Bought first stock ever today.

[JMMARICH]

So the quick on me is I am a 30 year old lumber broker, married with one little one, and a wife who is an engineer. Financially, we have about 25% equity in our house, CC's paid in full each month, money in savings, and nice portfolio on her end courtesy of her company's stock options and the company that handles her stuff.

I had about 4500 bucks and wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it. I thought about just throwing it in savings, but figured I wanted to do something interesting with it. I am a huge technology fan and read a good bit of stuff everynight. I decided I wanted to buy some Apple stock.

Signed up for Scottrade, put my money in, and purchased 27 shares today at 156.22. Would have gotten them cheaper, but Scottrade takes a little bit to validate my checking account.

So of course, I am watching stocks all day and at close, I am up about 200 bucks. And of course, that gets my mind going about returns, risk, and holy hell did I open a can of worms.

Bottom line is I am hooked! Thanks for all the information on the forums. I hope I can make good use of it down the road.

Josh

[aiki14]

Josh, welcome to the forum, and the investing world. Good luck on your AAPL as well (I am a holder as well). I would advise you to not look every day. What, you say? That's right, if you're not gonna trade it, your ulcer will greatly benefit by checking in on it like it was an uncle living out of town.

[ZaNoob]

Yeah, careful watching too closely. Some of us watch these things like hawks. When AAPL sneezed we got colds, when AAPL tripped we tried to catch it, when AAPL faked up or down or sideways we groaned, when AAPL roared and ran with the bulls we cheered it all the way to the finish line. It's the ultimate spectator sport and AAPL doesn't complain about being underpaid, overworked, and unappreciated.

[JMMARICH]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. Being a Lumber Broker, it's shocking to me I never bought stock before now. It's absolutely fascinating and I can't seem to read enough. I bought apple because I just don't see them going anywher but up. Short of more Steve health drama, they have so much cash, R&D spending is up, and a nice tech website I frequent which called the iPhone release before it was announced shows indications it is gearing up for some big August announcements. I also thnk when the numbers for the money made off the application store hits (impulse buys are going to be intense) it's going to jump like crazy. These are of course my unprofessional opinions.

Josh