Penny Stocks for Dummies

 

Dummies is a very harsh word to use so how about we change the title from Penny Stocks For Dummies to The Newbie’s Guide To Penny Stocks.  Regardless of what we call it if you are new to stock investing in general or just new to investing in penny stocks there are a few precautions you need to take….make that a few precautions you MUST take, so let’s get started.

A very basic rule of all investing is to never, never, never invest any money that you cannot afford to lose.  Sounds a lot like gambling, doesn’t it? Well in a manner of speaking, penny stock investing is gambling.  After all, you are probably very interested in this type of investing because of a few get rich quick stories you may have heard. Have you also heard the opposite stories?  You know, the stories where somebody loses their shirt and possibly their rent money because of a hot stock tip they picked up at work.

The next rule you need to learn about with penny stocks for dummies is due diligence. You must get your hands dirty and learn about the company whose stock you are contemplating for purchase.  This can be as big or small a deal as you make it.  With traditional stock investing there are two main theories of study.  You can study the fundamentals of a company or the technical’s of that company or both.  There are volumes on both theories.  The problem is that with penny stocks, you rarely find any such data for examination.  Close scrutiny of what is going on at the penny stock firm becomes next to impossible.  In this case, you have to have a little common sense and whatever else you can find out on the internet with regard to the dealings of the aforementioned company.  You must seek out the answers to the most basic of all investing questions:

• What does the company manufacture?
• What service do they provide?
• Who are the principals and what experience do they have?
• How many shares trade on any given day?
• How old is the company?
• Who is their competition?
• Why is this company poised for growth?
• Does common sense tell you that this product or service is here to stay or in a growing field that people will continue to seek out?

Next, on the table of contents for penny stocks,  Dummies is allocation. How much should you invest in this company now that your homework has passed your filter process and it is o.k. to invest in this firm.  The answer is pretty straight forward.  A prudent person would not invest more than ten percent in any single area of their portfolio. So for instance, if your entire portfolio was made up of  50% stocks, 25% bonds, 10% C.D.’s, and 15% cash, the ten percent we are referring to comes out of the 50% allocated to stocks.  Ten percent of 50% is 5%, so your answer is 5% of your total portfolio could be allocated to penny stocks.  Now, mind you that does not mean 5% on any one penny stock but 5% on ALL your penny stock activity.  To say it differently, it might come out to 1% on five different penny stocks for a total of 5%. Is that clear?

The final chapter on Penny Stocks For Dummies deals with information.  You need to have a constant source of information helping you wade through the nonsense you might come across when investing in penny stocks.  This can be as simple as a penny stock newsletter or subscription.  These types of services derive their income from subscription fees and advertisements.  As such, they can be unbiased with their content which is exactly what you need.  The last thing you want to do is invest your hard earned money on a hot tip from the pizza delivery guy!