Buying Shares

**Chalex4** · 20th July 2010, 01:29 PM

I'm thinking about turning a portion of my summer earnings into shares, but am not exactly "up" on what's good and bad to buy right now. Obviously I need to go for something that's low, but I was hoping you guys could help with the finer details!

Preferably I'd like to go for a technology based company like Apple. I'm also going for the slow earner rather than riding the market, so I'd like to make a good decision first time round.

Apple seems to be in a small rut right now because of the reception stuff:
http://www.google.co.uk/finance?q=aapl

which I'm sure they'll get out of before long. I don't know how much higher they could go though.

**Isphera** · 20th July 2010, 01:33 PM

My advice - google Jim Cramer. He's the host of 'Mad Money' in the US, and this guy knows his shit. Try and find some up to date advice of his online, or find a way to stream his show (on CNBC)

Previous post was 'don't'. But since your going long term, you may be fine. But it's a damn risky thing to be doing, considering volatility, even now after the main recession is done. Plus the possibility of double-dip and our debt being quite lol might mean that value could be wiped.

It may be worth staying with 'blue chips' as a start-up area for investment. For those not well versed in stock market lingo, a blue chip stock is the stock of a well-established company having stable earnings and no extensive liabilities. Blue chip stocks pay regular dividends, even when business is faring worse than usual. Examples are Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Disney, GSK etc.

Oh, and BP may be worth looking at soon as a very long term investment. Once this slick has been cleared, I reckon it's likely to go back up, as do all oil companies. With the slick, it's plummeting, but given a couple years, it'll recover most, if not all of it's previous value.

(I have no BP stock or ties to the company, and I cannot be held responsible if the stock does not do as predicted)

**Calneon** · 20th July 2010, 02:23 PM

Oh good god don't go with Apple, they're in the shit after the iPhone 4 thing, though they will of course ride it off. Just don't go for them through principle. Google is the obvious choice, though I don't know much about shares at all.

**Isphera** · 20th July 2010, 02:27 PM

Google are not on the London Stock Exchange. But they are currently at $466.18 on NASDAQ. But they were at nearly $600 a share in April, and they've been on a relatively massive decline since then. They are up on the day though.

Plus I'd never recommend investing everything in one basket, simply as a risk mitigation measure. Assuming you have around £500 to play with, investing in one share of Google is very unwise. Look at a cheaper blue chip with a little bit left over for some smaller shares. And I can't stress this enough, RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH!

**ez64** · 20th July 2010, 02:35 PM

Apple is a declining market, Fashion over substance will always fail in the market sooner or later.

Unless your spending 50k+ it's really not worth it unless its a hobby or you know of any small business's about to go global.

**Isphera** · 20th July 2010, 02:42 PM

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Beginner-...-portfolio.htm

Interesting tips here.

**Vicious Horizon** · 20th July 2010, 04:26 PM

Go with something small for long term, find a company which isn't shooting up as we speak, go for one that is going up slowly, a flat-lining company will often start going down, but one which is rising in reception is more likely to go WHOOMP and get you some money (hopefully).

Apple is not a good idea, as ez has already stated, they's a gwana go down. Microsoft is also a no-no, they're both a short-term investment, for example, if you were in the know about Windows 7 back in the day, it would have been a good idea to buy shares, wait for a year after Windows 7 was released and cash 'em in.

Software markets are /never/ a good idea.

If you're looking for something small-term, I'm not sure if they're a PLC, but if they are: Gusto Games is a rising games company, which may be worth a shot, ofc, i don't actually think they have shares up for sale, so that's probably not a viable option.

I'm not sure what other advice I was gonna give here, there was some, but I've forgotten, hope i helped.