Investing (Stocks)

[J @ M @ L]

Who's into it and how do you guys go about evaluating potential investments?

Drop any suggested readings... advice/strategy... websites for research/picks... etc.

[acgrundy]

I do it...read the message boards on yahoo finance.  I wouldn't recommend it right now...the us economy is in a very bad state and the stock market has been going crazy.

[Narrator]

There's really not much advice I can give except to do a lot of your own research and NOT just take other people's word on what's going to be good in the future.  Having an advisor is fine when you can afford it, but their knowledge is usually limited to large markets and large companies, as opposed to smaller companies that might be completely unrivaled in niche markets.  Pick out companies like those, ones that manufacture products or offer services you know a lot about but which some other average cat wouldn't know very well.  Go with your intuition, think about how the company's done in the past and how well they're likely to do in the future.  Then act.

Seven years ago I bought 200 shares in Nvidia for about $14 each, and now their shares are at $43.99!  I thought it was good at the time because they'd just gained control of their market and had eventually bought out 3Dfx, their biggest competitor (since then, ATI poses new challenges for them).  I actually wish I'd purchased even more shares, but I really couldn't afford to spend a lot then cause I was just out of college.  Still, I think it was a decent investment on my part.