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madwilliamflint · 11-20-2009, 12:13 PM

Be careful. Remember that "financial advisors" are frequently just salesmen, as are brokers who make commissions on trade activity regardless of whether or not YOU do well. That goes for mutual fund peddlers as well.

If you decide to trade yourself I highly recommend thinkorswim.com (they were just bought by TD Ameritrade but have the best software in the business.) Any reasonable consumer level electronic trading firm will let you sign up for a "paper trading" account so you can get used to their software and your trading strategy using fake cash. Sure, it's not the same as having real skin in the game, but it's as good a proxy as you can get.

Not that I'm recommending trading necessarily.

"Buy and hold" in the equities world is a flat out losing proposition. I'd be inclined to look at fixed income securities (debt instruments and such) with some actual stability to them.

There's a lot of snake oil out there.

11-20-2009, 12:13 PM	#14
madwilliamflint Cigar n00b Join Date: Sep 2009 First Name: Michael Location: Wallkill, NY Posts: 390 Trading: (0)	Re: Looking for some financial advice... Be careful. Remember that "financial advisors" are frequently just salesmen, as are brokers who make commissions on trade activity regardless of whether or not YOU do well. That goes for mutual fund peddlers as well. If you decide to trade yourself I highly recommend thinkorswim.com (they were just bought by TD Ameritrade but have the best software in the business.) Any reasonable consumer level electronic trading firm will let you sign up for a "paper trading" account so you can get used to their software and your trading strategy using fake cash. Sure, it's not the same as having real skin in the game, but it's as good a proxy as you can get. Not that I'm recommending trading necessarily. "Buy and hold" in the equities world is a flat out losing proposition. I'd be inclined to look at fixed income securities (debt instruments and such) with some actual stability to them. There's a lot of snake oil out there.