1. You have $100,000.00 (one hundred thousand dollars) to invest in stocks.
2. You must invest in traditional corporate stock. Derivative securities, i-shares, ETF's, commodities, options, mutual funds, etc. are not viable choices.
3. You must select a minimum of FIVE companies to invest in. Each company's stock must be traded on the NYSE, NASDAQ, or AMEX exchanges. There is a maximum number of ten investments.
4. You must perform all work in selecting your investments. You may not act on "tips" or advice from other people.
5. Once you determine who you will invest in, you will need to know the company's "ticker symbol." In the future, you will look up all company information by its "ticker symbol." It is very easy to find ticker symbols by going to Finance,Yahoo.com,Bloomberg.com, or moneycentral.msn.com. Many financial websites feature "ticker symbol lookup" services.
6. You need to calculate how to divide up your $100,000 between your various investments. For example, suppose stock X has a price of $1000 per share and stock Y has a price of $500 per share. You could buy 50 shares of stock X for a total of $50,000 ($1000 * 50). This leaves you with $50,000. You would then buy 100 shares of stock Y for a total of $50000 ($500 * 100). You have now invested all of your $100,000.
7. It is unlikely that you will be able to invest exactly $100,000. Try to get as close as you can without going over $100,000. Any amount you don't invest will be held as cash. Keep track of this "cash" amount. You will need to enter it when you track your portfolio.Once you figure out how many shares of each stock you can buy, go to a financial website of your choice like those listed in ‘How Do I Pick a Stock" and create a tracking portfolio. You will most likely need to create a user name and password. You should record these items in an easily accessible location.
8. Once you have a user name and password enter your portfolio, you must enter (1) the ticker symbol of each stock, (2) the date you "purchased" the stock, (3) the price per share of each stock, (4) the total number of shares of each stock, and (5) any cash balance that remains from your $100,000 after you have purchased all the shares you like.