I want to buy TSLA and have never bought stock before

[Mr X]

I am a total stock noob. Never invested before. I've been watching videos and reading about investing so I have a somewhat basis of understanding but it's not 100% by any means.


With the upcoming "stock split" that means the price per share will drop so more people can buy at a lower price per share right?


All I want to do is simply buy shares and then hold on to them for years to come as I believe in Tesla (and want to generate profit of course) and the fact that TSLA has so so much more to come.


I would like to invest either $10,000 or up to $15,000. Say I buy now at $1,887 per share and put $10,000 in that's only about 4 shares worth. Wouldn't it be better to wait for the price per share to drop so I can buy more shares at a lower price or no?


Also, what would be the best place to use to put my money into TSLA? E-Trade, Robinhood, somewhere else?


Again, I am very much a noob but I want to do this. All the basic help is appreciated. Thanks!

 

[gigawatt1010]

I'm not a seasoned investor as well, just started last year. I took what's left of my bitcoin money and put it in TSLA when it was around $200 per share. I used Robinhood and I don't have any specific complaints. I thought the app is well designed and easy to manage your portfolio. I too am long on TSLA.

From what I know so far, the split doesn't have any immediate impact as it's a straight up 5 is to 1 split. Actually a few investing friends told me that typically after a stock split, it will go down in the first few days so wait for that to buy more if you wish. I would definitely buy more post split although one can buy fractional shares from most trading platforms.

Good luck!

 

[augkuo]

It doesn't matter where you open your account, the more expensive places have more services, analyst reports, IPO access, etc. Robinhood/Etrade/TDameritrade, etc. are fine to start out with.

If your $10-15K is your life savings, it would be extremely risky to just put it into one stock, even if you thought it could appreciate a lot.
If that $10K is 5-10% of your cash then sure why not buy some Tesla. Whether you buy 5 shares at $1887 or 25 shares at $377.40 ($1887/5) your percentage ownership of Tesla remains the same. You might just be able to buy 26 shares of Tesla post split rather than 5 shares of Tesla pre split and end up with 25 after the split. But then you can always just take the change from the 5 share purchase pre split and buy one more share post split so it doesn't really matter. What does matter is that the price might go up or down so if $10K is dedicated to your Tesla position, you can space out your purchases to average out your purchase cost - so buy one share now and ~5 post-split shares every 2 months afterwards.

 

[glide]

I am a total stock noob. Never invested before. I've been watching videos and reading about investing so I have a somewhat basis of understanding but it's not 100% by any means.


With the upcoming "stock split" that means the price per share will drop so more people can buy at a lower price per share right?


All I want to do is simply buy shares and then hold on to them for years to come as I believe in Tesla (and want to generate profit of course) and the fact that TSLA has so so much more to come.


I would like to invest either $10,000 or up to $15,000. Say I buy now at $1,887 per share and put $10,000 in that's only about 4 shares worth. Wouldn't it be better to wait for the price per share to drop so I can buy more shares at a lower price or no?


Also, what would be the best place to use to put my money into TSLA? E-Trade, Robinhood, somewhere else?


Again, I am very much a noob but I want to do this. All the basic help is appreciated. Thanks!

I think if this is your approach to investing, you should seek the advice of a professional.

 

[daniel]

Personally, I think TSLA is way overpriced. I would not dream of buying more right now. (I bought at around $35 and it's the only time I've bought a stock that has gone up more than the market.) Buying any stock is a gamble, in part because the stock price is only partly based on the company's value and prospects: It's based on the market's expectations, and on people creating a bubble by bidding up the price because they see others doing the same thing.

If you've got some money to gamble, and you really think the price is going to go up, sure, go ahead. The stock split will have no effect other than psychological, so buy now if you think it will go up after the split, or later if you think it will go down. The people who make money on the market are the ones who find under-valued companies to invest in. I think Tesla is over-valued, and that we're in a bubble, but if I knew how high that bubble was going to go I'd already have my limit order in to sell at the top.

I like low-cost conservative index funds for investing. You'll never get rich but you'll have small steady growth (if you're young) or a small reliable income (if you're old). I like Vanguard, which is the original creator of index funds, but there are other fund companies that have index funds as well.

Caveat: I thought TSLA was way overpriced at $1,600 and sold some then, and now that it's $2,050 I'm kicking myself. But I still think it was over-priced even then. I just wasn't counting on what the market would do because my crystal ball is on the fritz.

 

[ZOE5IVE]

Two things you should research. Look up "Dollar Cost Averaging". If you have $10k don't put it in all at once but at the same time dont prevent yourself from buying because you are waiting for a price drop. This stock is just unpredictable.

Second thing is if it's between Robinhood and Etrade I would go with Etrade. As a matter of fact I would only use Robinhood for play money. Etrade has been around for 38 years robinhood has been around for 7 years. Robinhood is too new and they have never experienced a recession but Etrade on the other hand has survived every recession since it's inception. Robinhood has failed massively this year. Can you imagine the day Tesla(or whatever) drops and you can't buy anything because Robinhood is down? Well thats what happened this year for about ~two entire days(May 18th).

 

[ammulder]

Also, what would be the best place to use to put my money into TSLA? E-Trade, Robinhood, somewhere else?

No matter where you plan to open your account, you should probably do it right away. It's possible there will be a delay of a few days opening the account or transferring money in the first time, and if you wait to open the account then with any delay you might not even have the option to buy before the split. Whereas if you have the account open and funds available, then you can decide when to buy.

(I use ETrade and have long forgotten the process to open my account originally, but when I recently opened custodial accounts for my kids, there was a delay for the first transfer in to process. I've been fine with ETrade as a broker, except they don't allow you to buy fractional shares. I notice Robinhood allows fractional shares but not custodial accounts, FWIW.)

 

[phantasms]

Investing in TSLA is simple really.
Take every penny that you won’t need for 5 or 10 years and use it to buy TSLA. Walk away. Enjoy life....it’ll be even more entertaining in 5 or 10 years.

 

[RobbyJ]

Hi,

Some small advice I can give you...
Like most will say here, make sure you are comfortable with the amount of money you invest, ESPECIALLY in Tesla. IMO don't invest money you depend on.

Tesla might look great if you look at the last year, with profitable quarters and blazing past corona troubles etc.
BUT Tesla is not any other ordinary stock OR company for that matter. There will be delays, things that will not work out, lawsuits agzinst Tesla and/or Elon... It's VERY volatile, heavily manipulated,... I could go on a while...
Make sure you have the stomach to deal with the daily volatility, or I guarantee you it will keep you up at night. As an example: about a month or so ago the stock dropped in 2 hours with an amount that was equal to about 100% profit for me. But hey, it happens and you have to be able to deal with it.

Good luck, and welcome to TMC. Read the investing main thread if you like, it will keep you up to date on info and news.