Dividend stocks?

[bennkar]

She sounds like she should look into DRIPs (Dividend Reinvestment Programs). A great place to start would be directinvesting.com. One can search for DRIPs that have no fees or the company pays the fees. When you are paid a dividend, the program will reinvest it, often also with no fees. For example, 3M is a great company that pays investing fees.

DRIPs are a little bit different than Sharebuilder. Sharebuilder is basically a brokerage where the broker holds shares for you (Broker really owns it). To set up a DRIP, you have to buy the share in your name, then set up an account with the company share's transfer agent which operates a bit like a bank. You can then add to your stock position by sending money to the transfer agent. Temper of the Times (an arm of direct investing) can help you buy the first share and set things up with the transfer agent.

I'll second this advice for a newbie investor. With the right company your costs for investing small amounts will be minimal to nothing, at least compared with most brokerages. You do need to read the prospectus for each company's DRIP to determine if the transaction costs (if any) will be sufficiently low enough. While I too have 8 DRIPs I picked them up over 14 years, and for the first 6 I only had 3 stocks. I learned alot in those years while the stocks slowly grew. As for the OP, if she wants to buy individual stocks and wants dividends (and probably security) perhaps she should look at utility stocks. They're usually more stable than other stocks - good for first time investor.

[jpg7n16]

Well, my knee-jerk response is that if you know nothing about stocks, you shouldn't be buying stocks.

My vote is for this being the best advice so far.


So for those of you playing at home, that's 1 vote for DisneySteve. And 1 vote for DisneySteve.

[Ramose]

I agree that if you want to learn about stocks you should use a virtual trading game to learn the ins and outs of the market.

[amarowsky]

https://Www.investopia.com

Pretty cool site I used a few years ago to experience the rise and fall of mock investing. Only problem with mock investing is, you tend (at least I do) to make normal grossly risky moves just because I get impatient with the money they start you with! None the less it's a fun and informative tool to help you get a grasp on potential returns and very real losses in trading.

And to the OP first stock I bought intending for long term dividends to rely on, DTE . Solid blue chip large capital stock, with a very fair dividend. And who doesn't love electricity? TESLA ALL DAY!

[snafu]

Another idea to consider if you have savings to invest for a minimum of 5 years.

Many of us started by Dollar Cost Averaging [DCA] into a Mutual Fund [MF]. You can follow the individual stocks held within a Mutual Fund. It requires setting up an account and having an automatic, set monthly contribution. If I were starting today, I'd buy an Exchange Traded Fund instead of a Mutual Fund. You can track the individual stocks held and it is less expensive than fees for MF. Both Mutual Fund and ETF have Dividend Funds. Look at a low cost provider like Vanguard and the companies listed in their fund.

[amarowsky]

Investopedia sorry other was a badlink

[Ramose]

If you want to learn about stock markets you should start to read information available on Google.
Here is a few for the lazy.

Stock Basics: How Stocks Trade

Stock market basics for beginners

Stock Trading Guide

There are so many resources on the Internet that you can read if you are interested.