How do you buy stocks? I have never done so before and I am interested in the Lululemon IPO?
Luvenia asks:
lululemon Athletica Inc. is holding an inital public offering and I want to buy a couple stocks. Can anyone just buy stocks or do you need to see a financial advisor to set up a portfolio? I am completely ignorant in the world of finance and markets. Any help would be great. Thank you!
lululemon Athletica Inc. is holding an inital public offering and I want to buy a couple stocks. Can anyone just buy stocks or do you need to see a financial advisor to set up a portfolio? I am completely ignorant in the world of finance and markets. Any help would be great. Thank you!
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I would suggest that since you are starting out, you should visit a brokerage where you can actually talk face-to-face with a broker. It’s possible to set up an online account that would charge less for trades, but you’re going to need some education about how investing works. Go with a firm whose name you recognize, and consider this initial investment that you are making a learning exercise. Whether you profit from these shares or not, you can profit from learning about investments by buying and tracking them…and talking to your broker.
Later, when you understand more, you can invest online with a discount broker.
You do need a broker, cheapest way nowdays are online brokers like Ameritrade, and you cannot buy stock in an IPO until it starts trading on the secondary market, i.e. an exchange, Nasdaq, NYSE, Amex or an international one, Like London or so. I’m just guessing you are in the US. If it’s a crappy company sometimes they trade OTC(over the counter) I don’t know much about those because they are more risky.
But it really depends on your savings and how much you are willing to risk. You should really invest in more traditional ways to save for your future, i.e. a well diversified portfolio.
You should NOT buy stock in an IPO if this is your first time. IPOs are very risky. Usually it is the people on the inside of the company that really make money on an IPO.
You should do some reading on Yahoo Finance. There is some good information there to get you started.
If you don’t know about investments, then buy some Treasury bonds/bills.
Read a bit about corporate bonds, do some reasearch, then get into corporates.
Read about market trends, and buy some index ETFs like DIA, SPY or QQQQ.
Then you can learn about individual stock picking.
IPOs are very risky even for the pros, so don’t jump in the water, if you can’t swim. You’ll drown.