How do YOU INVEST?

Do you invest in mutual funds? and why?

What are the benifits of your method in regards to insuring you make a profit?

I'm leaning more towards mutual funds but I'm looking for people who actually invest and have personal information

Do you invest in mutual funds? and why? People new to investing usually start out buying mutual funds, the investments made by the funds are usually done by professionals. I was fortunate, I started investing when I was in grade school by trading stocks. Currently I do have some mutual funds but after 40+ years in the industry I'm retired trading options and equities.

What are the benifits of your method in regards to insuring you make a profit? - If I were to buy mutual funds you can search on MSN Money or Morningstar and buy funds that have a 4 or 5 star rating. There's no guarantees in any investment but if you go after quality you should do well

Regardless of what any one tells you, you buy investment that make you feel comfortable. If you can't sleep at night or are un-sure about make a committment, don't do it.

You should start your life in the investment world by educating yourself. The first investment you should make is in yourself and the best investment you can make is in education.

Start your investing/trading education by learning why you should invest, and the importance of being able to make your own decisions. See how the pros have done it. Start by reading, What Works on Wall Street by James O'Shaunessey, Beating the Street and One Up on Wall Street both by Peter Lynch, The Warren Buffett Way by Robert Hagstrom, Trading For A Living by Alexander Elder 鈥?鈥淗ow to Make Money in Stocks鈥?by William O鈥橬eil and The Disciplined Trader by Mark Douglas.

Get into the habit of making daily visits to some websites like MSN Money and Yahoo Finance. While at MSN read the Commentaries by Jim Jubak, Jon Markman, Harry Domash, and Liz Pullman Weston. Following the strategy lab analysts to get a feel for what the pro鈥檚 are doing and why. This site has some basic information for beginners. If any site offers free information, take it.

Good luck on your journey

Yes I do invest in mutual funds, primarily because it is the best diversifier for me, I have a relatively small portfolio. I work in the industry so I have a better understanding of the way the market moves, and what areas are best to invest in. In the past few years I've focused on Emerging Markets, Gold, and International names. Over the past few months, I shifted more to Large Cap Growth and developed international markets. I look at 3 & 5 year lipper rankings (performance consistency), batting average, alpha, and portfolio concentrations. I also pay close attention to the fund manager's experience, especially if its a new fund. I will invest in new funds with no track record if I know the fund manager well. I do pay attention to morningstar ratings, but because I really understand the methedology behind them, I don't rely on them as much as others. In general my knowledge and research has helped me maintain double digit average annual returns for the past 5 years.

I also maintain a small portfolio of small individual stocks that I have done the work on and really believe in. The nature of my current career is evaluating stocks, and I need to demonstrate that I am willing to "put my money where my mouth is" The names in that portfolio include Unilever, Bebe, Apple, and Goldman Sachs, but keep in mind I did a lot of work on those stocks, so I know them inside out, and they are long term positions, so I am willing to deal with the short term volatility.

Warren Buffett, the world most successful investor, says to "invest in what you know." Its impossible for me (and any non professional fund manager) to know each and every sector of the economy well enough to keep up with events that can affect individual investments. So since I don't know how the invention of a new widget from Advance Micro Devices will affect the price of Cisco Systems, I have a "core holding" of a few mutual funds, including one that has a large group of technology companies, one for foreign companies, and one for small cap companies. The sector I have decided to specialize is electric and natural gas so for that part of the market, I buy individual stocks.

I inherited $40,000 this past monday, and the only thing I felt comfortable investing in, was my DRIP Plan.

They are seldom recommended by brokers due to the low rate of commissions received. However, these
reinvestment plans can be very powerful long-term investments. Studies have shown that DRIP's are one of
the best strategies on Wall Street.

They are inexpensive and easy to start. New investors to the stock market should definitely consider a DRIP Plan.

Companies like Toyota, Royal Canadian Bank, Sony, Bank of America, General Electric and many other Blue Chip
Stocks can be purchased through your DRIP Plan, with as little as 1 share in most cases.

These long-term plans are great for beginners as well as veterans. Check them out.

Best of Luck