Still learning about Stocks and Market

My learning journey through the land of buying stocks is progressing. I'm finding it is easier to acquire knowledge by "doing" as opposed to reading books. Yet, since cash is involved, that may prove an expensive way to learn.

Since I last posted I have purchased 5 different stocks. I have yet to sell any, as my idea is to go "long" on them and hold them all at least a year to minimize any taxes.

The stock I had the most hope for (rsol) is the only one that has sunk down a $1 a share since I bought it. Two of my stocks (asti and ve) are hovering up and down within about $.25 of what I bought them for. My fourth stock (dis), and I must add the priciest stock in my portfolio and the one I could only afford to buy 4 shares of, is doing the best.  My 5th stock (pets) I just bought today, so at this point it is hard to say what it will do.

I have discovered that the more money you have to invest the better your odds are because you can buy the high cost solid stocks that pay dividends.  This will prove tricky for me, because I can only afford to buy about $200 worth of stocks a month. I have thought of just saving up my money for a couple of months to buy the higher priced stocks, but they are the ones that go up and up and then cost more than when I originally started planning to buy them.

I must wait a year though, to learn if my stock choices are proving worth the investments.

The Stock Market, Scribophile and Life

I have always liked learning, as well as writing, so finally I have decided to learn about the Stock Market and investing. This has been somewhat of a challenge. I am discovering that almost everyone I know does not own stocks other than what is in their work-established retirement plans. The books available at my local library cover how to pick a good stock, but not the nitty-gritty of how to buy stocks. I've discovered the on-line brokers won't let you into their websites unless you give away you social security number and your bank account. I wouldn't mind that if I was a hundred percent certain their site is the one for me, but I sure would like to look at them first before I sign over all my vital stats.

I pumped the one person I know who has owned and purchased stocks today, but his experience was limited to buying utility companies, and only through a broker many years ago. He has no experience buying over the computer. He did say I need to make sure that when I buy a stock that it is registered in my name with the company and not held in some joint account. That sounds like sound advice. Clearly, I have more research to do.

Meanwhile, I have found a great website for getting my writing edited. The one glitch is I have to edit other people's work before I can post mine. That isn't so bad though, because almost all the stories I read are really decent.

This site is free (though you can pay for the extras). It's called Scribophile and can be found at scribophile.com.