hiphen76,
If you contribute less than $2,500 into your Zecco account you will pay $4.50 per trade. That is you will pay $4.50 when you make a purchase and $4.50 when you make a sale. If you purchase 10 shares of XYZ Company at $10/share, for example, the total cost of the purchase would be $100 plus a $4.50 commission, or $104.5. When you sell the posistion you will incur an additional $4.50 charge. Thus, the total cost of moving in and out of any position will always be $9.00. That is you will pay $9.00 in total to buy and sell a stock irrespective of the block size or dollar amount of the transaction. Also, notice that these transactions costs are quite large for someone investing only $250-$500. For example, with a $250 investment and the purchase of only one stock your portfolio would need to increase 3.6% simply to cover commission costs. Moreover, any additional purchase would be financially destructive. A purchase of five (5) stocks with equal portfolio weights, for example, would result in a total cost of $45 to buy and sell. That means your portfolio would have to increase by 18% just to break-even. Thus, investing such small sums makes diversification economically impractical. Not to mention the additional costs you incur due to bid-ask spreads and capital gains taxes.
Also, there are a variety of tools and resources you can use to researh a Company. Below I list some my favorite resources. I also mention some important questions that you should think about when investing in common stocks. My recomendations are alll fundamentally driven since I don't believe in technical analysis.
SEC's EDGAR Page
The EDGAR Database is probably the single most important investment resource for an investor. Here you can retrieve regulatory filings for essentially all publicly-traded companies. I strongly encourage you to read the 10-K for any company you invest in. Form 10-K will provide you with detailed information about the company's operations, risks, and profitability. It will also include important information regarding the firms debt, operating leases, pension obligations, employee stock option plans, etc. . Also using the EDGAR database you can serach by SIC Code to find competitors of your Company. Reading competitors 10-ks
Investor Presentations
Investor presentations are often very useful for conducting Company research. Investor presentations can typically be obtained from a Compnay's website. I usually use investor presentations to obtain additional information related to a companys operations, current risks, strategy, short-term projects, etc..
Earnings Transcript
Quartely earnings transcrips are also extremely useful, especially for gaining perspective on analysts and managements short-term outlook for a Company. Earnings transcripts can be obtained from www.seekingalpha.com.
News Articles
News articles are also another useful tool. I typically use news articles to gain more information on industry structure. I also find local papers to provide important information about the Companys projects.
The above are just some of many resources your should consider. Here are some questions you should always think about when investing.
How does the business make money? Is the business financially sond? What is the capital structure of the business? Does the business generate significant internal cash flow? Is the business cyclical? What are the risk of the businsses? What is the value of the business? How much money does the company need to reinvest in order to pursue its operating strategy and remain competitve? What stage in the company life-cycle is the business in? What is the structure of the industry? Who are the largest competitors? How does the company compete? What are the Company's competive stregnths? What are the Company's weaknesses? What are the common threats plaguing the industry? What opportunities are available to the Company? What are similar business being valued at? etc.. etc..
Angell