(02-08-2018, 05:40 PM)Scarecrow Wrote:

(02-08-2018, 03:52 PM)The Real Marty Wrote: I know I'm being argumentative, but there's nothing to learn.  If you think you can do better by learning, you are setting yourself up for failure.  Just buy an unmanaged S&P500 index fund and forget about it.   Trying to use your brain in the stock market will only damage your results.

I'm new into the investing game and I appreciate the advice. I literally just began purchisng mutual funds at the advice of someone else. I have intentions on buying index funds and had an eye on a few ETFs.  I have more free income now and intend on investing versus throwing it into a savings account to yield little interest.

I've only recently really begun to understand the differences in mutual funds, etfs, index funds etc.

I regret not starting earlier too but now is better than never.

How do you purchase your index funds?

I'm not attempting to overthink anything and I really do appreciate advice and discussing it.

The first step is to select a broker and open up one or more accounts (depending on what you want to do).  I personally use Fidelity, but there are other options.  I have both a Roth IRA and a Traditional IRA as well as a cash account with them.

My advice is to stick with ETF's rather than mutual funds.  ETF's are similar to mutual funds, but they trade like a stock, and depending on the ETF carry far fewer costs.  For the most part, The advice that TRM gave you about getting an index fund could be done via ETF.  As an example SPY is an ETF that follows the S&P 500 index.  An option that I use is buying IVV through Fidelity instead which is the same thing, but trades commission free.

There are also many sector based and "specialty" ETF's that you could trade in.  As an example, I bought several shares of ITA which specializes in aerospace and defense back in November of 2016 (right after the election).  So far my return to-date on those shares is up 36.98% as of today.  I've added more throughout last year with my most recent purchase November 15, 2017 and those shares are currently up 6.25% as of today.  That's not a bad 90 day return.

If you are investing for retirement, I suggest opening up both a Traditional and a Roth IRA.  Both have significant tax advantages.  On the other hand, if you are investing for savings, keep in mind that any gains that you make will be subject to capital gains taxes when you sell your investment.

One last piece of advice that I would give you is to invest for the long term.  Sure some people are successful day trading, but more often than not people that trade frequently end up either losing money or make horrible gains.

I am by no means a financial adviser, I'm just sharing my strategy that has worked for me.

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