Want to Start Investing, But Don't Know Where to Start

[GregW]

I should have, when I started investing, gone to a coin dealer and bought a Krugerrand or a Maple Leaf. If I had bought one a month I would be in far better shape than I am.

[HankDfrmSD]

Originally Posted by StoneOne

A very easy way to become educated and to start investing would be to regularly read the following websites, or at least something from them:

Business, financial, personal finance news - CNNMoney.com
Yahoo! Finance
Business News and Financial News at Forbes.com
Personal Finance and Investing - MSN Money

If you have more time, it's also worth reading the FT and WSJ.

I wouldn't really recommend any of the "how-to" type books. Everything you need can be found online for free.

These two websites are fantastic for terminology:

InvestorWords.com - Investing Glossary
Investopedia.com - Your Source For Investing Education

A very easy and inexpensive way to start investing in securities is ShareBuilder from ING DIRECT: Buy Stocks Online and invest your money at ShareBuilder. Automatic trades are $4 (per buy), all other real-time trades are $9.95 per trade.

Good luck!

Here's one I like even better:

Fool.com: Fool's School

[joee]

DRIPs, learn how they work then start researching good stable companies, it's good for those just starting and young in age, low initial investment that you can build on at your own pace.

[LongArm]

Here's one of the best tips I can give you: When you start hearing people ragging on stocks, saying they're a gamble, and that they should have invested in gold instead, blah, blah, blah, because stocks have been down for a mere 11 months (apparently they think the stock market is supposed to go straight up), that's often the cue to start BUYING. Smart investors realize that stocks are for the long term, and done right (i.e. buying when prices are low and everyone's down on them, selling when prices are high and everyone loves them, intelligent asset allocation/diversification with periodical rebalancing, etc.) they're a pretty good bet to whup the pants--LONG TERM--off of the returns you'll get from other investments.

It's true, however, that before investing in the stock market, you should do some learning. Morningstar.com and the aforementioned Fool.com and Investopedia.com have plenty of good educational material to get you started.