Investing online for beginners

A week or so ago, I did a review of Jim O’Donnell’s The Shortest Investment Book Ever. In the review I mentioned that I thought the book was perfect for those who haven’t started their 401k or 403b because they don’t know what funds to invest in. In the most simple terms Jim explains to the reader exactly which funds to invest in and why. If you don’t have a 401k, 403b, or Roth IRA started, you should. And if you feel clueless as to how to invest the money, this book is for you.

Stock Investing for Dummies review… I just finished listening to Stock Investing for Dummies by Paul Mladjenovic. All in all, it isn’t a bad book for beginners who want to start learning about stock investing. The author covers the basics and touches on quite a few other topics as well. Interestingly, he forecasted and talked quite a bit about the impending recession that we are currently going through. The book was released back in 2005.

So, if you want to learn how to build a chair, you should go ask a chair-maker how he does it. If you want to learn how to become a millionaire, you should ask a millionaire how they did it.

These are my thoughts about my five favorite quotes from Warren Buffett… “Do business with people you like and who share your objectives.”Isn’t there more to life than money? I have met people who I wouldn’t work with for a million dollars, haven’t you? People are people and you will never be completely insulated from people who bug you, but if you are hiring them or choosing to work with them, they might as well be people you enjoy being around.

Right now, you may be wondering why you should invest in a Roth IRA if you currently have a retirement plan (401k, 403b, etc.) with your employer. The Roth IRA has many benefits that other retirement plans don’t have, and chief among them is the fact that your investment earnings may accumulate tax-free. In other words, your Roth IRA has the opportunity to grow without incurring any taxes and can be distributed to you tax free, if some certain conditions are met.

This is about the biggest no-brainer when it comes to retirement savings. If they are matching 100% of your contributions you are basically doubling your investment for every dollar you put into your 401(K).

Online brokers have been increasingly less expensive over the last few years, but it looks like they may be getting even cheaper. The reason being: Zecco.com. Apparently Zecco is offering free stock trades.
It turns out that all the other online brokerages have fairly large advertising costs which require them to charge fairly small trading fees. [...]