How do you start investing money in stocks and things that will make it grow for mine and my childrens future?

Answer 1

This is general advise on how to become ones own investment adviser.

Let me first say up front I am not an investment adviser,nor I am trained or certified to give the technical type of advise for you to make nuts and bolts decisions. I started my education over 25 years ago with the same question you have. I was lucky enough to run across an educational series on how money works put together by a Man Named Charles Givens. He was run out of his business by unending lawsuits by Insurance Co.s (in the guise of individuals) because he taught everyone what the various Insurance plans where and which plans people did not need that created allot of profit for the Companies. He taught us where to recover money that was overspent on lots of areas in life (i.e. insurance added on to your auto loan by the dealer). After less than 30 days I had a beginning amount to put into a work place retirement plan. There are many more authors who have replaced him. At this time I am only familiar with Susie Oman's books which are great for beginners to start learning about money management. Money management comes first!

After your credit cards are paid off and you have signed up at work for a retirement plan then begin learning about how to invest your money yourself.

A couple of books that I found helpful that are still good today to simply explain what investing and stocks are all about. Common sense explanations and not boring.

1. Peter Lynch's Investment book.

2. Books or website by "Motley Fools" www.motleyfool.com

Be aware of the tempting and quick advice trap. Almost every stock listed has someone who loves it and will write what sound like good reasons to buy it. Wait until you have read the basics and done a couple of on-line courses on how to evaluate a Companies before starting to buy anything. Stock tips from friends are just that, don't be tempted to buy unless you do the research and it makes sense based on your new skills, I can not emphasize that point enough. An extremely good idea is to practice "paper pretend trades" for 2 years while you learn. Most websites will let you setup a fake account to do this and see how well you can apply ones ideas. None of learning about investing is hard. The most difficult part is putting in the time to research a Co., compare it to other co. in the same business and to rationally decide based on the numbers. After you are actively investing then read books about the psychology of trading to understand yourself better.

In the mean time, put the max $ away into an IRA, Roth IRA or work related retirement tax deferred fund, usually a mutual fund of some sort. If you do not know which MM fund just yet than a Credit union CD will have the highest interest rates and OK for the short term like 6-12 months, no longer. Do not put more than 10% of your retirement acct into the Company you work for stock. At first safety is important until one learns the ropes. But you are investing for the long run anyway for your children, so 2 years to learn the basics (est. 1 hour/week time spent on self education) is not out of the ordinary. If you are quicker all the better.

Excellent money management info is also essential and there are many folks with good books and on-line courses. One of the most famous right now is Susie Oman. I would recommend staying away from the TV advertised how to become a trader overnight course until you are ready. If you choose to have an investment adviser do the daily work of this stuff knowing how these things work will assist you in picking someone who knows what they are doing and will play safe with your money.

I find that most people do not know what their adviser does and simple refer their guy based on weather they like the guy or gal.

Much luck and hard work to those who choose to become a "self directed investor". It is very rewarding and will definitely make you more money in your life time than the job market alone. Be Well