Advice on investing right after graduation at 22 years old?

Just graduated in May and have already set up my 401k Vanguard account with my work.They match 8% if you contribute 2% so I am already taking advantage of that but would like to start some other investments. I graduated with around $15,000 in student loans so that is my first priority to pay off but I would like to start investing in stocks. Good recommendations for websites to follow stocks? Saving for short term goals etc?Advice on investing right after graduation at 22 years old?
If you're a rookie in investing or stocks, go to





www.finance.yahoo.com.





Open up a portfolio without using real money. You can give yourself as much or as little money to try out the market. The stocks you want to focus on is consumer staples, consumer discretionary, and healthcare. These are DEFENSIVE stocks that will survive through good and bad times. Most of my positions are in these stocks. Some names include 3M, Procter %26amp; Gamble, Kimberly Clark, Exxon Mobil, Walmart, Costco. Everybody's got to eat and wipe their butts regardless of the state of economy. Many of these companies survived through the Great Depression.





That's the benefits. You can sleep at night knowing your money is doing well. There are NO guarantees that you won't lose money. It's just that these stocks are the best. They pay good dividends too.





Then once you're comfortable and test the waters of the market, you can finally put some real money in. Go to Scottrade.com. They're excellent for beginners.





If you're new to stocks, DON'T DAY TRADE. You'll a rookie in a world of professionals. I tried day-trading with Citigroup and AIG when they were a little bit over $1. I had some luck at first, making about $30 a day but I was way over my head. My luck didn't last long and I had to rethink my strategy.





Day trading involves A LOT of commissions to the broker. With all the commissions deducted from each trade, you'll be lucky if you only lose half your money.





I would just day trade using Yahoo! Finance. Open a stimulation account, give yourself $100 worth of fake money and play it in the stimulation format. You'll see what I mean by losing money every easily.





Good luck.Advice on investing right after graduation at 22 years old?
Congratulation, now it's time to pur your education to work for you.





Keep investing in the 401K especially since the company does contribute, You should invest as much as you can in this program since the company is also ';giving'; additional money to be put in your pocket.





Here are some websites that will contribute to your education in the financial world


http://moneycentral.msn.com/home.asp


http://www.investors.com/?tn=top


http://investorshub.advfn.com/default.as鈥?/a>


http://www.thestreet.com


http://www.brokerage101.com/


http://www.1source4stocks.com/


http://stockcharts.com/


http://www.grahaminvestor.com/


http://www.morningstar.com/


http://www.dividenddetective.com/





good luck, when you start investing, just make sure you know what you're doing, why you doing it and how to do it.
First of all, good for you to start early!! Vanguard should have several online courses you can take if I remember correctly.





Here are a few good idea's to start with and links below:





1. Understand differences between stocks, mutual funds, index funds, government bonds, ETF's and fees %26amp; taxes associated with.


2. Trading fundamentals


3. Technical trading


4. Trader psychology (great for loss prevention)


5. Basic money management %26amp; risk analysis





If you can, join a day trading group (online, in person). You learn faster from people who know what they are doing and have proven results. BUT, if you have to pay for anything be wary. To find stocks I recommend using a free stock screener (MSN Stockfinder Pro), you can filter and find stocks that are high performers.





Happy trading!!
My brother-in-law recently became interested in learning more about stocks and trading and happened to stumbled upon, TopDogTrading.com. They offer really great posts on their site abouts tips, tricks and topics on the stock market and trading. You may find this extremely helpful and resourceful. He actually ordered the first course on fundamentals on stocks so you may want to check them out as well.





http://www.topdogtrading.com/


http://www.topdogtrading.com/?page_id=14鈥?/a>





Also, try out Yahoo Finance, they are a very popular resource for everything about stocks, tradings, investing, etc.





I hope this helps you out!
I would definitely pay down that debt as soon as possible.





As far as investing, consider a Roth IRA.





http://individual.troweprice.com/public/鈥?/a>





It builds long term tax free earnings, qualified withdrawals can begin at age 59 1/2 pending you've owned it 5 taxable years, and contributions can be withdrawn at any time without penalty. And unlike a traditional IRA, you never have to take out a required distribution.





For the short term, consider bank deposits (money market, bank CD, savings account, etc.)
Get some books. Try the library, so you can save the money and spend it on the market.





Four Pillars of Investing - William J. Bernstein





Short term isnt allways the best.





Compound interest. Think long term.
Start a systematic investment plan.


move to mutual funds -diversified


gain experience and knowledge and move to direct equity


and if you are adventurous then try Options and futures ,even commodity markets.
morningstar.com is the best website for stocks and mutual funds.
You've got the right attitude as I always encouraged others to start investing once they are legally allowed to. For me I started late and am playing catch-up.





Even before investing or starting to read up on investment, you need to find out whether you are risk averse. Why? For this reason. Lets say you put in $1k into stocks and the price closes down lower and you are left with $900, how would you feel? If you find yourself worrying over the slightest drop and unable to sleep at night over it, then the stock market may not be a good place for you. You should look at other alternatives.





If you think that you can stomach risks, then you will need to find out how much risk you can take. This will need you to start looking at educating yourself in investing. Borrow investment books from the libraries, get to know the terminologies used, look at the strategies and techniques and a lot more. Initially, it may appear to be a lot of hard work, but it will help you reduce your losing trades as compared to a person who invests blindly without knowing the basics. You don't have to rush into the stock market because it is always there. Get the right investment education, and you will be off to a good start.