Ted Allrich is the founder of The Online Investor and author of the just released book: Comfort Zone Investing: Build Wealth And Sleep Well At Night. In this weekly column, he'll offer advice to investors who are just getting started.

Most investors buy stocks by simply putting in a market order and hoping for the best. That means they'll pay whatever the offer (or ask) price is for the stock. There are a couple of things wrong with this approach. There's a much better way to buy stocks that saves money and makes more money when a stock heads higher.

Here's the problem with buying at the market: you're paying a price set by someone else, and you may not buy all your stock at the same price. Furthermore, if you're looking to buy 1000 shares and buy it all at once, you're betting a stock is at its low, that it will go up from your entry point. Most likely, that's not the case.

Let's start with the price of the stock. If you've done your homework, you should determine what you're willing to pay for a stock. Whether that's from fundamental or technical analysis or both, you determine what's a fair price. Once you know that, and are comfortable with your price, put that price in as a bid. Most likely, it's not where the stock is trading when you decide to enter your order. So put in your order below the market and wait for the stock to come to you.

Continue reading Comfort Zone Investing: A better strategy for buying stocks

Comfort Zone Investing: A better strategy for buying stocks originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 02 Feb 2008 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Here's a good rule of thumb for people who care about their finances: Whenever Ben Stein talks or writes, listen. His recent interview with Fortune provides some interesting thoughts in response to reader questions. He gives a great, bare-bones, low-expense, low-maintenance portfolio that would probably do just fine for almost any investors:

What I generally recommend for the noncash portion of your portfolio - and this has been unbelievably successful - is a mix of various index funds and exchange-traded funds [ETFs], with roughly 25 percent in an S&P 500 index fund from Vanguard or Fidelity; 25 percent in a Vanguard or Fidelity total stock market fund; 25 percent in EFA, which is an ETF for developed overseas markets; 15 percent in EEM, an emerging-markets ETF; 5 percent in ICF, the ETF for real estate investment trusts; and 5 percent in XLE, which would be your energy fund.

He also said that he's not a fan of bonds, and says that if you can a return of 5% or more on your cash through a savings accounts (such as EmigrantDirect), that's the best choice.

He also had some harsh words for management-led leveraged buyouts: "Management buyouts. They're just another form of looting. There are some buyouts that are not a form of looting, but I think in general they're a form of looting the stockholder. They have to pay the stockholder less than the corporation is worth, or else the deal won't work."

Stein's ability to distill complex financial issues into everyday language and common-sense makes him one of my favorite financial commentators on the planet.

Ben Stein outlines his perfect portfolio and gives more sage advice originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 19 Jun 2007 18:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.