# Starting out investing



## PeteC (Jul 27, 2019)

I may be in the wrong place for this, but I want to buy Tesla stock. I've never purchased stock in my life. Any suggestions?


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## FRC (Aug 4, 2018)

PeteC said:


> I may be in the wrong place for this, but I want to buy Tesla stock. I've never purchased stock in my life. Any suggestions?


robinhood.com


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## Dr. J (Sep 1, 2017)

PeteC said:


> I may be in the wrong place for this, but I want to buy Tesla stock. I've never purchased stock in my life. Any suggestions?


You can open a brokerage account at any of the big firms: Fidelity, TDAmeritrade, Vanguard, etc. Trading costs are cheap. I advise putting your brain rather than your heart in charge: build a diversified portfolio of ETFs or mutual funds (including some bonds) and make TSLA a (small) part of a balanced breakfast.


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## AutopilotFan (Oct 6, 2018)

PeteC said:


> I may be in the wrong place for this, but I want to buy Tesla stock. I've never purchased stock in my life. Any suggestions?


If you have an account at an investment company like Fidelity, Vanguard, etc, you may have funds that can be used to buy stocks. I ended up with an taxable investment account funded with some stock options that paid out, and used that to buy Tesla stock online.

Read up on it before buying any stock so you know what the basic terms mean. Compare the different fees that different companies/brokers want to charge you. These links might get you started:

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/basics/06/invest1000.asp 
https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/investing/how-to-invest-in-stocks/ 
https://www.dummies.com/personal-finance/investing/stock-investing-for-dummies-cheat-sheet/


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## PeteC (Jul 27, 2019)

Thanks! Of course, an Investment company would be the place. In my ignorance, I thought stock was purchased directly from a company. Thanks for the links to get me started.


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## $ Trillion Musk (Nov 5, 2016)

Look into ARKK as well.


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## Dr. J (Sep 1, 2017)

PeteC said:


> Thanks! Of course, an Investment company would be the place. In my ignorance, I thought stock was purchased directly from a company. Thanks for the links to get me started.


If you start wondering about the numerous options for trades, this will explain them: https://www.sec.gov/investor/alerts/trading101basics.pdf . I nearly always use *limit orders* (buy _n_ shares at or below _x_ price, or sell _n_ shares at or above _y_ price) rather than *market orders*, which execute at whatever price is available at that instant. A limit order may not execute (because the price may never get to my limit), but I know I won't be screwed by the broker or end up having bought or sold at an unfavorable price. In a stock like TSLA which has high trading volume, this is less of a concern, compared to thinly traded stocks. But I still use limit orders to nail down the price.

If you use a limit order and think it may not execute any time soon, you can make it GTC--good till canceled, which in reality is about 2 or 3 months until it's canceled. An alternative is to make it good until the close of trading the day you place the order (or any date in between).


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## John Tomson (Sep 7, 2019)

Good luck finding out more about Tesla Stock. You never purchased stocks, but want to try. Sure. The stock price has grown significantly since Tesla's IPO. The company had strong results in October and I am optimistic about November.

https://www.igorbnews.com/2019/11/tesla-stock-interesting-investment.html


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## CLK350 (Aug 18, 2021)

Dr. J said:


> You can open a brokerage account at any of the big firms: Fidelity, TDAmeritrade, Vanguard, etc. Trading costs are cheap. I advise putting your brain rather than your heart in charge: build a diversified portfolio of ETFs or mutual funds (including some bonds) and make TSLA a (small) part of a balanced breakfast.


I would advocate the exact opposite, make TSLA the core element of your investments, mine is 120% (taking on margin). Just make sure you NEVER sell unless at a decent high. Do NOT trade TSLA unless you really know what you are doing; many folks who just held made fortunes while those who traded had mixed results.
If you need some flexibility and anticipate needing to sell up to say 20% for some unexpected reason, then only keep 80% in TSLA and put the rest in something less volatile.

As far as brokerages, I would say the big ones (Schwab, eTrade, Vanguard, Fidelity) are fine, but if you want lower trading and margin costs, Interactive Brokers is better, although they do not provide the same level of support as the Schwab etc. Robinhood is fine too AFAIK but note that all other brokers also provide smartphone interfaces.

_The following is not financial advice, follow at your own risk, do your own research._

As this note may be read at different times, I would add that since 2019 TSLA the stock has skyrocketed, so many may consider that "it's too late to invest now". Well, I did think that way more than a few times, and every time was proven wrong. Even today (Jan 4 2022) at a relatively high point ($1050 after the 5:1 split aka $5,250 since inception) TSLA is STILL poised to surprise (well only those who aren't following closely) big time.

This is because most analysts do not want to consider technical details, which would be hailed and applauded if it were not Tesla, for some reason: the new 4680 battery format will come into production by mid to end of this year - this is a big deal because it reduces the costs of batteries for the car, as well as the cost of manufacturing the Y (to start with) because these 4680 become part of an integrated structural pack (meaning less parts, less robots, faster production times in smaller footprint)
Also, Texas and Berlin Giga factories will come online this year, reaching full capacity next year - Shanghai's GF is also growing - and as usual the press, financial or auto analysts do not want to see / acknowledge these super positive factors.

So, even now is a great time to get in - in fact as I write this, the FUD is pushing down TSLA as much as they can - small investors may be fooled and sell, while institutional and hedge funds are loading up the truck knowing full well that the 4Q earnings will be a huge beat (given that 4Q deliveries were). If by some miracle the FUD can prevent TSLA from bounding up again, it's only a matter of time, just like in the past.

After this there are other income streams coming up: Tesla insurance now in 3 states is expanding slowly into all the US - this is a huge money making operation, and Tesla has an advantage others don't: they can taylor rates according to the driving performance *that they monitor anyway as part of their FSD*.

Then once FSD is fully solved, the same AI tech can be used for general vision recognition purposes- it can be sold as a service just like Amazon AWS. ..

Then there is the batteries and utility grid ...

As Elon said, Tesla is more like an agglomeration of a dozen start ups - they are not cash constrained, they are talent constrained: in fact the top choice of graduating engineers is either Tesla or SpaceX.


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