offense -- but you obviously have no idea what you're doing, so don't get into something like individual stocks.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by Salty

Sigh... I think I just give up on stocks... I'll just keep next year's tuition in the bank or something... that said if I had put it into Apple right before MacWorld, I'd have another 1500 in my pocket...

You should NEVER invest in stocks with money that you might need in the next 1-5 years. Don't do it. Buy funds. Or a money market fund.

-t

[wdlove]

Originally Posted by turtle777

You should NEVER invest in stocks with money that you might need in the next 1-5 years. Don't do it. Buy funds. Or a money market fund.

-t

Very wise, need a safety net first. The market is still a gamble.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by wdlove

Very wise, need a safety net first. The market is still a gamble.

wdlove Awesome




Oh, no, wait, I'm not cubeoid

[Ghoser777]

Spiders are pretty good investments - I've got some stock in the S&P 500 Index fund and some energy stocks and the past couple of years have been pretty good (save last Friday...).

[ReggieX]

You have to open an account with a US-based broker anyway, since APPL isn't listed on a Canadian stock exchange. Have you tried to open an RRSP account at all? These things take a week or two just to get going, you know!