I signed up for the Robinhood app for the free stock they give you and decided to get started. I was given stock in tech, pharmaceuticals and oil / gas. Is there a certain sector that is perfect for beginners that isn't too volatile or a bit more secure than the other? Thanks for the advice!
The best thing to do is invest in what you know! What do you know? Easy, what cell phone do you use? Is it an iphone? Check out AAPL. What car do you drive? Do you see a lot of Teslas in your area? Look around, see what kids are wearing, which shoes? which brands, work outwards from there as a starting point to begin your research into what stocks or sectors might hold you best interests!
Whatever sector you have faith in and you think is going to do well. Trust what you buy into and invest
The problem with that advice is that, for new investors, having faith is a not sound investment strategy. Finding a nice sector you are interested in is a good start, but you need to back it up with some numbers. You can use a site like https://www.tiingo.com/welcome to get you going, it may look complicated at first, but dig in and you will find it very useful. Our very own @Rishi_at_Tiingo made these tools!
Like @StockJock-e said, buying something that you know should be a good start. Consumer Staples names such as Pepsico (PEP) Colgate-Palmolive (CL), and Kraft Heniz (KHC) tend to be less volatile, people have to brush their teeth or eat some cheese even the economy isn't so hot. Utilities such as your local power provider tend to be less volatile too. Consumer staples and Utilities could underperform though if the economy is really hot and interest rates are rising. Most well known big cap names shouldn't be too volatile, small caps and the banks probably are something too avoid if you don't like something too volatile. Good luck!
I think, there's no specific sector to start with. Investing in stocks is a rise or fall. You should have a broader view of the opportunities in the markets.
(Example) Investing in sectors could be a good strategy but it is not hands off. You need to have a benchmark like ACWI or SPY and then do a watch list of the sectors that show 1, 3 or 6 month performance and invest in sectors that are outperforming your benchmark by at least 1% and then monitor. Sell as the sector weakens and buy the sector that is rising. Wash, rinse and repeat. Can be profitable but not huge profits. Should outperform the benchmark though if done right. Can do the same thing with industry ETF's or all purpose ETF's as long as you watch the performance relative to the benchmark and stay invested in strength.
It depends on the trader in which sector he wants to invest as a beginner. There is no sector we can say it is best for you it totally depends on a trader how well you can see more opportunities of making profit during market volatility.