Foo - Stocks/Investing Expertise needed

Hey guys figured I'd start here and then take my questions to a professional. I have about $7K i've been thinking about investing. However I've never invested before (being a grad student extra money to invest is really hard to come by). Anyone have any advice? Is now a decent time since the economy is going nuts? I'd assume if i bought now and held stocks for a long time they would have to go up if stock selections were wise. Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

Start safe and only slowly get into more risk.

First- Money Market account
Research Mutual Funds while your money is earning some in the Money Market account.

Buy LOW
Sell HIGH

Dont be a chump and mix up the two.

A note for the future when you look at individual company stocks.
First- pick an industry that is strong
Then- pick a strong individual stock within that industry

Another tip: dont count on a small company with one "sure thing" patent.

you could split it 50/50 between these mutual funds:

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=vtsmx
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/pr?s=VGTSX

you could split it 50/50 between these mutual funds:

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=vtsmx
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/pr?s=VGTSX

That's pretty good diversification as long as the market in general is doing ok.

Buy high/sell low.

Or something like that.

That's pretty good diversification as long as the market in general is doing ok.

I don't know how to cancel out global financial risk from that. 25% to each of those funds, 25% to canned goods, 25% to ammo?

Hey guys figured I'd start here and then take my questions to a professional. I have about $7K i've been thinking about investing. However I've never invested before (being a grad student extra money to invest is really hard to come by). Anyone have any advice? Is now a decent time since the economy is going nuts? I'd assume if i bought now and held stocks for a long time they would have to go up if stock selections were wise. Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

First off, I would put it in a CD for while until all the pieces of the current market mess have fallen off.

I get all my financial advice on Foo.

I get all my financial advice on Foo.

What part of "Hey guys figured I'd start here and then take my questions to a professional" did you not understand?

What Hobart and trsidn said, plus diversify. You don't have a ton to invest right now, but it's a good habit to get into. A well spread out fund is not a bad place to look.

The other thing to remember is that you should always plan for the long haul. Don't freak out when one of your investments loses money. Ideally, you won't be going to that well for years, so let the business cycle run its course.

Lotsa people saying now is not the time to pull out your long term investments - but neither is it a great time to dump loads of cash in either. You're weighing taking advantage of lower prices vs. the possibility of the Dow dropping further - and - more importantly - not rebounding for some time.

So the bottom line is, regardless of which investments you choose - can you afford to be without that $ for any appreciable length of time?

I'd say take that cash and pop it in a nice jumbo CD or maybe an ING savings account. Prolly do you better than any bonds or money markets (in the sort term; yes, invest more aggressively when you are ready and comfortable) and you can always try to invest when you're confident the Dow is rising healthily again (assuming that happen in our lifetime:rolleyes:)

Of course....I am not an financial whiz by any means; this is just my two cents....which as it happens is about all I have to my name at this point:eek: