Newbie to stocks Please help...?

Hello im 15 years old i currently work for mcdonalds and they offer a direct stock investment plan and i looked at the stock the name of the stock is MCD um im very new at this and i think i want to but dont know how about of going at this if anyone has any ideas please help thank you!!

Since you are new to investing, I would recommend going to the http://finance.yahoo.com/education webpage. There you can learn about the basics of investing. They also have a page on direct stock investments: http://finance.yahoo.com/education/drip_...

McDonalds is a solid company and if they have a direct stock investment plan, you should invest into it. They should give you a document talking about how the direct stock investment program works. You might even get a discount to the price of the stock due to you being an employee there.

Go ahead, and do it. Mcdonald's is a good corporation. Not an undervalued stock. But, has good intrinsic value to it.

I believe your trying to ask. How to invest into mcdonalds through the company? For an employee discount. You will need, to talk to your manager about this.

Its a good idea.

B.G.
The company will set up an account for you in your name. All you have to do is decide how much $ you want to put in on a weekly, biweekly or monthly.

There's nothing wrong with this but it is often advisable to not place more than 5-10% of your entire investment portfolio in any particular Company. So if you invest $100 a month in mutual funds, it is advisable not to place more than $5-10 in MacDonalds or GE or TRW or any individual Company. MacDonalds is one of those Companies that will grow very very slowly, not much of a big gainer growth stock. You are young & even though you need a diversified portfolio think about the following.

The safest core investment is to first look at starting with an indexed mutual fund such as the S&P500 index & a Small Cap Index Fund & a Mid Cap Fund & an International or Global Index Fund & a Real Estate Index Fund or, a Life Strategy Fund. Indexing is the lowest cost management fees there are for a non-governmental workers.

Then go to Morningstar & read about investing. Or call Vanguard & ask about it. It is great to hear someone your age looking so far into the future. Very encouraging. Save 10-15% of every dollar you earn & I promise you with competent investment advice such as Ullie G Niemann link to follow, you'll do very well.

Stock is simply part ownership in a company. As more people want to buy a stock, the price and value goes up. As more people want to sell their shares, the price and value goes down. Direct purchase is just that, purchasing shares directly from the company, in your case McDonald's. If you choose to purchase, start out with only purchasing a few shares since you are new to this. At your age, learn all you can about investing. Talk to your parents. Seek out help from a qualified financial planner. I wish I had my knowledge of investing when I was your age. But I'm still in my twenties, so I'm not old. Use a strategy called dollar cost averaging. Invest the same amount every month into the stock if you choose to. As the price goes up, you're buying fewer shares. As the price goes down, you're buying more shares. You will save more money on your purchases with this strategy. Good luck.