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Originally Posted by protour73
and Greg you should be proud, it's got to be a real kick seeing people get inspired!!
NOW having said that, so I open up an account and dump a chunk of my "recent windfall" into the Brokerage account.........that's where I fall off the "edge of the flat earth" .. I mean UNCHARTED territory!! I don't have a freaking clue how to actually pull the trigger on the actual first stock purchase. I assume the easiest thing to do is to take a check with me to open an account at my local Schwab branch and let a Schwab rep guide me through it.
and then there are taxes - and I remember reading this Weld-ism
I don't plan on selling any shares in year, but how do you handle dividends? I'd want to reinvest the dividends into more shares, but obviously in the beginning you'd have to bank those dividends (in the Schwab Checking account earning some interest) along with payroll deposits until there is enough $$ for more shares. Surely you're taxed on the dividends as gains right?
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Dividends are taxed at a flat 20%.... and you should have them REINVESTED in the stock you've bought and just pay the small tax on them out of pocket.
Now -- that's in an ordinary taxable account ---- if you're opening a ROTH or an IRA -- then those are treated differently and a Schwab rep can help you with that.
Before you actually BUY anything - build your portfolio on paper... so first things first -- get a line up of names you wish to own... make sure you have some diversity -- make sure the percentages dollar wise work out... and then depending on how much you have to invest... either take the plunge -- or scale in.
See the problem is with someone telling you what to do -- is we don't know your situation -- how much you make - how old are you - is this retirement or just investing etc. Are you investing 1,000 -- 10,000 or 100,000 and there's just so many variables. That's why reading the thread --- and I know it's long and repeats itself -- will help to guide you so you can think thru these things on your own.
You're not going to lose out if you just put the money into an account --- then take a month or two months to learn and become comfortable --- then start. We're dealing in years here -- not weeks or months.