How to Invest Online with minimum Cash
- 1). Funding for your online investing can come from your blogger, eHow, or any other method you use to generate income online. A quick way to make money immediately is to sign up as a ChaCha Guide at ChaCha.com.
ChaCha is a search engine that pays human guides to answer questions
for users and was launched on September 1, 2006. Once you become a guide you can choose to get paid monthly by check or immediately by Visa Debit Card.
These are ways to generate income and many of the online brokerage companies charge as little as $2 to $4 per trade. - 2
Sign up for Online Investment Simulation Games that enable you to invest in a "Virtual Portfolio." Your success is measured by how many hypothetical dollars you make each month. This will allow you to play the Stock Market for fun in a no-money, no-risk game that helps you understand the financial market and trading online.
Here are two Simulation Sites where you can sign up:
1. Fantasy Stock Market / www.fantasystockmarket.com
2. Virtual Stock Exchange / www.virtualstockexchange.com
Once you sign up it's up to you to decide how much of your "Fantasy Cash" you want to invest. To purchase stock just click on the "Buy Order" tab or "Purchase" tab; to sell, click on "Sell Order." Enter the quantity and Ticker Symbol (abbreviated trading name for companies) and the program does the rest for you. - 3). Once you feel comfortable with the Simulation Trading use your funds to make your first trade online. There are 3 online brokerage firms that are good for beginners and they are:
1) Ameritrade (www.ameritrade.com)
2) Harrisdirect (www.harrisdirect.com)
3) E*Trade (www.etrade.com)
My suggestion is to go with Harrisdirect, it's ideal for beginners because there is no initial minimum deposit for trading or IRA accounts. There are a few other Online Brokerage Firms that have no minimum deposit but for this article, let's go with HD. - 4
Whatever you make online from eHow, Blogging, Paid Searching, ChaCha, etc., invest between 20 and 40% of your online earnings. Set a 3-6 month goal to just invest. Don't worry about the return on your investment, just invest and be cognizant of the "Major Components of Investing."
The Major Components of Investing are:
1) Select - go to www.investorguide.com/university.html .. Never consider a deal that looks too good. Check for scams by going to www.fraud.com or www.investorguide.com/university.html
2) Analyze - Check ValuEngine for a quick analysis and an easy to understand rice forecast (www.valuengine.com/servlet/Main).
3) Purchase - Trade Online at www.harrisdirect.com or the broker of your choice. Keep in mind, never pay a brokerage more than you have to. Watch out for hidden cost and compare prices at SiebertNet (www.siebertnet.com/html/compare_us.html).
4) Monitor - Online portfolio management tools like those at RidkGrades (www.riskgrades.com) can help you increase the value of your portfolio without taking undue risk.
5) Sell - Never expect a stock to go straight up. Get an understanding of how the economy affects the market and the value of your investments by reading the Wall Street Journal.
"Major Components of Investing" from the book, Investing Online for Dummies, 5th Edition - 5
Invest a little at a time and treat your initial online portfolio like you treat your other online projects; by realizing it's not going to produce a major financial windfall for you now, but is one additional method of generating residual income.
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